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Oppression lurks within a hierarchical structure and it is where opulence lies in the control of the nobility while the underprivileged suffer. Before the French Revolution, the aristocrats quarantined themselves in illusory settings where it was serene, festive, and filled with laughter. Thereof, the peasantry masses broke in; and, it was then that the lower masses nevermore submitted to the aristocracy and the nobles did not feel safe once more. The Masque of the Red Death is a gothic allegory composed by Edgar Allan Poe that exposes the corruption in a feudalistic system that devastated Europe. It fixates on the nobility who hid behind closed doors to enthrall themselves in petty pleasures and rejected the external world who was dying of …show more content…
The ebony clock, Prince Prospero, the castle, and the seven rooms all intertwine to demonstrate how the nobles escaped to a wonderland where they excluded their social responsibilities and neglected the lower class. Their allegorical counterparts reflect the notions of both life and death and how impotent Prince Prospero was trying to fend off the grasp of death, "It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence". The name of Prince Prospero conveys financial prosperity; furthermore, it emphasizes how he exploited his own wealth and retreated for protection, hence allegorizing the inevitable doom of feudalism. Under any system, all leaders have a responsibility to protect and serve their citizens, Prospero only protected his fellow wealthy companions and left the commoners to fend for themselves. His arrogance integrates with an appalling apathy towards the trouble of the lower class. In spite of his overflowing wealth and power, he chose not to assist the poor and used his wealth as a self-defense mechanism and for decadent pleasures. In the interior of the castle lied seven rooms, each outlined with a different color of the spectrum, "the eastern extremity was hung...in blue …show more content…
The noble’s attempts to stave off mortality were futile; thus, through time they impelled to perceive the coming vengeance of the lower class. Therefore, justice triumphed through the power of death against the wealthy; both the rich and poor are all equal in the eyes of death. Prince Prospero knew that the prosperity of the illusion of safety, relied upon psychological transformation and ignorance of the outside world and of the Red Death, "summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revelers at once threw themselves into the black apartment...gasped in utterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask...untenanted by any tangible force". When the force of the Red Death exposed itself, it shed light upon the sins of the aristocrats. The use of revelry as a defense mechanism against the fear of the poor, indefinitely exposed of the guilt that lied within the noble's was enough to bring them to their end. Furthermore, the presence of the Red Death elucidates the overthrowing of feudalism, the lower masses will no longer deal with brutality and impudence from the rich, they will seek forth justice, " like a thief in the night". In any system, regardless of what may seem like an inconceivable task to achieve, through time the upper class would collapse through revolution. It is inhumane
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.
Sova, Dawn B. "Masque of the Red Death." Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts on File, 2007. 109-13. Print.
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.
The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were 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, 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.
"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,'" (209). As Edgar Allen Poe set the scene for his story, he also created an ominous mood and a sense of suspense supported by the setting. He details the fun and amusement inside the prince's abbey, in contrast to the horror and doom outside, and the reader's curiosity is piqued, because such bliss cannot be maintained for long. Throughout the story Poe explicates and changes elaborate environments to build the suspenseful energy and create a strong structure. In "The Masque of the Red Death," setting is employed to organize motives and action, and to focus the reader on the climax. Poe targets the culminating point of his story using rich descriptions of the abbey, the masquerade, and the clock.
“The Masque of the Red Death” was written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 19th century. This story was written during the Gothic era. The stories that are written in the Gothic era is usually has to do with death, and lots of people were fascinated by the stories. There are many symbols in “The Masque of the Red Death”, yet I chose three, the first is all the colors of the room, second is the ebony clock and the last is the inside and outside of the abbey.
Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is an elaborate allegory that combines
... to power may have been Poe’s ideals in Hop-Frog and The Purloined Letter, but the reality of the situation was that monetary wealth was the single most useful means of gaining power, at least in the publishing industry. The Masque of the Red Death was a poignant social commentary on this uneven field of play and Poe’s point of view concerning the wealthy capitalists. Nonetheless, the possibility of altering the rules on the field of play lay not in the hands of the mentally acute and those who possessed information, but completely with those who possessed capital.
In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery, sensory detail and symbolism not only to build suspense, but also to convey the idea that an individual can not hide or run away from death which becomes closer as time passes on. Throughout the story Poe uses imagery details to create suspense in the story. For example when the author is describing the disease that has taken many lives he describes the unfortunate event as, “ Blood was its Avator and its seal- the redness and the horror of blood. One can understand that in the story the tragic death of someone might occur as tragically as the disease is described. Accordingly, as the story progresses the deep shade of the color red is evident in many areas to represent symbolism.
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.
Every one of us has that fear of death. In his short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe describes the fear of death felt by the prince and his friends in the palace. The story represents an allegory about life and death and the weakness of human beings to evade the grip of death. This allegory gives a clear image of the story. In the story, the characters are Prince Prospero and his guests and the strange intruder. Poe’s story with its horror theme keeps us feeling that suspense to know if indeed the wealth can defeat the death. That pushes us to ask if death is a form of equality between rich and poor people on earth? Death is a part of life that nobody can run from no matter
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