Discovering The Character of Narrator in The Pit and The Pendulum

Introduction

The story is meant to incite terror at gratuitous violence. The beginning shows this as even the awaiting of the sentence is full of unnecessary terror, foreshadowing what is to come later. The narrator finds terror in the visual aspects of things: the “black-robbed judges,” the whiteness of their faces, and their grotesque thinness. We are warned against relying on our senses when the narrator swoons while waiting, and “the figures of the judges vanish, as if magically” (Poe, 1842). All this builds into a fear of what can be seen and the horror of unnecessary terror.

Discovering The Character of the Narrator in 'The Pit and The Pendulum'

The uncertainty suggests that the narrator has been drugged, but it also tells us that he is greatly frightened and confused by what is happening to him. We know he is a sensible person because he thinks to count and trace the distance of his cage. We also know he is sensible in the appropriate fear and acknowledgment of his fear, “now I was the verist of cowards” (Poe, 1842). We know he can read. We see further proof of his intelligence (which helps him survive his ordeal) when he thinks of a plan to get out of the surcingle.

Oppression and Perception

Oppression: “The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me”; “They pressed — they swarmed upon me in ever accumulating heaps… I was half stifled by their thronging pressure”; “could I withstand its pressure?”; “the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward” (Poe, 1842). The strong feeling of oppression enhances the terror felt by both the character and the reader. All these moments of oppression make the story feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable. It enhances the sensation of freedom when he is pulled out of the room, like a breath of fresh air. This feeling of oppression is important to the story’s central idea of visual perception, as the oppression felt by the narrator is visual oppression that translates into the physical.

The setting of “The Minister’s Black Veil” is in a village; this is clear because “The old people of the village” (Hawthorne, 1836). The story also takes place in a church/meetinghouse, as demonstrated by the line “A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. Hooper into the meetinghouse” (Hawthorne, 1836). The setting of this story relates to the ideas of the writer as they characterize the small-town mentality as well as the religious fears of sins. “The Pit and Pendulum” takes place in a Toledo dungeon, as demonstrated by the lines 131-5. The dungeon setting emphasizes the terror of the story.

Character Discovery Through Perspective

We discover the character of Poe’s narrator through his reaction to the things happening to him. This slow discovery maintains the mystery of the story. We discover Mr. Hooper’s personality through his interactions with other people, slowly throughout the story. This uncertainty and slow development sustain the mystery of the Veil. However, Poe’s use of perspective gives us a one-sided glimpse at the narrator, while Hawthorne’s perspective allows the reader to see Mr. Hooper through the eyes of other people. This difference in narrative style enriches the depth of each story, offering unique insights into the characters' psychological landscapes.

References

Poe, E. A. (1842). The Pit and the Pendulum. In Tales of Mystery and Imagination.

Hawthorne, N. (1836). The Minister’s Black Veil. In Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque.