“THE PIT and THE PENDULUM”

1. “THE PIT and THE PENDULUM” By Edgar Allan Poe

2. I can build background knowledge necessary for understanding “The Pit and the Pendulum.” About the author

3. I can build background knowledge necessary for understanding “The Pit and the Pendulum.” About the author • Born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. • His parents, both actors, died before he was 3. • Raised by foster parents John and Frances Allan. • Went to one of the best boarding schools at the time and later went to the University of Virginia where he excelled academically. • Was forced to leave his university after less than one year due to his foster father’s refusal to pay gambling debts. • Joined the US Army and enrolled in the United States Military Academy before being pulled out again due to a lack of financial support. • Went to live with his aunt and cousin, Virginia, whom he later married.

4. I can build background knowledge necessary for understanding “The Pit and the Pendulum.” About the author

5. I can build background knowledge necessary for understanding “The Pit and the Pendulum.” About the author • After Virginia’s death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe’s lifelong struggles with alcoholism and depression worsened, and two years later he was found in a “semi-conscious state” on the side of the road. He died 4 days later. • Investigations after his death suggest that Poe might have been suffering from Rabies. • Though his stories and poems were published before his death and he is now regarded as one of the originators of both horror and detective fiction, Poe was not rich and famous during his lifetime.

6. I can build background knowledge necessary for understanding “The Pit and the Pendulum.” The Pit and the Pendulum • One of Poe’s short stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” takes place during the Spanish Inquisition (though Poe used creative license to skew these events). • “The Pit and the Pendulum” is a study of terror and its psychological effects on the narrator. • Throughout the story, the narrator faces a series of threats meant to unhinge him.

7. I can build background knowledge necessary for understanding “The Pit and the Pendulum.” The Spanish inquisition • The Spanish Inquisition was a religious tribunal or court established in Spain from 1480 to 1820 AD, but most active from 1492 on. It was responsible for the jailing, trial, torture, and execution of "heretics," mostly Jews accused of not completely converting to Catholicism.