Edgar Allan Poe 's The Masque Of The Red Death

Throughout the gothic horror short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the struggle of an egotistical prince who refuses to face the inevitable reality of death. Through the downfall of the protagonist, Poe establishes the idea that the inability to face reality often leads to the destruction of the mind. The downfall of the Prince is emphasized by Poe’s use of characterization, setting, and symbolism.

Edgar Allen Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death” is an extravagant allegory of the futility of trying to escape death. In the story, a prince named Prospero tries to avoid the Red Death through isolation and seclusion. He hides behind the impenetrable walls of his castle and turns his back on the rest of the world. But no walls can stop death because it is unavoidable and inevitable. Through the use of character, setting, point of view, and symbol, Poe reveals the theme that no one, regardless of status, wealth or power can stay the passing of time and the inevitable conclusion of life itself, death.

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

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.

In the Article, "Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death,”’ Martha Womack writes about how the literacy devices are being used on the story, for example, she includes the summary, setting, characters, themes, styles and interpretation. The website briefly summarizes the story and goes in more depth about the author. Furthermore, she also informs about the historical epidemics of the Black Death and discusses about how the plague took an unusual form of a red death rather than a black so that the blood becomes the mark of death in the story.

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer who believed every single word contained meaning and in his own words expressed this idea in brevity only he is capable, "…there should be no word written, of which tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design." (Poe 244). To this effect, Poe drenches his works in symbolism and allegory. Especially in shorter works, Poe assigns meaning to the smallest object, explicitly deriving exurbanite significance within concise descriptions. "The Masque of the Red Death" tells the story of a Prince Prospero who along with his one thousand friends sought a haven from the plague that was ravishing their country. They lived together in the prince's luxurious abbey with all the amenities and

In The Masque of the Red Death, Poe uses description to fuel a feeling of suspense among his readers. One way of showing this is by presenting the audience with seven rooms each ranging in color, but as the narrator goes further into the different rooms the descriptions of the rooms become darker in color and vibes. The first room being bright blue color and the last room being an unsettling dark black velvet tapestries with scarlet- a deep blood color windows (Poe 688). Being a reader of this particular story it brought about the question of what could be the significance of the colors starting from a bright

There is something to be said about fate and how it is often disregarded when one is consumed in the exhilaration of life. Universal fate exists as something that is unknown and feared by all, yet is what links the entire world together. Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death plays with the universal fate of death through the use of religious symbolism, ironic events, and ingenious contrasts. Poe’s strategies create a powerful effect on his readers to rethink life, its boundaries, and the inescapable fate that encloses us all, while not forgetting to continue living life to it’s fullest.

Visual imagery was not in short supply and from the beginning of the story, color played a decidedly important role in creating tone, setting and point of view. Poe’s fastidious use and description of colors throughout the story, which can be found in his notations of the color, consistency and appearance of blood as well as the description of a “Red Death” victim created imagery. The simple use of color within the title helps Poe set up a reader’s anticipation of imagery. As Poe writes,” let me tell of the rooms in which it was held” the reader is peppered with visual imagery about the various colors and details of the rooms to catalyze the development of a mental map or “stage “ in order for the reader to mentally move forward into the story’s setting or deeper into the characters dementia. As we mentally follow along a brief tour of colorful settings and descriptions of”vivid blue” windows, purple tapestries, green casements, colorful windows, the tour ends at a darkened entrance where the introduction to final “apartment…closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls”.

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” These words, spoken by Edgar Allan Poe, hold the most truth within the “The Masque of the Red Death.” Throughout this story, Poe encompasses many ideas and themes that remind us of out own impending doom and the frivolousness of out labors. The major themes Edgar Allan Poe explored in “The Masque of the Red Death” are the inevitability of death, the illusion of control, and madness. Edgar Allan Poe lived a life full of misfortune.

A story also written by Poe is “The Masque of the Red Death”. This story starts of by describing the sickness “the red death” which kills many people in a fictional country hastily. Many residents are distraught and scared of this sickness, other than the prince Prospero who does not seem to focus on this issue. Although Poe did not describe the exact symptoms of the sickness, I believe that he has portrayed tuberculosis as the red death, which would make sense as it is the illness that killed Poe’s loved ones quickly. Poe’s mother, wife and many more relatives suffered from this disease, but still just like prince Prospero he tried to ignore the significance of this illness. Moreover, I suppose that Prospero is Poe but when he was adopted

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

As a gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe created horror using gloom as his weapon. Hidden within the suspenseful story of “The Masque of Red Death” is an allegorical tale of how individuals deal with the fear of death as time passes. Frantic activities and pleasures (as represented by Prince Prospero and his guests) seek to wall out the threat of death. However, the story reminds the reader that death comes “like a thief in the night”(Poe 3), and even those who seek peace and safety shall not escape. Poe uses symbolism to illustrate that man cannot hide from his own mortality.

   After reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of Red Death" (317-22), the reader can only conclude that death is the theme once again in another thrilling horror tale. Other critics such as Patricia H. Wheat, view this tale as a battle between life and death (51-56). Yet, Leonard Cassuto brings an interesting theory to this tale--"According to the narrator's own account, no one survives the Red Death. The only one who(lives) is Death. The narrator must be death himself" (317-20). Reflecting back to the various critical analogies on tone, character, and allegory on "The Masque of Red Death" a certain aspect of this work has yet to be defined. The plague that devastated a

Death is a subject that humans try to avoid, but in reality the moment that a human takes his or her first breath, one's life begins to end. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" is a symbolic story that tells about a prince who tries to avoid death by secluding himself away from the horrible disease that plagued the people of his country. Poe's use of symbolizim in the story really grabs a reader's attention and teaches one a valuable lesson about life, time, and the inevitabilty of death.