The Pit an the Pendulum

The Pit an the Pendulum

By: Edger Allen Poe

The Pit an the Pendulum by Edger Allen Poe is what this essay came from. The story starts with the heretic getting sentenced the death penalty. He is thrown in a big pitch black pit, with a swinging pendulum hanging from the roof, to eventually be killed in some way. I believe that this character is a dynamic character because he goes through a lot and changes a lot.

One thing that was interesting was, that the heretic might have been post humus. He says "I was sick, sick unto death," he referred to his sickness as past tense by saying "was." Unto death means that he is dead. So he was saying that he was sick until he died. So is he post humus or does it just sound that way?

I think if you read this story you will agree that he is delusional. In fact he says "I saw angels for a few moments of delirious Horror." So he also knows he's delirious. For a while he saw angels, then their heads burst into flames and eventually into candles. He also sees the judges again and some other images.

As you would guess he was scared. He said that he trembled at the sound of his own voice. He is scared about the horrible death and he's not even sure what it is. The blade, at the end of the story, comes down so far that when he's lying down on the floor it is slowly cutting his robe.

Finally he becomes relived. He actually was not just relieved at the end but also in the middle of the story. He stated that his distress had left him. The rats bite through his straps that were holding him down and I'm sure that led to a lot of relief. At the end of the story he sees an outstretched arm and then is pulled out of his cell, which was the ultimate relief.

So he was thrown into a pit, scared and delusional because he didn't know how he was going to die and at the end he was finally saved and freed. So the character went through a lot and in the end I think came out Dynamic. I showed you that he was scared and then relieved, that right there is dynamic.