Death is inevitable whatever the circumstances. However, how one dies is a matter of unknown. Ultimately, if one had a choice about how to die, decisions could fluctuate between countless possibilities. It is a natural human instinct to fear death because of the unknown and Edgar Allan Poe does not deny this statement. In Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, the story's narrator is tormented in a prison during the Spanish Inquisition; this fear of death is created from natural human instincts. The narrator's fear creates a raw, psychological human reaction which, by natural instinct, generates a confrontation with the unconscious Self. Poe's themes in his poems and short stories reveal a gothic view of the world that includes morbid images that some people would not. comfortable with reading. In The Pit and the Pendulum, the narrator must make a radical decision that few people would have to make: the choice of how to die. Although the true horror of The Pit and the Pendulum lies not only in the choice of death, I believe it is also in the horror that, whatever the outcome, he will die anyway. Death in this situation is inevitable and creates tension in the human subconscious due to the natural human instinct to want to live. Burduck, in his book Grim Phantasms: Fear in Poe's Short Fiction, writes that "of all the emotions that emanate and affect the mind, Poe is the most intrigued" (5). Poe's use of fear is seen in many of his works and The Pit and the Pendulum is a great example. The narrator of the story is placed in an underground dungeon from which he cannot escape. The darkness around him makes him think of a "scary idea" and in the darkness he waves his arms widely in a dire direction...... middle of paper ...... the Fragmentation of The Psyche: "The Pit and the Pendulum." "art: fundamental links between aesthetics, psychology and Poe's moral vision." PMLA. 83. 2 (1968): 284-297. Internet Modern Languages ​​Association. Poe, Edgar Allan. ., 1966. Print. Pruette, Lorine. Ther American Journal of Psychology.31.4 (1920): 370-402. University of Illinois Press. March 28, 2014. Thury, Eva and Margaret K. Devinney. . Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 519-537..