Question

Why did Poe choose a pendulum and not a guillotine, which was a more common instrument of torture (in both historical time periods)? For extra credit: identify the many ways Poe describes the pendulum (examples: a glistening axe, the destroying crescent)

Answer 1

Poe chooses the pendulum to provoke horror and psychological terror in the reader, as death by the guillotine would be very quick.

Common features in Poe's works

• Horror and terror.
• The psychological pressure.
• The torture.
• The hopelessness.
• The extreme fear.

Although the guillotine was the most common instrument of torture at the time, Poe needed to bring psychological terror into his work. Therefore, he used the pendulum, causing the reader to be as disturbed as the character, at the thought of a slow and painful death.

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