The Pit and Pedulum

 

In "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe, there is a clear switch between the Rationalism and Romanticism writing period.  Rationalism believes that God created everyone and everything. It believes reasoning, and scientific evidence. Romanticism is almost the exact opposite.  It deals with feelings and emotions. Romanticism deals with the self. An example of a writer in this time period is Edgar Allen Poe. Characteristics, such as imagination, emotions, and self-analyze, of the Romanticism period are shown through his story, "The Pit and the Pendulum,".

Poe’s writing is very dark and disturbing. The writing is very emotional, which is a major part of Romaticism. In the story, the narrator is in a jail cell and on death sentence. The way he describes being claustrophobic is eerie and makes the narrator seem fearful. There are examples of this many times throughout the story. "My worst thoughts, then, were confirmed.  The blackness of eternal night encompassed me.  I struggled for breath.  The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me.  The atmosphere was intolerably close" (Poe 265).  “The heat rapidly increased, and once again looked up, shuddering with a fit of ague.” (Poe 273). This emotion is questioned in an analysis by Charles E. May. May questions if the narrator thinks he is in a dream. He says “In this story we find the most explicit statement in Poe's fiction of his sense of the blurry line between dream and reality" (May). 

The narrator of Poe’s story discusses himself and his life at the moment of the story. He is in a cell and is on death sentence. He does not believe his life is like this. As said in the previous paragraph the writing of Poe is a sense between dream and reality. The narrator and character of this story shows this well.  

Imagination is also a part of the Romanticism period.  Faith was not all placed in God. It was placed experiences and imagination.  Throughout the story, Poe exhibits examples of imagination.  An example is on page 264.  A piece of the writing says " faces in coals that glow; is not he who beholds floating in midair" (Poe 264).  This is clearly made up because all that coal is not faces and things cannot flow in mid air.

 “The Pit and the Pedulum” is just the beginning of the Romantisim period. It shows characteristics such as emotion and self-analyze. Although it is brought out in a creepy and somewhat scary way Poe is an excellent example of what writing styles portrayed.