Why is it important for the narrator to have an understanding of his surroundings in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

The struggle of the narrator to place himself
in his surroundings is mirrored by the struggle of the reader to place this story appropriately
in historical context. The narrator conveys early in the story that his torture is part of the
Spanish Inquisition, which lasted for around 700 years from the early 1200s to the early 1800s.
That's a wide historical time span. We learn toward the end of the story that the French army
(Napoleon) has entered Toledo, so this lets us know that the story's setting is near the end of
the Inquisition. If that's true, how can we make sense of these very medieval forms of torture?
Theroom with the pendulum doesn't seem a likely setting for the era in which the story is
set.

We also don't know why the narrator has been given
this sentence or how he has offended those who have condemned him. As his sentence is read, he
reflects that "the sound of the inquisitorial voices seemed merged in one dreamy
indeterminate hum." Does he deserve this punishment which has been handed to him? Should we
feel empathy for his situation?

This mental struggle on the reader's part is
reflected in the narrator's struggle to place himself in his surroundings. He clings to the
walls, investigating every crevice, trying to get a sense of where he is. Reading of his torture
provides the same experience for the reader. Poe weaves a tale of historical fact and
fantastical imagination to create a plot from which it is difficult to extract the truthjust as
the narrator finds it difficult to extract the truth of his own physical
surroundings.