The Pit and the Pendulum The Pit and the Pendulum "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842 in the literary annual "The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1843". The story is about the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition, though Poe skews historical facts. The narrator of the story describes his experience of being tortured. The story is especially effective at inspiring fear in the reader because of its heavy focus on the senses, such as sound, emphasizing its reality, unlike many of Poe's stories which are
Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition established. The Spanish Inquisition was one of the administrative and juridic arms of the Spanish Crown. It was created, among other things, to keep both powerful noble families and the Roman Catholic Church in check. This sectors of society had the power to dispute, or dodge, the authority of the king at a local level, and were also the demographics with higher literacy rates, wealth, and international relationships. The main role of the Inquisition was to prevent internal division in the empire and, even though the religious aspect of it is overly emphasized in the popular image, the fragmentation of