The Pit and the Pendulum is a dark story by Edgar Allen Poe. This story shows a certain side of Romanticism, which is Dark Romanticism. This story includes dark characters that have qualities such as greed and hate toward others. In the Pit in the Pendulum, shows this darkness because of the horrors that a man suffers through when accused during the Spanish Inquisition. His torturous stay in prison also supports Poe's Dark Romanticism style. A last indicator of the Dark Romanticism in this short story is the depressing tone that is used by Poe in this short story.
The characters in this novel show a great deal of dark and undesirable qualities. The fact that these characters represent such qualities shows that Poe is a Dark Romanticist. The judges that sentence the main character shows their dark sides when they do not let the man have a case. They already made up their minds about the man and decide he should be tortured. This is a dark quality because it shows that they are abusing their powers. "With the intensity of their expression of firmness-of immovable resolution-of stern contempt of human torture"(Poe 263). This quote showed that the judges made up their minds about the sentence of the man without caring about his case. The dark quality that the man possesses is the fear quality. While this quality is not bad, it shows the darkness of the story. He is so afraid of death and wait awaits him. This quality shows the Dark Romanticism that Poe portrays in the story. This quality also shows the emotion of the soldier, which shows regular Romanticism. These characters show Romanticism within the story.
Another indicator in the story shows the Dark Romanticism. This would be the torture that the man experiences while in prison. He is in a room with a dangerous pendulum and a pit that he is supposed to die in. Also, the walls of this room keep getting closer and closer together to force him into the pit. Not only are the walls closing in, they are heated and they keep getting hotter and hotter. This horrific scene from the story shows that Poe is a very dark writer and the emotion of the story show Romanticism. No other writing style would have such dark and emotional times in the stories as much as Dark Romanticism has. Poe obviously shows it through the experiences of the soldier.
The tone of the story also shows Dark Romanticism. The dark setting, the dark fears and emotions experienced by the soldier, and the twisted punishment the soldier goes through all make the tone dark. The description of the setting shows that this story is Dark Romanticism. Everything is dark, depressing, and scary. The pit shows that fear and twisted experience that this man is going through. Also,the horrific events that the soldier had to face shows that this is Dark Romanticism. He experiences extreme fear during his imprisonment. He has to avoid death even though that is what he is being set up for. The importance of the experience and not the knowledge he has shows that this is a Romanticism story. Also, the twisted punishment of having unpreventable death brought upon him shows the darkness that Poe wrote with. He had to face a fate that would be tortuous and horrible to happen. However, him being saved at the end shows that Romanticism is the writing style. The fact that the hero survived is a Romanticism aspect. He was not deserving of the punishment, so he survived.
Hence, this story strongly represented Romanticism, more specifically, Dark Romanticism. Poe showed this through his tone, his portrayal of the torture the soldier experiences, and the characters qualities. Poe did a wonderful job showing all that is important in this style of writing. While it is darker than other Romanticism works, it shows the emotion and beliefs other Romanticism stories portray as well. Obviously, Poe represents the style of Romanticism very well in the Pit and the Pendulum.
Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Pit and the Pendulum." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature. Ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill. 2010. 263-273. Print.
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