Question

In a well-written paragraph and using the ACE strategy, explain what you think is the most suspenseful moment in the short story “The Pit and the Pendulum.” How do the character’s experiences reinforce and develop suspense? How does the pacing contribute to the suspense? Support your answers with at least two pieces of properly cited Textual Evidence.

Answer 1

The most suspenseful moment in Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story titled "The Pit and the Pendulum" was captured with the rhythmic movement of the pendulum when the cell's walls were closing in on the character.  

• In this cell where the character was to die, Edgar amply utilized vivid images and employed the literary device of repetition to heighten the suspense of the ever-present threat of death.

• The narrator's experiences reinforced and developed the frightening suspense with the threat of death.  He was sentenced to die for a crime he did not commit.  He could not fathom the reason for the death sentence that was passed on him during the Spanish Inquisition.

• The character was chained to the floor in this awful cell with a big pit underneath him so that he could die gradually with the constant fear of death.  In addition, the pendulum was enigmatically suspended on the ceiling with a painting of time.

• The pendulum painted with time forced the character to see the passage of time and be mentally tortured.  But he preferred to die now to being endlessly tortured.

Thus, the most suspenseful moment was achieved when the cell's walls were closing in on the character with the pendulum gradually descending on him through the passage of time, but he was rescued by a hand.

Read more about Edgar Allan Poe's short story, “The Pit and the Pendulum” at brainly.com/question/4386801