How do you analyze and interpret "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

Any interpretation of a given work of literature leaves
itself open to massive debate, so I can present one of the central ways in which this
classic horror story can be interpreted, but please do not let this analysis prevent you
from exploring other ways of "reading" this great example of Poe's Gothic
fiction.

Key to this analysis is a symbolic interpretation
of the events contained within. The story is set during the final days of the Spanish
Inquisition, and the first-person narrator hears judges condemn him to death. What he
suffers in his prison cell causes massive terror, especially the pendulum, which forces
him to watch his death sink lower towards him, literally inch by
inch.

These torture methods by some are viewed
symbolically, which leads some critics to argue that this short story is really all
about a man who dies and almost loses his soul in the pit of hell but is saved by God at
the very last minute. Such critics argue that the intense fear the man feels at falling
into the pit indicate that it represents hell. The pendulum and scythe represent the
time running out for the prisoner and death coming to claim him. The rats that crawl
over him symbolise death and decay, as they horrify and disgust the prisoner. Lastly,
the trumpet blasts and other apocalyptical sounds eat the end of the short story are
strongly suggestive of Judgement Day:

readability="9">

There was a discordant hum of human voices! There
was a loud blast as of many trumpets! There was a harsh grating as of a thousand
thunders! The fiery walls rushed back! An outstretched arm caught my own as I fell,
fainting, into the
abyss.

Such descriptions make
us think of the action in deeper, more profound, symbolic terms that help us to see the
possibility that Poe could using the sufferings of one prisoner during the Inquisition
to talk more widely about the eternal dangers that await us beyond the
grave.