Disease, for as long as mankind has existed, it has existed alongside us. It acts as one of death’s greatest causes, killing millions of human beings throughout time. It’s seemingly god-like power lead many an earlier man to believe that it was supernatural in origin. During the early colonial period within America, it was attributed to witchcraft. An ideal that was only encouraged by the theocratic governments of the time. This formed the basis for the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. Throughout most time, disease finds most of its targets amongst the poor people. Hiding within the filth of society, waiting to pounce upon those too weak to defend themselves. The rich, however, hide themselves away from the disease by hiding themselves away from those that are infected, the poor. This ideal is explored throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Red Masque of Death”. Disease is found within both works, as is a commentary on the politics of the times depicted. …show more content…
The disease within the play was not a literal one, but rather a sickness of the mind. A disease that claimed many a life. The carrier of that disease is a singular girl, a girl named Abigail Williams. When one of her cronies turns on her, she shifts the blame towards her claiming that her friend is a witch by saying “It is a wind, a wind!” (Arthur 101) and going on further to blame Mary Warren for a made up hallucination. While not a disease in truth, the one of the mind that permeates throughout the play leads to a hatred that gets many a man and woman hung simply because someone disliked
The book Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, that is a gothic story. This is about a prince hiding from the plague. He closed the gate and party to forget about the plague. He bring his friends because they can be safe and run from the disease. Then later many people died when an uninvited person came to the party. This book shows that you can not escape from fear by hiding in a lock castle and the price is careless..
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, was- and still is- a commentary upon the dangers of community hysteria. While the play was originally written to call out the McCarthy hearings as morally wrong; It's morals and lessons are still useful in modern times. The Crucible speaks to a fear that is instilled in everyone: fear of the unknown. In terms of the play, the unknown is represented by witchcraft. During the Mccarthy hearings, the fear was the rising Communist party. In modern times, the unknown is ever changing, with new fears coming down upon American society daily: terrorism, lgbtq, sexual harassment, & racism. The play’s main theme- to be aware of the danger of societal fears of the unknown- has the ability to resonate with any audience of
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
In 1952 a play was written by Arthur Miller, about events that happened in Salem in 1692. The play was about affairs, accusations, and innocent people being accused of witches. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail and Mary Warren are introduced as two separate people. Although people might see Abigail and Mary Warren as two separate people and nothing alike, they are more alike than meet's the eye. Abigail and Mary Warren have three things in common; they are both are deceitful, they both dishonest, and they are both apprehensive.
“A psychosomatic disorder is an illness caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as an internal conflict, which causes the body stress” (Van Heck). The year 1692 was filled with mass hysteria, along with many forms of mental, or psychosomatic diseases, but a doctor working in the year of 1692 had never perceived a psychosomatic disorder. In The Crucible, many of the girls who accused innocent women of being witches, showed multiple signs of a true psychosomatic illness. These young girls showed signs of a psychosomatic disorder because of their ability to make themselves faint, turn their skin cold, and frighten themselves by pretending to see objects that they did not physically see. The characters may have developed a psychosomatic illness from self-blame, stress, and/or anxiety. More or less, a psychosomatic disease affects a human's brain, which can then cause physical ailments to other parts of the body, such as pale skin and/or tachycardia. It has been highly controversial that humans can create their own psychosomatic illness and there will be many facts in the following paragraphs to prove as to how the illnesses have been created in a human's own head.
The standard perception concerning human limitations has it that the potential of humankind knows no bounds. Yet, the cycle of life disproves this recurrent opinion of human potential. Based upon the realistic scope of their own abilities, the phrase, “the sky’s the limit”, are well within the bounds of the timeless concepts of life and death. These ideas are common points amongst works of literature from the American Romantic Period. Moreover, one of the most prominent Romantics is Edgar Allan Poe, who utilizes seemingly natural attributes of human interactions, and expands them out of proportion in order to reveal the gloominess of those said attributes. Poe’s literary works encompass many aspects that are reflective of the Romantic Period; his works include the acknowledgement of nature or setting, emphasis on individuals and groups of people, and elements of the supernatural; such use of Romantic attributes also leads to a plausible interpretation of an indirect rejection of the establishment of religion. The utilization of these qualities appears frequently in Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, which is a fictional account of a burgeoned plague and its multitude of effects on the wealthy survivors. Furthermore, a key point in the short story is the particular choice of setting: a gothic quarantine, which intertwines many Romantic elements. In particular, the quarantine of “The Masque of the Red Death”, is a symbol of human limitations and the
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and David Rothkopf’s TED Talk How Fear Drives America Politics are two significant texts that emphasise a fundamental political message that remains timeless throughout both the Puritan society within the world of the play and the contemporary society of Miller and Rothkopf. Ultimately the use of fear in order to gain political advantage and control the masses is a profound power present in the political dimension that is explored within both these texts and offers personal insight into the McCarthy era of the Cold War that Miller was subjected to and the post-9/11 hysteria that gripped America when Rothkopf was emerging as a prominent journalist. Miller’s depiction of Abigail and the girls in particular and
Edgar Allan Poe is a famous well known writer known for his dark and gothic horror stories such as “The Tell-Tale Heart” and many others. The well-known author had a rough life which dealt with a lot of death, so most of his stories revolve around this idea. In “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Masque of the Red Death” Poe uses similar themes or darkness to convey tone and conflict throughout the story. His writing style is dark and revolves around one main concept: death. Edgar Allan Poe uses diction and syntax, setting and conflict, and characterization in his writing style to develop his stories.
Michael Ruiz once said, “Everyone dies. There’s no point in fighting it.” In Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, there is a disease that kills almost everyone in a country so the king brings all survivors into a castle to prevent it from killing anyone else, although it still ends up getting in from a ghost, and wipes everyone else out. In Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses gothic elements such as a gloom setting, supernatural beings, curses, and air of mystery and suspense.
People come and go, but fear remains constant. In 1692, the people of Salem were scared into believing there was witches among them, and in 1950’s the Red Scare destroyed thousands of people's lives by saying they were Communists. Those accused were both witch hunts were put on trial, and in Salem they were killed, and the Red Scare had blacklisted those persecuted. Theres many similarities in "The Great Fear” and a poem on Sacco and Vendetti, Margaret Chase Smith’s speech, and Senator Elizabeth Warren. The similarity are lives being over and the towns, the people who started the mess and, the people who spoke out.
Pain is an inevitable thing for someone to go through in their life. Through a crucible, or a difficult time, there is often a great deal of such pain. When people go through an event like this they tend to change greatly. In The Crucible, there is a vivid depiction of the trials which afflicted Salem. Proctor, Parris, and Hale all go through this crucible, and their characters are truly shown by their reactions of anguish, deceit, and panic.
In the novel The Crucible written by Arthur Miller the story is based on the Salem Witch Trials which took place in 1692. Many people can relate to it because this is based off true life events that took place. The Salem Witch Trials and The Red Scare both contained a lot of drama. Miller’s story of the Salem Witch Trials closely parallels to The Red Scare communist “witch hunt” of the 1960s. Many people were killed and taken away from their families in the 1950s.
Fear is a powerful emotion in The Crucible. It defines the human race. In old ignorant societies such as puritan Salem in 1692, fear runs rampant when dozens of innocent people are accused of witchcraft and some hanged. In Arthur Miller’s famous play The Crucible, dozens of innocent citizens were hung for the wrongful accusation of witchcraft in Salem. It also happened in 1962 when 62 textile workers came down with a disease that was blamed on the bite of a Junebug. When fear becomes widespread and mistaken as it has in Salem, it is not fear anymore; it is mass hysteria, a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness. The human behavior
When it comes to reading literature the most challenging yet important task is to understand the purpose of the author's writing. In Romantic era literature understanding the emotions and thoughts that are created in the reader's mind are essential to gaining a clear message that the writer is trying to send. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” the narrator immediately introduces the “Red Death”; a disease that has been spreading throughout Prince Prospero’s country; killing his people within half an hour of contracting the disease. Throughout the story the author continuously uses diction and syntax to create suspense and evoke a grim tone to the reader. In the “Masque of The Red Death” Poe produces fearful imagery in the reader's mind through creating a supernatural presence in the setting.
Have you ever read a story where fantasy is the reality and things do not quite make sense? This is true for “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. In it is a version of the black plague, which is called the “Red Death”. Prince Prospero secludes a thousand friends and himself from the death around them, but finds that he cannot avoid the inevitable. The author uses many literary devices to create an interesting and meaningful story. One of the devices used is imagery, which evokes the events of the story clearly in the reader’s mind. Another is allegory, which is used by Poe to create another story within his, as it is filled with double meanings. Lastly, Poe utilizes symbolism to give the story meaning. Edgar Allan Poe uses