Honors: The Pit and the Pendulum

Edgar Allan Poe​

The Pit and the Pendulum

Open Ended

Take a moment and think about the things that scare you the most.

• Takes place around the time of the Spanish Inquisition in 1478

• King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain had political and religious motives for the inquisition

• Essentially, they wanted to establish Catholicism as the main religion and abolish the Jewish population from Spain.

Background Information

Think about the ways in which we process fear.

How do each of our senses allow us to perceive fear?

Sight
Sound
Touch
Taste
Feel

Open Ended

What things make something visually frightening or unappealing to look at?

Poll

What's invokes fear more?

• Things you can see.

• Things you can't see.

Background Information

• The Catholic Monarchy spent a lot of time converting Jews and Moors (Muslims from North Africa) to Catholicism (Didn't really have a choice)

• As expected, though, many of the Jews and Moors converted, but still practiced their old religions in secrecy

  • (They did this to keep their land and their wealth)

Open Ended

What sounds make something/certain scenarios audibly f

• The Inquisition used its power to identify those converts and take their power and influence away from them. 

• The methods of the Inquisition included imprisonment, torture, confiscation of property, and public execution. 

The Inquisition

Open Ended

What things make something frightening to the touch?

• At its height, a Dominican priest, Tomas de Torqeumada, presided over thousands of trials and about two thousand burnings at the stake. 

• First, Auto da Fe (Act of Faith) is a religious ceremony that would take place first

• Second, They would read the sentenced of the accused

• Third, Mass would be held

• Finally, The execution would take place

1483-1498

Open Ended

What things make something frightening/unpleasant due to scent?

Open Ended

Think of a time in your life in which the situation you were in wasn't "fair" or didn't seem fair to you in the moment.

Fairness

Some perspective

• The accused were never allowed to know the identity of their accusers or the witnesses used against them.

• They were not allowed lawyers or counsel for their defense.

• Once captured the any property the “heretic” owned was seized given to the crown or the General Inquisitor.

• Prisoners would often be tortured for confessions. The prisoners were only allowed “breaks” from the torture, because according to the church law once the torture was stopped, it could not be started again.

Open Ended

Tougher one:

What makes something frighting due to taste?

The end

• The Spanish Inquisition was somewhat halted when Napoleon’s army invaded and defeated Spain in 1808. 

• We will find out from out story, too, that General Lasalle commanded the troops who entered and seized the city of Toledo.

• The Spanish monarchy was eventually brought back and the inquisition wasn’t fully gone until approximately 1834

In your pods, discuss:

Discuss a time in your own life when you used creative thinking or ingenuity to solve a problem. What does it take to succeed in a critical, high-stakes moment? Why do some people perform better than others under pressure or duress?