Surrealism encompasses a reality above the surface reality, usually through efforts to suspend the discipline of conscious or logical reason, aesthetics, or morality in order to allow for the expression of subconscious thought and feeling. This literary technique, if successful, provides the audience with a suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the imaginative aspects of the author's fantastic creation. "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka and "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe, are two examples of surrealism. These short stories both contain ex-centric scenarios and environments which suspend the discipline of conscious or logical reasoning. By definition "The Metamorphosis" and "The Masque of the Red Death" are the same. In style, context, and sub-consciousness, however, these short stories are entirely different variations of surrealism. Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" offers a powerfully symbolic expression of personal anguish and uncertainty. The story's opening sequence tells of a man named Gregor Samsa who awakes one morning to find that he has been inexplicably transformed into a giant insect. Isolation, fear, and personal resentment eventually overwhelm the creature. At last, when Gregor Samsa is completely abandoned, death succumbs him. The emotional distress and internal struggle for Samsa in "The Metamorphosis" is quite logical for Kafka's audience. The circumstance of Samsa's sudden fate, however, is not. Kafka solves this problem by providing intimate details about the unbelievable, forcing the audience to accept things otherwise deemed ridiculous. In "The Metamorphosis," for example, Kafka describes inse... ... middle of paper ... ...iterature. In accordance to the definition of surrealism, both stories encompass a reality above the surface reality, which allows for the expression of subconscious thought and feeling. Furthermore, these two short stories contain ex-centric scenarios and environments that suspend the discipline of conscious or logical reasoning. When compared, however, these two stories are different. Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" addresses the author's personal, subliminal yearn for acceptance and subconscious malice toward his father. Conversely, Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" illustrates his intense subconscious fear of death. While both short stories are surreal by definition, the context of each story's surrealism is incredibly dissimilar. This dissimilarity is quite logical as the subconscious is a realm of thought which can never be defined.
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.
The Masque of the Red Death was very serious from the beginning to end. The story never pulled away from the sense of a looming threat. Poe did not waste anytime, he cut straight to the point and set the tone right away. The tone relates to people language and the specific words that he uses to create illusion and imagery. Poe uses different times of words to define his language which is called Old English today. Poe sentences are also short and they are practically identical in the simple structure. Poe is a very different writer than most writers today, he has a unique way about his language.
Zapf, Hubert. “Entropic Imagination in Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’.” College Literature 16.3 (Fall 1989): p211-218. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 March 2012.
Both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe are gothic writers who share many similarities in their stories. Both authors write about characters who live in their own and try to escape the real world around them. In Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s experiment” four participants attempt to escape reality by drinking from a fountain of youth in order to return to make themselves younger. In Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, Prince Prospero tries to escape the red death, a disease that is ravaging his city, by hiding in his own castellated abbey. The characters in the stories both attempt to avoid death and the inevitable, by hiding behind their barriers, but no matter what they try to do reality catches up to them and they succumb to what they originally try to avoid. In both stories, the protagonists hide behind barriers made by themselves, attempt to conquer death, and eventually give in to death.
There are many parallels and differences between Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and "A Hunger Artist". Kafka portrays these differences and similarities very effectively through his utilization of elements such as transformation, dehumanization, and dedication to work. Through his works, Kafka communicates with the reader in such a way that almost provokes and challenges one’s imagination and creativity.
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
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a masterfully written short story about Gregor Samsa, a man who devotes his life to his family and work, for nothing in return. Only when he is transformed into a helpless beetle does he begin to develop a self-identity and understanding of the relationships around him. The underlying theme of The Metamorphosis is an existential view that says any given choice will govern the later course of a person's life, and that the person has ultimate will over making choices. In this case, Gregor?s lack of identity has caused him to be numb to everything around him.
Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is an elaborate allegory that combines
It is unusual to say the least to open a book and the first line is about the main character waking up as a large insect. Most authors’ use symbolism to relate the theme of their work, not Franz Kafka. He uses a writing method that voids all aspects and elements of the story that defy interpretation. In doing this, he leaves a simple story that stands only for an objective view for his own thoughts and dreams. Kafka focuses the readers’ attention on a single character that symbolizes himself and his life, not Everyman as some authors do. This method is displayed in most of his literary works. To understand how this method is recognized, readers must study the author’s background during the period of writing and basic history to understand this author’s motive. In his short story, “The Metamorphosis”, there are multiple similarities between Kafka’s true life and Gregor Samsa’s.
With sensory imagery to show an idea, cycle of nature, and the use of supernatural images to convey a message, both Moby Dick and “The Masque of the Red Death” are fine examples of American Romanticism. Both works use imagery stimulating the five senses to show and create emotion. The stories also teach a lesson from the cycle of nature, with the truth that death is inevitable is shown in Moby Dick and “The Masque of the Red Death.” Finally, Poe and Melville use supernatural elements to portray a message, with Moby Dick showing the general rage of humans while “The Masque of the Red Death” shows time ticking away.They use a combination of these 3 elements to provoke new ideas and put to use the reader’s imagination. As stated before, the use of feeling rather than logic in decision making is a result of the romantic movement.
One of Franz Kafka's most well-known and most often criticized works is the short story, "Die Verwandlung," or "The Metamorphosis." "The Metamorphosis" is most unusual in that the first sentence is the climax; the rest of the story is mainly falling action (Greenburg 273). The reader learns that Gregor Samsa, the story's main character, has been turned into an enormous insect. Despite this fact, Gregor continues to act and think like any normal human would, which makes the beginning of the story both tragic and comical at the same time. However, one cannot help but wonder why Gregor has undergone this hideous transformation, and what purpose it could possibly serve in the story. Upon examination, it seems that Gregor's metamorphosis represents both his freedom from maintaining his entire financial stability and his family's freedom from their dependence upon Gregor.
Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus' The Stranger, both feature protagonists in situations out of which arise existentialist values. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts . In The Metamorphosis the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, realizes his existentialism towards the end of the novella. In contrast, Monsieur Meursault, the protagonist in The Stranger, knows of his existentialism, only realizing his life's lack of meaning moments after he is sentenced to death. Despite the somewhat absurd nature of The Metamorphosis, and the realistic nature of The Stranger, similar values are communicated to the reader. The easiest to pick out being that it is up to the individual to create his/her own life, and that the inhuman behaviour presented by both protagonists will eventually lead to very bad things; namely death in both novellas. These deaths are, however, very different, as are the methods through which Kafka and Camus have made each novel nothing but `a philosophy put into images' .
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.
In The Metamorphosis Kafka illustrates a grotesque story of a working salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking up one day to discover that his body resembles a bug. Through jarring, almost unrealistic narration, Kafka opens up the readers to a view of Gregor’s futile and disappointing life as a human bug. By captivating the reader with this imaginary world Kafka is able to introduce the idea that Gregor’s bug body resembles his human life. From the use of improbable symbolism Kafka provokes the reader to believe that Gregor turning into a bug is realistic and more authentic compared to his unauthentic life as a human.
“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka is an interesting and extremely allegorical tale. The story starts out by introducing the main character, Gregor Samasa, who is a traveling salesman. One morning Gregor awakens to find that his body has been transformed into something unusually horrifying, a large insect with many tiny legs.