Pit And The Pendulum Symbolism

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In the short story, The Pit and the Pendulum, the narrator faces punishment and is thrown into an unknown place, full of darkness. The narrator experiences many strange events that in which shows how this unknown place is actually hell itself. Yes, The Pit and the Pendulum represent by Edgar Allen Poe symbolizes a man who almost dies and almost loses his soul in the pit of hell, but is saved at the end by God. There are symbols in the short story that symbolizes whether the narrator is hell or just stuck in a torture chamber. The symbols that prove that the narrator is in hell are; the pit, the fiery walls, the King of Terrors, and the hand.
First of all, two symbols that show the narrator is in hell are the pit and the fiery walls. In …show more content…
As the narrator was falling into the pit, a hand reached out to grab his hand. "An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell, fainting into the abyss" ( Poe 12 ). This quote shows how a strange yet powerful hand was able to help the narrator. The hand symbolizes God because no one else would have been able to help the narrator except for God, especially when we know that the narrator was all alone by himself in the dark place. The hand was what ultimately saved the narrator from death and this proves an important point as God is known for being the Savior. Therefore, there is a direct connection between the hand and God and this shows how the narrator was in hell and saved by God.
The short story, The Pit and the Pendulum, symbolizes how God saved a man who almost lose his life and soul in hell. The symbols that were used to support this claim were the pit, fiery walls, the King of Terrors, and the hand. All of these symbols are connected and associated to hell in one way or another. Both the pit and fiery walls represent hell while the King of Terrors represents the devil, the controller of hell. As for the hand, it is a representation of God. These symbols provide reasonable explanations to support the idea that narrator was not in just a regular dungeon, but in
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