What is a short summary of "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe?

Key to understanding this tale is considering how it might
operate symbolically. This classic horror tale opens in Toledo, Spain, in the final days
of the Spanish Inquisition. After an agonising trial, the first-person narrator hears
judges condemn him to death. He faints and awakens in a pitch-dark dungeon, where he
narrowly escapes a fatal fall into a pit. He sleeps, awakens to find food and water
nearby, drinks, and loses consciousness. Reviving from a drugged stupor, he finds
himself bound to a frame. He sees a glow from beneath the walls, realises that they are
solid metal, then looks up to see a scythe-like pendulum descending toward him. One of
his arms is free, and a bowl of meat is nearby. He rubs meat scraps on his bindings so
that rats eat through them. As he rolls free, the dungeon walls, now glowing hot, move
inward, forcing him toward the pit. At the last second, he hears a confused din. The
walls rush back. Fainting, he topples into the pit. A strong arm catches him; it is
General Lasalle of France, whose army has just taken
Toledo.

You will want to think about how various
ingredients could be said to operate symbolically, such as the scythe and the pit. Many
critics have said this is a story about faith or death.