Peter Mills
10/31/11

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum, written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1842, is an intriguing story of a man enduring torture. Poe himself had a very difficult life. Abandoned by his father before he was even born, Poe suffered the loss of his mother when he was three years old. Sent to live with a foster family, he loved his foster mother, but hated his foster father. He began gambling in college to sustain his education, and his foster father eventually withdrew him from school. He then joined the military, but was court marshaled because he did not attend drills. He then married his 13 year old cousin, Virginia, claiming that she was twenty one. Unfortunately, his wife later died of consumption. This may be the reason that in many of his books there was a, “death of a significant woman in the narrator’s life.”(http://www.exampleessays.com) The purpose of this paper is to discuss Poe’s themes, and analyze what they mean.

Many people believe that Edgar Allan Poe had some sort of mental issue. An example of this is “In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator confesses a love for an old man whom he then violently murders and dismembers. The narrator reveals his madness by attempting to separate the person of the old man, whom he loves, from the old man’s supposedly evil eye, which triggers the narrator’s hatred. This delusional separation enables the narrator to remain unaware of the paradox of claiming to have loved his victim.” (http://www.sparknotes.com) Poe’s own unhappy life was probably the source of his depression. He became addicted to opium, he drank, and he gambled. He believed this was the only way to find happiness from his miserable existence. This caused him to pursue themes that were dark and horror-filled.

Another theme commonly mentioned in his poems was the “unjust death of a woman that the narrator loved.” (http://www.exampleessays.com) One of Poe’s most famous poems reveals this. “In The Raven, the narrator’s lost love, Lenore, died of a mystery illness (possibly tuberculosis.). The narrator spends most of the poem grieving for Lenore and hoping, praying, and wishing that she would come back. He is in so much grief that he even thinks that a raven was sent to tell him that he was never going to see her again.” (http://www.exampleessays.com) This theme is believed to come from the death of Virginia, Poe’s wife.

The three websites from which I acquired source information each had bits of truth in them. http://www.exampleessays.com stated that the most common theme was the “unjust death of a woman that the narrator loved.” while (http://www.sparknotes.com) said that the most common theme was love, hate, and horror. Many of his writings show both. In the Pit and the Pendulum, however, there is another theme. Poe seems to be looking for someone; someone who can help him get out of his mess of a life. “Even in the grave all was not lost. Else there is no immortality for man.” His story was mostly all horror-filled, with death at every turn, but there was a glimmer of hope and light since the beginning of his story. Perhaps he is seeking to fill that void which has been with him since the beginning. Perhaps his ultimate search is to find the source of life. Perhaps his ultimate search is for God.