Throughout all of Edgar Allan Poe's works are common ideas that oppose each such as madness versus sanity, reality versus the imagined reality and life versus death. Usually these sentiments are taken as contrasting ideas with little similarities to each other, like black and white. However, many of these motifs are situated in the grey category. Poe uses the communal thought pathway to highlight its antithesis; the pathway of grey. With the new pathway, he emphasizes the similarities of the opposing ideas until they meld into one solid grey idea. One without the other is nothing more than absolutely nothing at all. Poe creates the grey to both discredit society’s division between black and white and to stress that the first perception is not always the most accurate one. This is especially true when the subjects of life and death, love and hate, and fortune and misfortune, come into the game. In his short stories, Edgar Allan Poe uses the juxtaposition of opposing ideas to reveal similarities between what appear to be opposites.
Within Edgar A. Poe’s stories, there is often a duality of emotions or sentiments, often in direct conflict with each other. Such is the case with two of his short stories focused at the motif of life versus death. “Masque of the Red Death” and “Hop-Frog” are two stories that exemplify the contrast between the two themes vividly.
In the short story, “Hop-Frog”, the main character is driven to find a way out of his prison. To escape, he believes that he needs to kill his captor, the king. In the instant that he creates the connection between the king being death and his death being freedom, he has created the grey effect. The connection between life and death is established and cannot be driven apart...
... middle of paper ...
...o, CA: Greenhaven, 1998. 160-68. Print.
Roth, Martin. "Inside "Masque of the Red Death"" SubStance 13.43 (1984): 50-53. JSTOR. Web. 8 May 2012. .
Sova, Dawn B. "Masque of the Red Death." Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 109-13. Print.
SparkNotes Editors. "Poe’s Short Stories." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 11 May 2012. .
Templar, Aldwin. "Literary Analysis: The Black Cat, by Edgar Allan Poe." Helium.com. Helium, 25 Mar. 2008. Web. 9 May 2012. .
Womack, Martha. "Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"" The Poe Decoder. Web. 09 May 2012. .
... to power may have been Poe’s ideals in Hop-Frog and The Purloined Letter, but the reality of the situation was that monetary wealth was the single most useful means of gaining power, at least in the publishing industry. The Masque of the Red Death was a poignant social commentary on this uneven field of play and Poe’s point of view concerning the wealthy capitalists. Nonetheless, the possibility of altering the rules on the field of play lay not in the hands of the mentally acute and those who possessed information, but completely with those who possessed capital.
In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery, sensory detail and symbolism not only to build suspense, but also to convey the idea that an individual can not hide or run away from death which becomes closer as time passes on. Throughout the story Poe uses imagery details to create suspense in the story. For example when the author is describing the disease that has taken many lives he describes the unfortunate event as, “ Blood was its Avator and its seal- the redness and the horror of blood. One can understand that in the story the tragic death of someone might occur as tragically as the disease is described. Accordingly, as the story progresses the deep shade of the color red is evident in many areas to represent symbolism.
Edgar Allan Poe was famous for his poems, short stories, motifs, themes, etc. After reading three of his most famous works: “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Raven,” and “The Masque of the Red Death,” I found that the “Masque of the Red Death” was my personal favorite. In this story, Edgar Allan Poe enthralled the reader with his entire concept, symbols, and the way he infused history into the interesting and haunting story.
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.
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.
Literary genius Edgar Allan Poe lived a troubled life. During his forty years of existence, Poe struggled with the deaths of countless family members, including his cousin-wife. These bruising events caused him to develop the mental illness depression. In his short story “Masque of the Red Death,” the views Poe developed during his tumultuous life are reflected in his writing. The theme of this short story emphasizes the inevitability of death in descriptive details because Edgar Allan Poe has encountered death so many times. He also makes social commentary on materialism and the value of life because he was raised in a wealthy household where he received more allowance than love. Poe’s melancholy overtone in this story can also be attributed to the sickness and death he watched his wife succumb to. The depression Edgar Allan Poe developed due to his turbulent and unfortunate life is depicted in his story “Masque of the Red Death” in the way he addresses death and the materialistic nature of human beings.
Death, despair, and revenge, these three words form a treacherous triangle to any reader who dare enter the mind of Edgar Allen Poe. In many of his works these expressions seem to form a reoccurring theme. Comparing the works "The Mask of the Red Death" and "The Cask of Amontillado", we will discuss these themes while analyzing the method behind Poe’s madness.
Authors use various styles to tell their stories in order to appeal to the masses exceptionally well and pass the message across. These messages can be communicated through short stories, novels, poems, songs and other forms of literature. Through The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven, it is incredibly easy to get an understanding of Edgar Allen Poe as an author. Both works describe events that are melodramatic, evil and strange. It is also pertinent to appreciate the fact that strange plots and eerie atmospheres are considerably evident in the author’s writings. This paper compares and contrasts The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven and proves that the fear of uncertainty and death informs Edgar Allen Poe’s writings in the two works
The meanings of short stories attain their value through the plot, characters, setting, writing style, narrator and theme. These six components form an effective story line that gets the meaning of the work across. The short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is an allegory in which Poe uses symbols to convey a deeper meaning throughout the story. Death is inevitable and no amount of wealth or evasion from your fate can save you.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death,” the symbolism of the mummer, the masques, and the fortress convey the idea that no matter how much one tries to control death, fate will override. There is nothing man can do to control all aspects of life. “Frail humanity can never escape the inevitable ravages of time” (Zimmerman par. 12). Poe’s story serves as a lesson to the reader that when they try to change their fate , they will drop, and die in the despairing posture of their
Poe, Edgar A. “The Black Cat.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat." Leonard, George McMichael and James S. Concise Anthology of American Literature. Pearson Education, Inc., 2011. 512-518. Short Story.
Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat." Poe Stories. Robert Giordano, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Benfey, Christopher. "Poe and the Unreadable: 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart " New Essays on poe's Major Tales viii (1993): 27-43
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