The Masque Of The Red Death Allegory Essay

824 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Poem analysis

“Exploring Into the Deep Abbey of Allegories”

Have you ever thought about the deeper meaning of life? The title of this story is “The Masque of the Red Death” written by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe was a 19th Century American author. Poe was a master of gothic literature which means darkness and supernatural he wrote this during the Romantic Era. The Plot of this short story is that Prince Prospero he tries to escape reality, soon leads to his death. Three specific points to focus on were, All of the allegories have more than one allegory. There is always a deeper meaning. This story is Classic Literature. Meaning that things that happened years ago still imply to the things that happen today. The masque had a deeper meaning of the people and Prince Prospero from the plague. “ The Masque of the Red Death” is an allegorical masterpiece because of the dept of it’ aspects. …show more content…

Poe supposedly uses the suite as an allegory of human life. Each room represents a different “stage” of human life, based on it’s color. We know the suite is allegorical because they are arranged from east to west. East is usually associated with “beginnings” and birth while west is associated with "endings" and death. East is also where the sun rises and West is where the sun sets. The narrator in this work states that, “That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue - and vividly blue were its windows… 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 457). Clearly, the author uses his Abbey as an allegorical device to draw in his readers. Its also gets his readers to think about the deeper meaning of the seven rooms that are inside the Abbey. This is just another example of Poe’s finest use of

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast The Masque Of The Red Death And The Raven

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, The Masque of the Red Death is a short story that dwells on a wide variety of societal issues. On the other hand, The Raven adopts the form of a poem, which is especially notable for its dramatic and melodic properties. The poet uses the refrain of “Lenore” and “nevermore” in order to emphasize the narrators’ troubled interaction with death (Poe, The Works of Edgar Allen Poe). Furthermore, The Raven employs allusion in its attempt to explain the mysteries surrounding death. The poet seeks to know whether there is “balm in Gilead” in reference to the hope of life after death demonstrated in various religious faiths such as Christianity. In The Masque of the Red Death the author addresses death’s inevitability and its wider implication on the society (Poe). The short story addresses the ability of epidemics to wreck havoc on populations. Furthermore, the short story addresses the authority’s selfishness and incompetence when it comes to addressing pivotal issues affecting people. Instead of finding ways of protecting people from further infections, the prince selfishly runs away from the rest of the population. Whereas death finally catches up with everybody regardless of one’s social status, the short story plays a pivotal role in highlighting leadership discrepancies that plague many civilized

    Read More

  • What Does The Dark Room Symbolize In The Masque Of The Red Death

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Symbols In The Masque Of The Red Death

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe always has some sort of symbolism for each main element. He is never straight to the point and typically extends one short sentence into a whole paragraph. Almost everything in this story has a significant meaning such as the title itself, Prince Prospero,the rooms, and the mysterious figure. Not only does this story include all these elements, but it also has a lesson at the end of this which is that it does not matter what type of person one is; one can never escape death.

    Read More

  • The Masque Of The Red Death Figurative Language

    496 Words  | 1 Pages

    A short story entitled “The Masque of the Red Death” is a wonderfully written story of many types of language. The author Edgar Allan Poe narrated this story from the perspective of himself. One reason the story was written by focusing on feelings was to get the reader to maybe relate to the characters even if only slightly.

    Read More

  • The Masque Of The Red Death Analysis Essay

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Detachment from reality is what the main characters in both Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” express. “The Things They Carried” is the collection of interrelated short stories of Lieutenant Cross and his experiences throughout the Vietnam War. “The Masque of the Red Death” is the story of a prince who fears the “Red Death” who hides himself, along with some townspeople, to escape from the terrible disease. Each character, despite having two very different roles in their lives, have to face reality. In order to fully understand the relationship between these two works, each of these factors in turn.

    Read More

  • The Masque Of The Red Death Compare And Contrast Essay

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    I chose to write about the comparison of two of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. The two stories that I chose to write about are “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Both of these stories create and have a gothic mood to them, which draws you in as a reader. The story of the masque of the red death is written about the black plague that was spreading across Europe at the time, and the story of the fall of the house of usher is written about a sickness or a disease that affects the characters of the story. In Edgar Allen Poe’s story of the “The Masque of the Red Death “, it is narrated by an unknown onlooker within the castle itself. In both stories with the narrator being an onlooker or as an unnamed friend as in “The fall of the House of Usher” forces or draws the reader to feel a part of the story itself. “The Masque of the Red Death” is about a prince who is rich that invites a thousand of his close knights and people of nobility to his castle where he has it sealed up to keep the plague from reaching his guest and his self. Edgar Allan Poe made the rooms of the castle in this story to be bazaar with all seven chambers of the castle different colors that went in one direction from east to west representing a life cycle. The last chamber was colored black with red stained windows that represented the final stage of life or death. The prince and his guest did not dare to enter this chamber because they feared death and were terrified of the idea of it (2012). In this story the prince and his guest think that they are safe and have a masque ball, while at the party they drink and are having a good time not thinking of the plague that is ravishing the country around them nor the poor that are being stric...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Masque Of The Red Death

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hundreds of people thought that they were being isolated from a deadly contagion, but it had seemed to find another form of an entrance. “The Masque of the Red Death”, was written by Edgar Allan Poe, a poet from the mid-1800’s, with a wife who had tuberculosis. The short story begins with a lengthy description of the pestilence, which can be interpreted as tuberculosis, that has infested the fictional country. The wealthy Prince Prospero decides to house a thousand of his friends, in order to keep them safe. The artistic home of this Prince has seven rooms, each decorated with a separate color. After five or six months of being sheltered from the contagion, Prince Prospero decides to throw a masquerade ball. As the party progresses, the large ebony clock in the black room chimes, on the twelfth chime, a new guest appears. The rooms turn silent as the ghost of the red death slowly walks through, the fearless Prince Prospero follows

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” in 1842. While only one character is actually named, Prince Prospero, the story builds apprehension just based on the descriptions and not on dialogue. The narrator is never named and it is a mystery as to this person’s involvement in the story. The ambiguousness of the narrator also helps build the drama throughout the story. “The Masque of the Red Death” tells the story of a group of wealthy people who are trying to ignore and separate themselves from a terrible disease that is sweeping across their country. The disease is swift and brutal and can cause death within 30 minutes. The people infected weep blood from the pores on their faces and bodies, which causes a disturbing visual image. Poe uses the setting and symbolism to reiterate to the reader that death is inevitable.

    Read More

  • Language and Symbolism in The Masque of the Red Death

    417 Words  | 1 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is an elaborate allegory that combines

    Read More

  • The Masque Of The Red Death Analysis

    1932 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses vivid symbolism, structure, and reoccurring details to paint a powerful image regarding the finality and inescapable reaches of death itself. “The ‘Red Death’ has long devastated the country,” yet the Prince Prospero continues to hold extravagant parties for his fellow elite members of society. Rather than merely telling a series of events, Poe carries his readers throughout the many rooms and scenes that hold the Prince’s masquerade, up until the clock strikes midnight and the partygoers can no longer hide behind their façade, and death comes in to take those that thought themselves invincible (Poe 438-442).

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque Of The Red Death

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    As soon as we are born our timer starts and one day it will stop and we will no longer be a part of this earth. Everybody enters this world the same way, but we all have our own different ways in departing. Nobody wants to think about dying or seeing a love one leave, but unfortunately that is how life works. Are you scared to die? Can you handle seeing a love leave your side due to death? Just like the majority of the people, we have two different people with the same mentality who fear death and will do anything in their power to try and escape from it.

    Read More

  • Masque Of The Red Death Essay

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, “Masque of the Red Death” it covers six months during the Red Death.It takes place in a castle which has seven different colored rooms.In the beginning of the story it describes the main character prince Prospero as happy,fearless and wise. Towards the end of the story a new guest appears to the party and everyone is scared and Prospero goes from being happy to mad and in the end the new guest kills Prospero and everyone dies because he was the Red Death. The message in this analogy ,”The Masque of the Red Death “ by Poe is life passes by so quick that you don't realize what's going on until it's your time to die.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Imagery In The Masque Of The Red Death

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...th the impression that Prospero represents Poe’s image of the artist who insists on creating an ideal artwork, but whom is permanently imprisoned by the time-bound nature of life. Poe emphasizes that the artistic effort to transform temporality into spatiality is condemned to failure. Even the seven rooms, which suggest a orderly pattern of static placing, become misshapen into an image of the time span of life when Prospero follows the Red Death through a time-based development from birth to youth to maturity to old age and finally to death. It is when Prospero must confront the reality of the temporality of life that he inevitably must confront the death that life always insists on. “The Masque of the Red Death” should not be relinquished as a simple gothic horror story, but rather should be understood in terms of the aesthetic concept that dominated Poe’s work.

    Read More

  • Setting in The Masque of the Red Death

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Setting can be looked upon as simply the place and time of where a story takes place, though not knowing that it can be more then just simply information. In this story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” this proves how important setting can really be and how it ties into the actual themes of the story, and the overall setting itself.

    Read More

  • Criticism In The Masque Of The Red Death

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is known for his masterful writing on all aspects of mortality, but his famous short story “The Masque of the Red Death” proves to be more than a simple story about death. While it is about death, Poe’s short story can be read and applied as a cautionary tale whose purpose is to illustrate a worthy way to live and die by portraying the opposite of both. This interpretation comes about when the story is viewed through the lens of New Criticism. This viewpoint shows how the story uses its formal elements converge to create one complex theme. Poe’s short story develops its theme through the use of paradox, tension, irony and ambiguity, all of which come together to identify

    Read More

More about The Masque Of The Red Death Allegory Essay

Open Document