To Hell and Back free essay sample

Hell and Back On the surface, Edgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"The Pit and the Pendulum† relates the story of a man tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. The man, remains nameless throughout the story, is condemned to death for an unknown crime and loses consciousness. He awakens in complete darkness and is frightened that he has been locked in a tomb but shortly realizes that he is probably in a dungeon. After exploring the enclosement, the prisoner collapses and falls asleep. He wakes up to an offering of bread and water and resumes exploring the cave. The man then trips over a fragment of his robe and lands with his face dangling over a large pit. He falls asleep yet again, wakes up to more bread and water, which has been drugged, and falls asleep again. When he wakes up again, the narrator finds himself strapped to a wooden board with the image of father time and a pendulum attached. We will write a custom essay sample on To Hell and Back or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He also notices the rats that are coming out of the being allured toward the meat, which his captors left him. He lays the meat across the rope that binds him and the rats chew through it just as the pendulum inches toward his heart. Once released from the board, the walls of the prison become heated and being to collapse toward him until the only option he has is to jump into the pit. At the last second, a mysterious person latches onto him and prevents the fall. Literally, the narrator is merely a victim of the persecution against Catholics and Protestants. On the symbolic level however, â€Å"The Pit and the Pendulum† represents the story of a man who dies, loses his soul to hell, and finds himself recued at the end by God. Symbolically, the narrator undergoes death through the darkness of the tomb and the image of Time on the ceiling with the pendulum. Firstly, when the narrator awakens in the tomb he sees â€Å"the blackness of eternal night [of the tomb encompassing him as he struggles] for breath† (299). Darkness itself usually is a metaphor for death and as the prisoner is in complete darkness, symbolically, it is as if he is in complete death. The darkness of the tomb also represents the emptiness of the narrator in his current state, as if he is transitioning between heaven and hell after symbolic death. Another example of the narrator’s symbolic death is when he examines the ceiling, after being strapped to a wooden board, and on â€Å"it was the painted figure of Time as he is commonly represented†¦in a lue of a scyth he held what, at a casual glance, [the narrator supposes] to be the pictured image of a huge pendulum† 304-305). The image of Time depicts the actual time the narrator has left as its pendulum inches closer and closer to his body. Time, which has the image of the time left in the narrator’s life, is also relatable to the Grimm Reaper, a universal symbol of death, because the machine is possibly the very instrument that is prepared to take the prisoner’s life. In conclusion, the narrator’s symbolic death is symbolized by the darkness of the tomb and the image of time. Besides representing the story of a man who dies, symbolically the narrator also encounters the near-loss of his soul to hell. The large circular pit, which the narrator’s head leaned over, has a â€Å"clammy vapor, and the peculiar small of decayed fungus† (302). The description of the foul state of the pit shows the underlying layer of hell, which the pit symbolizes. Hell is usually described as a dark, wretched place, and the pit is this exact place. The pit is a representation of hell because of the impossibility to get out; once a person is in hell, it is inescapable to leave. Furthermore, while exploring the cave, the narrator â€Å"[steps on his robe] and fell violently on [his] face†¦at the very brink of a circular pit† (301-302). Because the pit symbolizes hell and the prisoner almost falls into the pit, undoubtedly, the narrator, symbolically, almost loses his soul to hell. Likewise in order for one to lose their soul to hell, they either must be a horrible person, done horrible things, or played a game with the devil. In correspondence to the narrator, his scare into hell represents the bad judgments may have been made through out his life. Overall, the story symbolizes the near-loss of a soul to hell. Thirdly, the narrator symbolically almost loses his soul to hell because of the rats chewing away at his life. While lying on the wooden board, the narrator sees that â€Å"[the rats] had issued from the well which lay just within view to [his] right†¦ with ravenous eyes, [the rats were] allured by the scent of meat† (305). Symbolizing horror, death, and decay, the rats help present the idea of the narrator’s loss to hell. The rats ultimately symbolize an evil being; they are coming from the pit, which is like hell, and they have â€Å"ravenous eyes† which are ready to devour- together, it is as if they compose the devil ready to make a deal. With this in mind, the rats continue to symbolically show the loss of the narrators soul as â€Å"they writhed upon [his] throat; their cold lips sought [the man’s]; [he] was half stifled by their thronging pressure; disgust, for which the world has no name, swelled [his] bosom, and chilled, with a heavy clamminess, [his] heart† (309). The rats literally devouring the narrator’s skin represent them releasing the narrator’s soul. The situation is like purgatory where he is given a second chance at life as a foul situation turns to the narrator’s benefit. In brief, the rats, which are chewing away at the rope, also symbolize the narrator’s near loss of soul to hell because of their appearance and actions caused by the narrator. Finally, symbolically General LaSalle rescues the narrator, as he represents God, from hell and delivers him to heaven. Specifically, after realizing that his only option is the jump into the pit as the heated iron walls are inching in toward the narrator and the pit, â€Å"there was a discordant hum of human voices [and] there was a loud blast as of many trumpets† (312). During judgment day the last trumpet will sound, concurrently in the story, the narrator hears trumpets implying that judgment day has occurred. This allusion to the Bible reveals the symbolism to the entire story through the comparison between judgment day in the bible and the narrator’s symbolic judgment day. Another example of how the narrator is symbolically is rescued by God is when â€Å"an outstretched arm [catches the narrator’s] as [he falls]† (312). After hearing the sounds of judgment day, it is obvious that his savior has deemed the narrator to be worthy of heaven because he saves him from the pit which symbolizes hell. The savior, which turns out to be General LaSalle, symbolizes God because he the ultimate savior of the narrator from his literal death and symbolic plunge into hell. Therefore, General LaSalle, who symbolizes God, rescues the narrator from hell symbolically. Conclusively, Edgar Allen Poe’s â€Å"The Pit and the Pendulum† represents the story of a man who dies, nearly loses his soul to hell, and in the end, is rescued by God. However, on literally, the story is about a man who is a victim of the Inquisition. Through the narrator’s symbolic death, he encounters literal darkness and a figure similar to the Grimm Reaper, and when losing his soul to hell symbolically, he almost falls into a pit and is being eaten alive by rats literally. Finally, while rescued by God symbolically, General LaSalle saves him after taking over Toledo.