Steven Carter
"From Room to Room: A Note on the Ending of 'The Pit and the Pendulum'"

Can the critical debates between a relatively happy and a relatively unhappy ending to "The Pit and the Pendulum" be resolved? In Carter's view, Poe has left us a clue that tips the balance in favor of a "negative" reading--a clue that lies in the name of the French general who rescues the narrator.