In “The Pit and the Pendulum,” the narrator explains, "The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me."
Why does Poe include this description of the narrator's feelings about the darkness?

By having the narrator describe the darkness as a force that has a physical impact on him, Poe helps create a claustrophobic mood and a sense of the narrator's great fear and discomfort.

By having the narrator focus on his own feelings of being oppressed and stifled, Poe establishes the idea that the real danger that the narrator faces exists only in the narrator's mind.

By having the narrator describe how something as ordinary as darkness bothers him, Poe is able to establish the narrator as an unreliable figure who is prone to exaggerations and lies.

By having the narrator focus on the intensity of the darkness, Poe effectively directs the attention of readers away from the dangers that lurk within that darkness and lays the groundwork for the story's surprise ending.

By having the narrator describe the darkness as a force that has a physical impact on him, Poe helps create a claustrophobic mood and a sense of the narrator's great fear and discomfort.

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Serinus Serinus · Answer 2 · 2018-10-08T12:56:28+02:00

Poe include the above description of the narrator's feelings about the darkness:

By having the narrator describe the darkness as a force that has a physical impact on him, Poe helps create a claustrophobic mood and a sense of the narrator's great fear and discomfort.

The story begins with the narrator getting sentenced to death. The story takes to the time during the Spanish Inquisition when the result of the death sentence was the most horrible and terrifying. The setting of the story and the characters are described in the terms of being pale, scary, torturous, painful and horrifying. The description of the pendulum which is described as an instrument of death gives a gothic experience to the readers.