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Symbolism in the masque of the red death story
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Symbolism in the masque of the red death story
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Derek Cannon
Intro to Literature
March 3, 2014
Masque of Red Death
In the short story The Masque of Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, a horrific disease called the Red Death each of the revelers, as well as Prospero in a bloody demise. Although the Red Death is fictional disease, plagues and diseases were somewhat of a mysterious and inexplicable occurrence during most of human history. During the 19th century many people attributed such afflictions to the devil or an evil presence, as shown in the corpse-like intruder in Prospero’s castle. The Masque of the Red Death illustrates the mysterious, and inescapable horrors of disease throughout history.
This story emphasizes the fact that no one can escape disease. Prospero and his group of nobles have secluded themselves within his castle to wait out the plague of the Red Death which is described as causing “sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution” (Poe, 1). Through the extravagant parties in Prince Prospero’s house of grandeur, both the Prince and his guests would be able to forget about the plague and await its end in comfort. The illusion of safety is shown through the seclusion of the castle, as well as the great gates around the castle that are closely guarded so as to not let anyone in. Consequently, when the clock strikes midnight the revelers are struck with fear when they notice this figure resembling the plague itself amongst them. Everyone is so terrified that even when Prospero announces that they must apprehend this intruder “there were found none who put forth a hand to seize him.” The horror that the guests display, shows how frightening disease could be. It couldn’t be simply captured and killed, and attempti...
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.... Perhaps when the prince first laid eyes upon his unwelcome “in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage” (Poe, 1). This could have shown something of Poe’s own emotions towards his wife’s condition, as would be a common reaction to any inexplicable disease to which you could do nothing about. This story showed how Prince Prospero had to face up to the reality of the disease as did Poe about his wife.
Through the illusion of security and mystery Poe creates a story based on what truly happened during outbreaks throughout history. Through the use of symbolism of a masked figure of death and the extravagance of the masquerade it truly shows the mystery of how plagues came to be and why. Even more importantly, it shows that no matter your social status or income, no one is safe from death.
All people wish to avoid suffering, and those with wealth usually take too long to realize that they cannot avert it. In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe tells the readers of death, and how the upper class deals with it. In this story, Prince Prospero and his wealthy friends hide away in a castle to evade death. This obviously does not work, as death is inevitable, but of course, they attempt to save themselves anyways. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses the courtiers, Prince Prospero, and the stranger to symbolize the members of the influential upper class and their habit of using their power to postpone their own impending doom.
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
In the "Masque of the Red Death," the first sentence, "The Red Death had long devastated the country," sets the tone for the whole story. Poe describes the horrors of the disease, stressing the redness of the blood and the scarlet stains. The disease kills so quickly that one can die within thirty minutes of being infected with the disease. To create a frightening effect of the revulsion of this disease, Poe uses words such as "devastated," "fatal," "horror of blood," and "sharp pains and profuse bleeding." In summary, the story relates the prince, trying to be safe and away from the horrible death, invites a thousand friends to be in seclusion in his abbey away from the disease. During a celebration , a masked ball at the abbey - with incredible described rooms and moods - a surprise masked intruder causes death to all.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death” Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. ED. Edgar V Roberts and Robert Zweig. Boston, Longman: 2012. 516-519.
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.
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.
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The masque of the Red Death” all share a similar setting, mood and characters. They also share a similarity of death. This is due to him loosing so many people to tuberculous. Throughout his life he saw his mother, his wife, and his sister die of the dreaded disease, which helped him write his stories and poems.
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.
The Red Death described in the story is a fatal pestilence which causes “sharp pains, sudden dizziness and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution”. (page 386) Once the pestilence hits, the person dies within ½ an hour. Prince Prospero’s motivation is to survive the plague and he believes this can be done by taking his wealth and inviting one thousand of his upper class friends to stay in his palace. In Prospero’s mind the “external world could take care of itself” while he and his friends lived lavishly. (page 386)
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...
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
When death begins it walk, it does not stop. In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allan Poe, A prince named Prospero, builds a castle to hide to the disease that devastated the country. He decides to have a masquerade and invites rich and wealthy guests to this castle so they can be safe from the Red Death. The music was magnificent, there was dancing; it was a spectacular ball that night until the clock stroked midnight and all eyes go on the uninvited guest. Poe uses the indolent Prince Prospero, glorious castle, and the eerie stranger to show that man cannot escape death in “The Masque of the Red Death”.
The short story is generally a study in human terror. Furthermore, the author explains Poe use of a particular style and technique, to not only create the mood of mystery, but to cause the reader to feel sympathy for the narrator. Poe makes a connection between the storyteller and reader with knowledge and literary craftsmanship.
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.
Poe's narrator describes the "Red Death" as having long devastated the country; “In fact, no pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the redness and the horror of blood” (1). The image of blood and time throughout the short story also indicates corporeality. The plague may, in fact, represent typical attributes of human life and mortality by implying the entire story is an allegory about a man's useless tries to getaway from death.