People always try to play games to evade death but in the end, death always wins. Edgar Allen Poe, in his short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” uses setting and theme to illustrate that death is inevitable. This story is told during a time when the Red Death plague has taken the lives of many citizens in the country. The kingdom ruler, Prince Prospero, holds a masquerade ball for all his friends that have not yet been affected by the plague. Prince Prospero’s castle is filled with drinks, various rooms, dancers, and masqued friends. One masked friend wore a costume resembling the red death and infected everyone in his presence. The masked man looms around the dark room and finds his victims. The setting of the dark room creates a fearful …show more content…
Prince Prospero designed a lavish castle containing seven different rooms, the seventh room representing death. He tries to hide from the red death by building “an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince 's own eccentric yet august taste [....] the apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect” (41). Prospero 's character is well reflected through his creation of the abbey. His abstruse design of castle includes sharp turns through the hallways showing that each room can barely be seen from another. He wants every room to be separated in its own way so that no one can see the black room unless they purposely look for it. His castle is very dramatic and imaginative, representing his artistic side. Not only does Prospero have an artistic side, but he is also filled with madness. Prospero felt that “the external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red Death” (42). Prince Prospero serves as a …show more content…
Prince Prospero and his guests try to evade death by staying in the castle and distracting themselves. However, they are constantly reminded of it through the clock in the black room and its “pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken” (43). The “monotonous clang” is reminder that time is passing as every clang shows that time has gone by. It is a constant indicator of death because the clocks constant ticking expresses the essence of time. Like death, time can never be stopped or paused. The “hour was to be stricken” represents that that hour was to be deeply affected. Everyone is partying, but then the clock chimes “all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand” (43). The clock creates silence and a sense of stillness until the sound of the clock interrupts the silence, just as death interrupts one 's life. All is still in the moment of the clock’s chiming. People’s dreams in that room are frozen because in that room lies death thereby meaning that they now have no way of getting out. Death is imminent and, just like time, cannot be
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.
inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape death. The prince's name, Prospero,
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 story “The Masque of the Red Death” the title slightly reveals the story. The story is about a fatal disease known as “The Red Death” and Prospero not caring about and dies. Poe writes this story in third person .Prince Prospero knew about the people dying from the disease but he paid it no attention. So one day Prospero decides to throw a masquerade ball. In the ball there are seven rooms. The seven rooms are different colors such as blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. While people are in enjoying the ball, midnight strikes and everyone silently fall to their deaths. Prospero see that everyone is dead and becomes frightened. Prospero runs in a rage and The Red Death catches him and Prospero dies.
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.
Towards the end of the story, the people encounter the masked man resembling the Red Death and Prospero chases him through the rooms. When the people follow Poe states “ Then summoning the wild courage of despair a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment.”(10). They avoided the black room all night but when all the chaos happened they threw themselves in the room to find out what happened. Just like they eventually went into the room they were avoiding, they eventually all died. The black room symbolizes death, the room was always they and unavoidable just like death
The story continues as Prince Prospero (meaning happiness and prosperity) summoned a thousand of his worthy friends to join him in his home that was surrounded by high walls and iron gates, he reinforced the idea they all would be happy and secure inside while the “Red Death” destroyed the world outside those gates as they knew it.
...agraph, the author mentions that the disease had come "like a thief in the night," but this statement is entirely untrue. Poe wrote a cohesive story which acknowledges the fear of trapping oneself in a doomed situation. Ironically, the very place the Prospero built to keep himself safe led to his hideous destruction. However, the audience was never permitted to believe that the prince would escape death, because even Poe's choice of environments reflect the triumph of the plague; the isolation and quarantine of the abbey, the fever and delirium of the masquerade, and finally the progression of time and eventual death. The clock strikes midnight, and with its shadowy expiration, "the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all," (213).
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
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.
Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is an elaborate allegory that combines
The clock serves as more than just a decorative element, it “is the relentlessly paralyzing reminder of ‘the Time that flies…’” (Freedman 238). Poe’s repeated mention of the clock and its chimes creates a level of anticipation and anxiety that must mirror what the partygoers are feeling as they are left unable to ignore the fact that time is passing and death is growing nearer. No matter how much wealth or luck these people may have had, they are not above dying. While the partygoers may try to “avoid the black and blood-tinted chamber, the echoes of the clock resound throughout the abbey” and leave each of them with a feeling of uneasiness as they are pulled back to reality (Freedman 238). While the prospect of people dying beyond the walls seemed not to weigh heavily among the party guests, “the chimes of the clock” made even the “giddiest [grow] pale” (Poe 439). The inclusion and repetition of such details as the partygoers’ reactions towards each of the clock’s hourly chimes show that they are finally, though unwillingly, beginning to acknowledge the finality of the death that awaits them. However, whenever the clock’s “sound fades, [the partygoers]
When Prince Prospero first sees mummer known as the Red Death “ he was seen to be convulsed in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror of of distaste…” This creates suspense by giving the reader a cold feeling of the presence of a new individual. When the prince realizes that the Red Death is up to no good he decides to take matters into his own hands. Prince Prospero takes a dagger and chases the mummer threw all of the rooms. Suddenly, “There was a sharp cry- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero.” The reader now realizes that the prince has been murdered by an unknown force which gives the individual an uneasy feeling. In conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe creates suspense throughout this short story using symbolism and imaginary, sensory
At the masque the clock rings a deep eerie ring each hour causing people to realize death is approaching, even if they don’t want it to. The quote, “While the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grw pale”(Poe 84), shows the people at the dance realizing in the back of their heads, that they knew death was bound to happen. The clock symbolizes death approaching the partiers. Even the happiest, care free of them all felt the effects of the sudden realization of the fate they ran away from. The seventh room holds the clock that tells the people death is approaching, this is showing that because the rings were coming from the black covered room facing west, death was on its way. With each ring of the clock the people realize it is impossible to hide from the
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.