The Masque Of Red Death.
A virus had come. It killed all that it touched. No one could survive, the red death. Nothing had ever been like it. Sharp pain dizziness and bleeding at the pores where its signs.
When prince Prospero's town was half dead he called on 'a thousand hale and light hearted friends among the knights and dames of his court." He called them into a castle. Guarded with a metal gate. They stayed there for 6 months, Eluding the 'red death." They had every thing they need there. Entertainment, food and all other things needed to survive.
It was at the end of the 5th or 6th month that he called for a masked ball or 'of the most unusual magnificence." Abstract art filled the room with beauty. The masque was held in a suite with 7 rooms. The rooms were most curios with turns at every corner and gothic windows. The colors of each room varied. The 7th chamber was all black. The only thing different about this room was that the windows did not match with every thing else. The pains where blood red, there was no light of any kind. In there stood giant ebony clock 'whose pendulum swung with a dull heavy activities clang." All activities ceased with the sound of each hour. Everything stooped as if dead. ' But when the echoes had full ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly…..';
The first 6 rooms crowed unlike the 7th, until the clock struck midnight. Everything ceased like before until the last echo of the clock sounded. Many people became aware of the masked figure. 'There arose a length from the whole company." First surprise then horror to this figure. When the eyes of Prince Prospero saw him he did not know what to do.
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.
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.
But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. These were seven—an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different, as might have been expected from the duke’s love of the bizarre. 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. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose colour varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example in blue—and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange—the fifth with white—the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the
about the mask. The appendages tell the story about the mask, they move around when
Zimmerman, Brett. “Allegoria and Clock Architecture in Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’.” Essaysin Arts and Sciences 29 (Oct. 2000): P 1-16. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 April 2012.
In the short story “Masque of the Red Death” By: Edgar Allen Poe he delivers the theme of age old inevitability of death and futility of trying to escape death, the setting of his story is based during a time when the bubonic “black” plague took over Europe. The black plague was a bacterium that survived in rats and rodents, human beings became infected when they got bitten by the fleas that lived on these rodents and rats; you knew you had gotten infected by several symptoms such as bleeding in the lungs, high fever and delirium but the most outstanding symptom was bubos. Now Bubos are painful lymph nodes that appear usually in the armpits, legs, neck or groin areas, if the infected individual was left untreated then the person usually died within two to four days.
The setting of “The Masque of the Red Death” is an invite only party the prince is having in his isolated abbey. The story says “When his dominions were half depopulated; he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light- hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired
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)
a prince named Properso tries to dodge the Red Death through isolation and seclusion. He hides
He shows off his prosperity while ignoring the sick people of his land. Poe unmasked, “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."”(Poe 1). Prince Prospero shuns the Red Death without worries; he mistakenly believes his wealth will protect him from death itself. Unlike the Prince, Goodman Brown falsely assumes that his faith will protect him. The two characters rival in thought and inevitably both pay the price for
Prince Prospero was foolish to think he could escape the threat of the masque of the “Red Death.” When Prospero sees that his “dominios were half depopulated,” he assembles over 1000 knights, dames, courtiers, and entertainers within a “castellaed abbey” complete with a thick walls and gates of iron. Poe states , “all these and security within. Without was the ‘Red Death.’” Prospero surrounds himself with 1000 people inside the walls of this fortress. Within such a great number, he cannot honestly believe that the “Red Death” is not hidden within them. He is also foolish to believe that thick walls and iron gates could hold the disease was spread. The narrator describes how extravagantly detailed each of the seven
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.
Our scene aims to create mystery and suspense. The producer has created this anxiety by beginning the scene in the night. There is darkness and besides the ominous background music and the narration of the protagonist there is mostly silence. Flapping of birds wings in response to a door opening makes the heart beat faster. The birds are startled, so was the viewer. The protagonist is exploring a mansion. The mansion is heritage in comparison to the date of the production however, clothing worn by characters and costumes of those in photographs show that this is set to be a period film dating into the past. There are sheets on furniture, dust and vines on the building’s interior that show that the mansion is old still in comparison to the characters. A period setting and the dark of the night make the scene feel eerie. It is too dark to see properly and this works to create mystery. Crying can be heard and the source is unknown, there is tension as the protagonist is unable to locate the source as they are forbidden by another character with greater dominance. Forbidden territory creates conflict and the viewer is left eager to find out whether the protagonist will obey orders or disobey to solve the mystery. As the viewer one is left tense for conflict
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