What does the dungeon symbolize in pit and pendulum?

Answer 1

The story is open to interpretation, but a common view is this. The pit represents hell or death, because it is a frightening, unknown concept to the narrator. The pendulumrepresents time. It swings like a clock pendulum, which shows the seconds until the next minute. Each swing for this bladed pendulum means one step closer to death. The rats (although commonly viewed as vulgar, unwanted creatures, which is what the narrator thinks at first) can prove to be a second chance at life. The rats chew through the bindings on the narrator, freeing him and escaping the pendulum. The narrator is using something viewed as bad to his advantage. Also, the narrator's rescue can also be viewed as a second chance, or "heaven" opposed to the hellish pit.

Basically, Poe's message was a simple one. In life, people can take a bad situation and use it to their advantage.

Answer 2

In "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe, the dungeon symbolizes the terror and despair of the narrator's situation. It represents his entrapment and impending doom, reflecting the psychological torment he experiences throughout the story. The darkness and confinement of the dungeon amplify the sense of fear and hopelessness felt by the protagonist.

Answer 3

This short story is full of religious conotation. Therefore, the irony is religious in nature as well. The fact that despite all the characters best efforts to save himself he fails because the enemy is there to thwart them. Just as man cannot save himself but needs God's mercy, through Jesus Christ, salvation comes via an outside savior when the character is at his lowest and most helpless state.

Answer 4

Poe carefully makes every word, every phrase, every sentence in the story contribute to the overall effect, Horror, accompanied by oppressing morbidity and anxious anticipation of terrifying events. Notice, for example, the tenor of the following paragraph from the story. I have underlined the words and phrases that underscore the the mood and atmosphere.

A fearful idea now suddenly drove the blood in torrents upon my heart, and for a brief period, I once more relapsed into insensibility. Upon recovering, I at once started to my feet, trembling convulsively in every fibre. I thrust my arms wildly above and around me in all directions. I felt nothing; yet dreaded to move a step, lest I should be impeded by the walls of a tomb. Perspiration burst from every pore, and stood in cold big beads upon my forehead. The agony of suspense grew, at length, intolerable, and I cautiously moved forward, with my arms extended, and my eyes straining from their sockets, in the hope of catching some faint ray of light. I proceeded for many paces; but still all was blackness and vacancy. I breathed more freely. It seemed evident that mine was not, at least, the most hideous of fates.

Answer 5

…weighty rod of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air.

Answer 6

it shows how depressed people are in normal life styles

Answer 7

It can represent the things you have done in your lifetime that you look back on before you die.

Answer 8

Your remains ; )