Imagery is the use of figurative or descriptive language to create a vivid mental picture. It involves at least one of the five senses--sight, sound, touch, feel, taste. It terrifies and worries the people of the masquerade ball. Poe’s use of imagery, more specifically the sense of sight, is to express the appearance of the Red Death figure. Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” uses graphic imagery to offer a powerful statement about how death can’t be escaped.
The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim was the pest ban, which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow men. And the whole seizure, progress, and termination of the disease were the incidents of half an hour" (Poe 317-22). In this passage Poe describes a plague that death uses to take its victims. The horrific manner in which the disease appears -- bleeding at the pores, sharp pains, and seizures--can be related back to episodes in... ... middle of paper ... ...Tales of Mystery and Imagination Norwalk: Heritage P.,1969. 317-322.
The short story The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe has a thematic perception of how death is inevitable. We first get a glance of this when the story mentions the countless people dying from Red Death. Which doesn 't sound like a disease but more of a malevolent entity. Poe paints a pictureof the death in the story, “scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victims were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.” This shows the inescapable grips of death that haunts all those it comes across. Even Prince Prospero and his prestige guest couldn 't escape this everlasting truth of despair they sheltered themselves from inside Prospero lofty,”castellated abbey.” Poe
The protagonist in Poe’s “The Assignation” sums up the combination of time and space within Poe’s stories and says, “I have … framed for myself … a bower of dreams. Properties of place, and especially of time, are the bugbears which terrify mankind from the contemplation of the magnificent” (301). The mental state of the character produces the setting and atmosphere, which usually results in the manifestation of that which is feared. The character manipulates his environment and uses tangible buildings and their contents as talismans or charms to outwit death. However, while the madman may try to circumvent death, it is actually the experience of dying that he fears, and despite his best intentions, death comes anyway.
These descriptions keep readers’ attention throughout the story. One can feel the terror of the “Red Death”, which “…had long devastated the country” and whose “…Avatar and seal [was] the redness and horror of blood” (420). The fact that blood represents the disease makes it recognized as deadly an... ... middle of paper ... ...th that of the last of the gay [a]nd the flames of the tripods expired” (427) to show that the tables have already turned and there is no going back. Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery, allegory, and symbolism to give allegorical meaning to his story “The Masque of Red Death”. He employs imagery to keep readers interested by creating an image, feeling, and significance.
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 "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.
He tells of pain, horror and bleeding. Furthermore, the Red Death, described as a pestilence in the short story kills quickly and alienates the sick. Describing the scene of redness and blood streaming from the pores, a strong visual is created immediately in the reader’s mind. His description of the afflicted’s pain also adds to the graphically explicit exposé of the red death disease. The red death image is morbid and aids Poe in creating a wonderfully horrific scene.
“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. Poe sets the scene by detailing the horrendous plague that is ravishing the unnamed country.
Madeline Kincer Mr. Thompson 1302-4200 March 12, 2015 The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe There is an exuberating, whimsical expression that comes throughout reading “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. The gothic imagery is personified and leaves an eerie chill down the readers’ spine. ”The Masque of the Red Death” is a short thriller about a plague terrorizing the country. The “Red Death” began by only killing the poor and weak members of society, the high class people were becoming concerned, so they attempted to hide from the Red Death. While hiding in the midst of the Red Death’s terror, Prince Prospero throws a huge gala, much like a gothic version of a Jay Gatsby party from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great
Tanilo had a very deadly disease, that caused his corpse to smell like a dead body and made him suffer tremendously. His suffering was saved by his beautiful death, in front of the Virgin of Talpa.