"meaningless spectres..."See in text(The Pit and the Pendulum)
The word “spectre” describes a disembodied spirit or ghost. Here, the candles, once emblems of hope, now transform into “meaningless spectres.” The sudden change in appearance of the candles from angels to phantoms foreshadows the narrator’s vanishing sense of hope.
"whiter than the sheet upon which I trace these words..."See in text(The Pit and the Pendulum)
The second image readers encounter is that of the “black-robed judges” whose lips are lifelessly, ghoulishly white. The narrator compares the judges’ lips to the whiteness of the pages on which he now writes this story, in turn foreshadowing the outcome: he will survive the torture.
