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Essay Name       : 1019.txt 
Uploader         : blah blah
Email Address    : 
Language         : English
Subject          : Fictional Stories
Title            : The Pit and the Pendulum
Grade            : B
School System    : Junior High
Country          : USA
Author Comments  : none
Teacher Comments : none
Date             : 11/14/96
Site found at    : through a sex pistols site
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The Pit and the Pendulum

Written By: Edgar Allen Poe


Exposition:

	The beginning of the movie starts out with Frances ,who is dressed in black, driving in a carriage toward Nicholis’ castle and a driver who is afraid to get close to the 
castle probably because Nicholis’ father ,Sebastion, was a judge of the Spanish Inquistion. Frances arrives at the castle and finds that Elizabeth ,Frances dead sister, wasn’t buried. Family tradition is that the a body not be buried. Elizabeth had died three months before Frances’ arrival at the castle. Catherine ,Nicholis’ sister, is at the castle ,but she does not live their she is just visiting for a week. Elizabeth’s doctor ,Doctor Leone, tells Frances that she died from something in her blood. Doctor Leone was last to see Elizabeth. The castle is a very wealthy. Elizabeth’s room is very unique full of past and riches. Nicholis is very upset with her death and he says that life is meaningless without Elizabeth. Elizabeth use to play the harpsichord when she was alive for Nicholis. Catherine turns out to really live in Barcelona, Spain and is just visiting to see how Nicholis is doing. Doctor Leone finally tells Frances that his sister really died of shock. Even before Elizabeth’s death Nicholis’ physical health is not well. Elizabeth could not keep herself away from the torture chamber. Elizabeth seemed to be obsessed with the atmosphere of the torture chamber. They found Elizabeth dead in the torture chamber. Nicholis and Doctor Leone were together when they found Elizabeth dead. Frances finds it difficult to believe Nicholis that he just found her dead and not that he killed her. Nicholis seems to be very ashamed of what his father did during the Spanish Inquisition. During a flashback when Nicholis was a little boy his father did not let him into the torture chamber. He sneaks down anyway and sees his father, mother, and uncle together. Sebastion was wearing black robes like a judge of the Inquisition. His father like to torture people. While showing them the torture chamber Nicholis witnesses the murder of his mother and uncle. His mother and uncle were having an affair and Sebastion was to torture them. He did and to death. Many bad things happened to Nicholis in his past. Back in the present Frances hears a harpsichord being played throughout the house.

Rising Action:

	The rising action begins when everyone here the harpsichord. Catherine claims that Nicholis does not play the harpsichord. Doctor Leone seems to be around a lot. They go in to investigate. They see Nicholis frightened almost to death. His weakness causes him to loss strength. His mental and physical health are deteriorating. Nicholis knows that it was Elizabeth playing the harpsichord. Frances finds a ring on the harpsichord. A ring that Nicholis gave to Elizabeth. Elizabeth now may have buried alive. Nicholis’ mother was not tortured to death she was buried alive by Sebastion. Nicholis is lying in bed and he hears footsteps and Elizabeth calling his name. Doctor Leone says if Elizabeth is in the house it is her ghost. A maid screams and when they enter the maid , Maria, says that she heard Elizabeth calling her name and telling her to leave the room. Everyone is very tense and scared. When they go back to rest. They hear crashes coming from Elizabeth’s room. They enter to find that the room is torn up. Frances finds a secret passage behind a wall. Frances investigates and the passage leads from Elizabeth’s room to the kitchen. Frances accuses Nicholis of causing all this madness. Nicholis says that he may have done all this without knowing. Nicholis must be sure. They will dig Elizabeth’s corpse up. Elizabeth may have been buried alive. During a flashback Nicholis sees his mother being buried alive. They dig through a wall and when they open up the coffin they see a facial expression of Elizabeth screaming. She was buried alive. Nicholis’ mental stability is disappearing and he is going insane. Nicholis cries to Catherine pleading that he killed her. Doctor Leone is leaving the next day. Elizabeth is haunting Nicholis. Nicholis says that he must pay the price. Nicholis hears Elizabeth calling him and the secret passage opens by itself. He calls for Elizabeth while going down the passage. He hears her again. Accidentally he drops his candle and now he is in the dark. Nicholis hears her again and continues to follow her voice. He has definitely gone insane. They search for Nicholis and can not find him. Doctor Leone says he’ll go search below while the others search upstairs. Nicholis calls for Elizabeth again and is still searching for her. She comes out of her casket and chases him through the torture chamber. We see her face and she appears to look fine. Doctor Leone sees Elizabeth and Nicholis finds that they are having an affair. Doctor Leone and Elizabeth are in love. Nicholis has now become Sebastion. Nicholis thinks that Doctor Leone and Elizabeth have become his uncle and mother. Nicholis will torture them to death. Nicholis locks Elizabeth in the iron maiden. Doctor Leone falls into the pit and Frances comes down to the torture chamber. Now he thinks Frances is his uncle. Nicholis also thinks he’s a Grand Inquisitor. Nicholis ties Frances to the ground the pendulum is swung back and forth while being lowered toward him. The pendulum comes closer and closer. Catherine comes and sees what is going on so she gets a guard. Nicholis is very close to killing Frances. The guard comes and Nicholis and the guard fight and the guard pushes Nicholis into the pit.

Climax:

	Nicholis is now dead from falling into the pit. Doctor Leone and Nicholis are dead lying their in the pit. Max Amillion had pushed Nicholis into the pit and that is the end of all the madness that surrounds Frances. Frances is now safe. Catherine frees him from the pendulum.

Minor Climax:

	When Doctor Leone dies and when Elizabeth is locked in the iron maiden forever.

Denouement:

	Catherine exclaims that no one will ever go into the torture chamber again which leaves Elizabeth trapped in the iron maiden.

Conflict:

	The conflict is man against man. Nicholis versus Frances. Frances had believed that Nicholis had killed Elizabeth. It was his word against Nicholis’ word.

Time Sequence:

	The time moves forward from 1546 on with a few flashbacks to Nicholis’ childhood which was during the Spanish Inquistion.

Setting:

     Time:
	
	The time is 1546 just after the Spanish Inquistion.

     Place:

	The movie takes place in a castle off of the coast of Iraq. Some other places were Spain and in the castle rooms. The rooms were Elizabeth’s bedroom, the dining room, the torture chamber, and the burial grounds.

     Circumstance:
	
	Somehow Elizabeth has died mysteriously and Frances her brother must find out what has happened to his sister.

Cause and Effect:

1.  As a child Nicholis witnessed his mother and uncle being killed. Soon after he does the same to Doctor Leone and Elizabeth.

2.  Elizabeth haunts repeatedly and that cause him to go crazy.

3.  When he went insane it also caused him to commit many acts of violence.

Premise:

	Man may be driven insane and therefore commit acts of violence. There is a difference between being violent and being driven to violence.


Characters:

1.  Frances Barnard:

Frances is a very flat character who is always blaming someone for what happened. He is very pushy and needs to know what happened to his sister. He never changes and is a secondary character. He is Elizabeth’s brother.

2.  Nicholis Medina 

	Nicholis is a round character from going to a nice man to maniac attempting to kill people. He changes drastically. Nicholis is the main character. He is Elizabeth’s husband and Catherine’s brother.

3.  Catherine Medina

	Catherine is also flat and a secondary character. She is a very dull character. She is Nicholis’ sister.

4.  Elizabeth

	Elizabeth is France’s sister and Nicholis’ dead wife. She can not flat or round because she is dead and plays no talking role in the movie.

5.  Doctor Leone

	Doctor Leone is flat. He is very much suspicious throughout the movie. He is a secondary character and is Elizabeth’ doctor.

6.  Sebastion

	Sebastion can not be flat or round because he also has no speaking role in the movie. He is a secondary charater. He was Nicholis’ dad and a judge of the Spanish Inquisition. He very much resembles his son.



 
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