Have you ever lost anyone close to you? Poe did. He lost his mom, step mom, and his wife to tuberculosis. These deaths influenced his writings and made them dark. They especially influenced the story Masque of the Red Death directly because the red death even stood for (tb). Three other symbols that were also covered in the story are the ebony clock, the black room, and the jaggedness of the rooms. They connect to show the theme that death rules over us all, no matter what. Poe uses the clock to convey the idea of a countdown to the end of life and that all are going to die. “While the chimes of the clock yet rang it was observed that the giddiest turned pale and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in reverie
Suspense is the feeling of uncertainty or excitement, in waiting for an outcome or decision. Edgar Allan Poe uses suspense in his story “Masque of the Red Death” by using objects and great descriptive detail. Poe’s story is about a prince that tries to escape from the inevitable. He tries to lock himself away from the ‘red death’ and has a masquerade ball that doesn’t end happily. Prince and all of his guests die inside or around the seventh apartment room. The seventh room is preceded by six colored rooms which are meant to symbolize either the stages of life, or the seven sins. Inside the last room there are black velvet tapestries that hang all over the ceiling and down the walls. The window panes are a deep blood red color which gives the room an unwelcoming atmosphere. On the western wall, there is a gigantic clock of a deep black wood. Inside it has a pendulum that swings back and forth with a dull monotonous clang. When the minute hand marks a new hour, there is a clear, loud, deep sound, which can be heard from far away. Although it can give off an eerie feeling, the great eb...
Poe also uses figurative language. Poe word choice just adds to the feeling of how composed and how well put together his writing is. Poe like to pull good objectives and good word choices , to put into detail, “ Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation’ (5). In this quote Poe loves using lots of descriptive words, even if the sentence is short , to describe the pendulum swing for example, one adjective is not enough, Poe uses three, “dull, heavy and monotonous
Poe was a very experienced author of unique tales. He was born on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849. He had a dark life growing up because his mother, foster mother, and his wife died from tuberculous. His father abandoned him and his foster father disliked him. This background may have greatly influenced his work. He wrote 70 poems and 66 short stories during his lifetime. Poe has written many Gothic horror stories. “The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” show these similarities.
Edgar Allen Poe, in the short story “The Masque of the Red Death”, shows how people may try to outsmart death and surpass it, but in the end they will die since death is inevitable. He reveals this in the book by showing all the people closed up in the abbey that belongs to Prince Prospero. They are trying to escape the “Red Death” and think that they can escape the death by hiding away in the abbey. They manage to stay safe for six months but in the end they all die after the stroke of midnight during the masquerade ball Prince Prospero puts on from the Red Death itself which appears after midnight and leaves no survivors in the end. Poe develops the theme of how no one can escape death through the use of the point of view, the setting, and symbolism.
In the short story “Masque of the Red Death” By: Edgar Allen Poe he delivers the theme of age old inevitability of death and futility of trying to escape death, the setting of his story is based during a time when the bubonic “black” plague took over Europe. The black plague was a bacterium that survived in rats and rodents, human beings became infected when they got bitten by the fleas that lived on these rodents and rats; you knew you had gotten infected by several symptoms such as bleeding in the lungs, high fever and delirium but the most outstanding symptom was bubos. Now Bubos are painful lymph nodes that appear usually in the armpits, legs, neck or groin areas, if the infected individual was left untreated then the person usually died within two to four days.
Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, "The Telltale Heart" and "The Masque of the Red Death" are two very different stories. One is about a simple man, perhaps a servant, who narrates the tale of how he kills his wealthy benefactor, and the other is about a prince who turns his back on his country while a plague known as The Red Death ravages his lands. Yet, there are some similarities in both. Time, for instance, and the stroke of midnight, seem to always herald the approach of impending death. Both are killers, one by his own hand, the other by neglecting his country. One seeks peace, the other seeks pleasure, but both are motivated by the selfish need to rid themselves of that which haunts them, even at the expense of another's life. However, the point of this critique will show that their meticulous plans to beat that which torments them are undone by a single flaw in their character - overconfidence.
"The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the 'Red Death,'" (209). As Edgar Allen Poe set the scene for his story, he also created an ominous mood and a sense of suspense supported by the setting. He details the fun and amusement inside the prince's abbey, in contrast to the horror and doom outside, and the reader's curiosity is piqued, because such bliss cannot be maintained for long. Throughout the story Poe explicates and changes elaborate environments to build the suspenseful energy and create a strong structure. In "The Masque of the Red Death," setting is employed to organize motives and action, and to focus the reader on the climax. Poe targets the culminating point of his story using rich descriptions of the abbey, the masquerade, and the clock.
“The Masque of the Red Death” was written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 19th century. This story was written during the Gothic era. The stories that are written in the Gothic era is usually has to do with death, and lots of people were fascinated by the stories. There are many symbols in “The Masque of the Red Death”, yet I chose three, the first is all the colors of the room, second is the ebony clock and the last is the inside and outside of the abbey.
The first technique Poe uses in both stories is symbolism, which aids the reader in understanding the theme. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism to aid the reader in teaching the theme that death is inevitable. While explaining the setting, Poe describes a black room with red windows and then begins
used to symbolize death. Poe's use of language and symbolism is shown in his description of the
Edgar Allan Poe's writing style is based on the supernatural and the unknown. In The Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero invites the revelers to come to the castle to party until the danger of pestilence is gone. The party was interrupted by an intruder who was dressed in all black (like the Grim Reaper) and was associated with the plague of the "red death." The reaper killed everyone one by one in the end. The Masque of the Red Death is an allegory. An allegory is symbols that are presented in the story that have two levels of meaning. An example can be the clock in the story. The clock told time and represented the time they had left before they died. There were seven chambers that were different colors, and the last chamber was black, which was the last chamber that represented death. I think the seven rooms symbolized the days until you die and the clock symbolized the time until you died.
Dark Romanticism has many different significances. It has impacted reading a lot. Poe had a huge impact on dark romanticism. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Masque of the Red Death” and his poem “The Raven” he uses symbols to show people are in perpetual fear. Poe first shows his beliefs about humanity in “Masque of the Red Death” when he uses the masked figure to show death.
First, he used simili, ’’The Red Death come like a thief in the night’’ (Poe 43). He humanizes the Red Death like a thief, the thief of life.It is fast and furious, we can not escape. Then he used ’’the brazen lung of the clock’’ . Poe describes the clock as having “lungs,” like a human being, creates that this clock -- time -- is a living, breathing thing we cannot escape. He takes the clock ,a non-living furniture, and he humanizes it, like he humanizes the Red Death, which also cannot be escaped. He also used a lots of allusion in this story( Tempest of Shakespeare, or ’’The Death come like a thief in the night’’ in Bible’’ in order to make his theme more strong with his
Poe uses major themes that are shown throughout the whole story in multiple different stories. In The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque Of the Red Death we see themes that appear largely in both stories such as time and versions of reality. In The Tell-Tale Heart we see three different perspectives of reality that basically can be three different stories that are told depending on the person who’s story you view from. In The Masque of the Red Death there are several different types of reality that range from the poor sick and dying of the kingdom that are locked out of the castle to the rich members of the kingdom who are in a dream like atmosphere and which even includes the prince 's version of reality as well where he believes he can simply just close the door on the disease. The realities in the story even range all the way to the reality of the the Red Death itself who does not see social classes or status but just goes after anyone for no reasons, but just cause chaos and suffering. The other theme also includes how time ties both of the stories together. In The Tell-Tale Heart the unnamed main character and narrator is completely obsessed with time. For several nights in a row he goes into the old man 's room precisely at the same time and and he does the same exact procedure every single night. He then after the murder he commits hears the heart of the dead man that resembles a ticking clock. Next, in The Masque of the Red Death we see time being represented in the orientation of the rooms from east to east, the colors of the rooms and what they represent of stages of life, and finally the clock in the black room that is counting down the time until the death of everyone at the party. Edgar Allen Poe writes his stories with similar themes , but finds a way to have the theme have a different representation in every story and how the
Edgar Allen Poe's stories are based off of real events in history or events that have happened to him. In "Masque of the Red Death", Poe tells the tale of the plague that took place in the past. It's called the "red death" because of how bloody this disease was. Poe describes a dark shadow that shows up at the end of the party, the shadow represents the plague and kills all the patrons. Poe's language in the story is very descriptive and dark. Also the way he explains the rooms and party in full detail.