Modern philosophers warn, “The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk in our souls.” (@Edgar_Allan_Poe,“The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.” November 9, 2011. 9:51AM, Tweet.) Our souls chill from gothic horror, a genre full of frightening entities and alarming atmospheres. No matter how well-protected you think you are from the inevitable, the fear of death scares most people, especially in settings that forebode evil. Edgar Allen Poe's gothic horror story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” shows death is inescapable as he places the reader within a remote setting, welded into a fortress in deep seclusion in the abbey's spooky seventh apartment.
The isolated setting used in the “The Masque of the Red Death” demonstrates
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To illustrate this characteristic, Poe places the prince's party in “deep seclusion,” knowing that those people could die at any moment. (Poe 1) This extensive separation between the Prince's party people and the poor people left outside to face the Red Death reveals much gothic horror. Gothic literature and human behavior share dark traits as revealed through this great division between people. Equally important is the imagery of the spooky seventh apartment that Poe describes here: “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue.” (Poe 2) Here, Poe describes how much the seventh room is like a funeral room: dark, gloomy, and ominous, showcasing the gothic horror characteristic of death. Shrouds and black velvet mark symbols of death further supporting the gothic horror theme. The heavy folds represent death coming down to smother life. Also, in the seventh apartment, death itself came and killed everyone in there. In summary, grim settings, like Poe concealing the party far away from others and ironically placing partygoers in a funeral parlor, emphasize gothic
The fires in each of the suite rooms serve as a representation of death. Poe depicts
Poe continues to describe the blue room, noting how clear and bright the color is, saying,“...vividly blue were its windows,” (4). This description has a very positive impact on the readers, as they associate the color of the room with positive feelings of a new beginning. On the other hand, Poe depicts the black room as having a very morbid and gruesome feeling to it, as he says, “The panes here were scarlet—a deep blood color,” (4). This depiction has a negative connotation, as people connect the colors of black and deep red with blood and death. Poe characterizes the blue and black rooms very differently, with the blue room having a positive connotation and the black room having a negative connotation. This distinct difference in the rooms and their colors contributes to the overall symbolism of life and
As explained before, the "dull, dark, and soundless" house serves as both "the castle" and "gloomy atmospheres'' in this story. Poe uses the house as the main tool to create a gloomy and mysterious atmosphere. However not all of Poe's gothic elements are actual physical objects. Fear is Poe's next choice of gothic elements as even our main character Roderick predicted would "sooner or later'' become his untimely demise. Fear is the dark recesses of the human heart and conscience and Roderick's fear in this brilliant story was not even death; but it was fear its self. Lady Madeline death is Poe's next gothic element because her death is a crime. Lady Madeline is the victim a the incompetents of her twin Roderick and unfortunately suffered a premature burial. Poe dose this the emphasize the extreme emotion of Roderick and the severity of the situation. Poe as well uses the description of the "decaying house...ghastly river..[and] black and lurid tarn'' to create feelings of darkness, shadows and gloominess and give the story a gothic ambiance. Poe Uses these elements to give his literature a gothic, gloomy, and overall dark atmosphere.
The author, Edgar Allan Poe, using illusion or misdirection keeps the reader is suspense throughout this story called "The Masque of the Red Death". Symbolism such as the colored rooms, the impressive clock, the feeling of celebration being at a party all makes this story feel like a fairytale. Poe used this fairytale style and converts it into a nightmare in disguise.
Poe continues to develop his point that no one escapes death through the setting. Not only does he use the exterior and how it was constructed to tell what precautions P...
In the short story “ The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allen Poe uses symbolism to express ideas to develop his theme and characters. “ The Masque of the Red Death” tells a story of prince Prospero who locks his friends and himself in a castle to escape the Red Death, a deadly disease. Much to Prospero’s dismay, in the end, the deadly disease causes them to perish. Poe uses the dark room to reveal Prospero’s unusual character and reveal that death is always there and cannot be avoided.
“The Masque of the Red Death” is a short tale about a king who rules a dominion plagued with a disease called the red death. The Prince decides to build a fortress that will hold many of his closest friends and relatives and keep the disease out. The castle in which the Prince and all of his closest friends are inside of, is a magnificent fortress that is lavish and decorated with a variety of colors for each apartment. Poe explains, “That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue—and vividly blue were its windows.” In this quote, the use of imagery describes the first of seven apartments that hold guests for balls and entertainment. In addition, the last of the seven apartments described is a black room that in itself symbolizes the red death. In this room stands a clock that clangs every hour and when the clock begins to clang. Everything in the fortress seems to stop while the clock clangs. Poe describes the clocks clang very vividly, to set the mood of the seventh room and what it is like. Poe states “Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang.” This example of imagery uses the hearing sense, and it helps the reader understand the mood of the room. Poe wants this room to be creepy, dark, and scary and conveys that clearly through the use of
While reading “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I couldn’t help but feel a constant overwhelming sense of dread. The root of this could have come from the story’s dark setting deep within an “haunted forest” or from Brown’s mysterious “Devil”-esque companion. While I read, another story came into my mind; the story of the “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe. In Poe’s tale the same heart pounding emotion can be felt as he describes the reunion of two friends within “the House of Usher.” With the manors “eye-like windows” and “sorrowful impression,” Poe wastes no time in setting the Gothic mood. Through their distinct writing styles Hawthorne and Poe establish a common Gothic theme within their stories.
From the onset of the story, it is apparent that Poe is employing a gothic theme upon his work. The narrator’s portrayal of the home of his longtime friend, Roderick Usher was as follows, “I looked upon the scene before me – upon the bleak walls – upon the vacant eye-like windows – upon a few rank sedges – and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees” (Poe, 75). T...
The writing style of Edgar Allan Poe shows the writer to be of a dark nature. In this story, he focuses on his fascination of being buried alive. He quotes, “To be buried alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these [ghastly] extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality.” page 58 paragraph 3. The dark nature is reflected in this quote, showing the supernatural side of Poe which is reflected in his writing and is also a characteristic of Romanticism. Poe uses much detail, as shown in this passage, “The face assumed the usual pinched and sunken outline. The lips were of the usual marble pallor. The eyes were lusterless. There was no warmth. Pulsation had ceased. For three days the body was preserved unburied, during which it had acquired a stony rigidity.” page 59 paragraph 2. The descriptive nature of this writing paints a vivid picture that intrigues the reader to use their imagination and visualize the scene presented in the text. This use of imagery ties with aspects of Romanticism because of the nature of the descriptions Poe uses. Describing the physical features of one who seems dead is a horrifying perspective as not many people thing about the aspects of death.
Poe baffles his readers with stories that appeal to emotion and intrigue. Montresor opens the story with how he “must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (Poe 291). This opening is a brilliant way of taking a gothic tale to another level of horror. Tactics such as this draw in the reader to learn more about the characters, while also maintaining a certain standard of writing. However, a beautiful gothic horror story can not be complete with only dark writing and symbolism. This is where varying literary devices come into play in order to create a masterful
The first symbolic mean of death is depicted in the seventh room in the suite. Poe says,
Edgar Allen Poe was an English short-story writer whose work reflects the traditional Gothic conventions of the time that subverted the ambivalence of the grotesque and arabesque. Through thematic conventions of the Gothic genre, literary devices and his own auteur, Edgar Allan Poe’s texts are considered sublime examples of Gothic fiction. The Gothic genre within Poe’s work such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, and The Raven, arouse the pervasive nature of the dark side of individualism and the resulting encroachment of insanity. Gothic tales are dominated by fear and terror and explore the themes of death and decay. The Gothic crosses boundaries into the realm of the unknown, arousing extremes of emotion through the catalyst of disassociation and subversion of presence. Gothic literature utilises themes of the supernatural to create a brooding setting and an atmosphere of fear.
Word by word, gothic literature is bound to be an immaculate read. Examining this genre for what it is could be essential to understanding it. “Gothic” is relating to the extinct East Germanic language, people of which known as the Goths. “Literature” is defined as a written work, usually with lasting “artistic merit.” Together, gothic literature combines the use of horror, death, and sometimes romance. Edgar Allan Poe, often honored with being called the king of horror and gothic poetry, published “The Fall of House Usher” in September of 1839. This story, along with many other works produced by Poe, is a classic in gothic literature. In paragraph nine in this story, one of our main characters by the name of Roderick Usher,
Edgar Allan Poe, renowned as the foremost master of the short-story form of writing, chiefly tales of the mysterious and macabre, has established his short stories as leading proponents of “Gothic” literature. Although the term “Gothic” originally referred only to literature set in the Gothic (or medieval) period, its meaning has since been extended to include a particular style of writing. In order for literature to be “Gothic,” it must fulfill some specific requirements. Firstly, it must set a tone that is dark, somber, and foreboding. Next, throughout the development of the story, the events that occur must be strange, melodramatic, or often sinister. Poe’s short stories are considered Gothic literature because of their eerie atmosphere and atypical plot developments. Consequently, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe is distinguished as an author of unique, albeit grotesque ingenuity in addition to superb plot construction via his frequent use of the ominous setting to enhance the plot’s progression and his thematic exploration of science versus superstition.