From the beginning of "The Pit and the Pendulum", Poe starts to show us the desperation and the terror the narrator feels in the prison. He is alone and lost, he can't see anything and hear any voice. It makes him feel hopeless and scared. The complete dark pit where the Inquisition shuts the narrator up creates an atmosphere of death and fear. The fact that the pit is an abyss makes the readers think of death. In addition, the ceiling of the prison where a huge pendulum with a scythe hangs shows that the narrator's life is in danger. The image of death becomes clearer when the narrator finds out that the pendulum is in motion. "But what mainly disturbed me was the idea that it had perceptibly descended. I now observed- with what horror it is needless to say-

Moreover, the decor of the black chamber is in fact a symbol of death. As Poe describes, "The panes here were scarlet- a deep blood color."(58) The relationship between blood and death is an essential aspect because Poe wants the reader to have a visual image of the blood flowing down the walls as a form of death. This is an obvious reference to the "Red Death". When the masked "Red Death" makes his appearance, he moves rapidly from the eastern room (the beginning of life) to the western room (the end of life). In addition, Poe describes that the prince rushes "hurriedly through the six chambers"(61), but when he approaches to the black room, he stops and falls dead upon the black carpet. This signifies that death cannot be avoided even Prospero tries to prevent from it. Significantly, the appearance of the "Red Death" at midnight is also symbolic. This is the end of a day and no doubt, represents the end of life. Poe demonstrates that death is something we can never predict. Also, death is the biggest punishment a human can have, because life is the most precious thing a human being's own. When one loses one's life, it means this person loses already all has.

that its neither extremity was formed of a crescent..."(68). Death becomes impossible to prevent in this case. Especially when the pendulum keeps going down. As Poe describes, "Down- still unceasingly- still inevitabl

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Approximate Word count = 935
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)