Horror has about a thousand different definitions in everyone's mind and can be associated with everything from movies to video games. The definition of horror has changed over the past few centuries, and media is the best example of change, transforming what we think of as fear into events and circumstances that terrify the protagonists and antagonists of a horror story. horror. These characters and their reactions bring our fears to life, making us imagine ourselves in the same scenarios. However, before the days of decent special effects, it took a powerful writer to dream up something that could legitimately terrify the reader through words and imagination alone. This story, however, draws you into the terrors experienced by the narrator, keeping you in suspense throughout the read. As I said before, everyone's definition of horror is different, so let me ask you this: anyone afraid of torture? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Edgar Allen Poe is still revered today as one of the most sadistic, albeit excellent, horror writers of the 19th century, among the famous horror genre authors such as Stephen King and HP Lovecraft. Known for his more supernatural stories, such as The Black Cat and The Tell-Tale Heart, critics initially acclaimed The Pit and the Pendulum as vulgar, even for it and its stylings. What made the story so different from his previous retellings was mainly the semi-exaggeration of the sensory description and the main horror factor being a physical event rather than a miserable figment of the protagonist's imagination. These reasons lead to the text-to-self connection that the reader feels with the narrator, reinforcing the feeling of fear when reading. This story was an easy choice for me personally due to a combination of factors: the unique yet captivating plot, the genre it belongs to, and the feelings of fear, urgency, and helplessness it arouses in the reader. Hey, I can love butterflies and torture at the same time, okay? The Pit and the Pendulum itself, while sparing the vast majority of historical facts, revolves around the torture of a prisoner during the Spanish Inquisition after being sentenced to death by the court. He wakes up in a cell with little food and water, unaware of any method of escape, the only redeeming landmark being a large open pit in the middle of the room, dropping God knows how far into the water and various death devices. Narrowly missing a direct step into the pit, thanks to a well-timed trip, the unnamed protagonist survives long enough to fall asleep. When he wakes up, he is tied to a wooden board and discovers, to his horror, that a crescent-shaped steel pendulum is descending toward his torso at an alarming rate, about to cut out his heart. Barely above pure despair, some quick thinking saves him as he manages to use the food to trick the rats into breaking the bandages holding him in place, as well as a few well-placed swings from the pendulum above him . However, his torture does not end with his escape from the pendulum: shortly after his extremely narrow escape, the iron walls of his cell heat to intolerable temperatures and close in on him, forcing him once again to head towards the pit in the center of the room. Screaming mentally, he wishes a more merciful death was available than the one that awaited him in the pit, and just as he is about to let go of the weak grip he has on the?