Citazioni da Il pozzo e il pendolo

9 citazioni celebri da The Pit and the Pendulum (1842) di Edgar Allan Poe, parola per parola, con il significato e la provenienza di ciascuna.

25 min di lettura

1. 1

   I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony; and when they at length unbound me, and I was permitted to sit, I felt that my senses were leaving me.

   Significato: Exhaustion and prolonged suffering overwhelm the prisoner as he struggles to remain conscious.

   NarratorParagrafo 1Copia
2. 2

   Then silence, and stillness, night were the universe.

   Significato: As he loses consciousness, the narrator experiences the disappearance of all sensation.

   NarratorParagrafo 1Copia
3. 3

   In death—no! even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man.

   Significato: The narrator insists that some part of human consciousness survives death, linking this belief to immortality.

   NarratorParagrafo 2Copia
4. 4

   It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see.

   Significato: He fears complete darkness and uncertainty more than the sight of something terrifying.

   NarratorParagrafo 5Copia

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5. 5

   Inch by inch—line by line—with a descent only appreciable at intervals that seemed ages—down and still down it came!

   Significato: The blade descends so slowly that waiting for death becomes a prolonged torture.

   NarratorParagrafo 22Copia
6. 6

   I prayed—I wearied heaven with my prayer for its more speedy descent.

   Significato: His suffering becomes so unbearable that he begs for the approaching blade to end it sooner.

   NarratorParagrafo 22Copia
7. 7

   It was hope that prompted the nerve to quiver—the frame to shrink. It was hope—the hope that triumphs on the rack—that whispers to the death-condemned even in the dungeons of the Inquisition.

   Significato: Even under extreme torture, his instinctive resistance reveals that he still hopes to survive.

   NarratorParagrafo 27Copia
8. 8

   Free!—and in the grasp of the Inquisition!

   Significato: Escaping his bonds does not give him real freedom because his torturers still control the prison.

   NarratorParagrafo 34Copia
9. 9

   “Death,” I said, “any death but that of the pit!”

   Significato: The pit terrifies him so completely that every other form of death seems preferable.

   NarratorParagrafo 37Copia

Domande su queste citazioni

What is the famous opening line of The Pit and the Pendulum about?

The opening presents a condemned prisoner overwhelmed by physical suffering and fading consciousness, immediately establishing the story’s intense focus on terror and bodily sensation.

What does the quote about hope in The Pit and the Pendulum mean?

The narrator recognizes that his involuntary attempts to avoid the blade express a continuing desire to live, even when he consciously believes death would bring relief.