What is the solution of "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The solution to Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulumis ultimately the narrator's rescue. For the majority of the story, the narrator finds himself trapped in a cell, imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition for a reason that we as the readers do not know. He faces absolute darkness at first, which is when he nearly stumbles into the pit; then the room lights up and he sees that the walls are painted and...

The solution to Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum is ultimately the narrator's rescue. For the majority of the story, the narrator finds himself trapped in a cell, imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition for a reason that we as the readers do not know. He faces absolute darkness at first, which is when he nearly stumbles into the pit; then the room lights up and he sees that the walls are painted and encounters the rats for the first time; after that, he has to escape the pendulum, which is slowly descending down upon him as he lies strapped to the floor. Once he has escaped all of those things, the walls start to literally close in around him in the shape of a diamond, forcing him closer and closer to the pit. The story ends as the narrator is about to fall into the pit, but the walls stop, and just as he is starting to fall, a hand grabs his arm (the hand of General Lasalle of the French army) and he is freed from his death.