English 10
Mrs. Sharp
name:
period:
“The Pit and the Pendulum”
by Edgar Allan Poe
Pre-Reading
QUICKWRITE
Fear often heightens awareness of our surroundings. Suppose, for example, you are lying awake in the
dark. You may see things you never noticed before. It might be the way shadows play on familiar objects and
make them seem menacing. You may hear sounds that you would normally disregard, such as the ticking of a
clock or creaking of the wood floor.
Brainstorm the ways in which fear may heighten the senses. Use the table below to record objects,
sensations, or perceptions you might detect when you feel scared or frightened. You may use words, symbols,
or sketches.
Senses
Objects, Sensations, or Perceptions
Sight
Sound
Smell
Touch
Taste
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Inquisition: Power, Greed, and Suffering
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain had political as well as religious motives for establishing
the Spanish Inquisition in 1478. The Catholic monarch wished to regain control over a fragmented country
that had been ruled for centuries buy the Moors (Muslims from North Africa) and that had a large population
of influential Jews, many of whom had converted to Christianity. By finding Spanish Jews and Muslims guilty of
converting to Christianity not out of true religious convictions but from a desire to keep their lands and
property, the monarchy used the Inquisition to seize the converts’ wealth and destroy their influence. The
methods of the Inquisition included imprisonment, torture, confiscation of property, and public execution. At
its height from 1483 to 1498, a Dominican priest, Tomas de Torqeumada, presided over thousands of trials and
about two thousand burnings at the stake. These burnings were preceded by a public religious ceremony
called and auto-da-fe (Portugese for “act of faith”), in which the accused was marched in procession into a
church, a Mass was held, and the death sentence was read. Then, the convicted person was handed over to
the state authorities for execution.
The Inquisition was temporarily halted in 1808, when Napoleon’s army invaded and defeated Spain.
General Lasalle commanded the French troops who seized the city of Toledo. Napoleon proclaimed his older
brother king of Spain, but in 1813, he was ousted by the Spanish with British aid. The Spanish monarchy was
restored and with it the Inquisition, which persisted in a limited form in Spain and Latin America until 1834.