Edgar Allan Poe 's The Masque Of The Red Death

During the late 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, a new movement in both literature and art swept the nation: Romanticism. This period set a heavy emphasis on emotion and individualism, and while many artists and authors explored the beautiful and fantastical side of the human mind, many more explored the darker, horror-filled side. Two authors especially famous for these kinds of stories were Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” (“YGB”), Goodman Brown traverses into the forest to meet with the devil and discovers many haunting things about the people in his town. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Masque of the Red Death” (“Masque”), Prince Prospero, the ruling monarch of a country besieged by death, refuses to accept his mortality. Goodman Brown takes pride in his and his town members’ spiritual goodness and refuses to accept the idea that he or anyone else could commit sins, but is psychologically destroyed when he discovers the true nature of the people around him. Prince Prospero similarly takes pride in his wealth and fortune and will not accept his death, but the disease he was trying to avoid arrives and takes his life. Through their initial rejections, the two characters cause the destruction of a critical part of themselves, whether it be their faith in humanity or their physical body. Hawthorne and Poe both establish how pride causes an unwillingness to accept one’s fate, and how the

The Black Death, also known as The Red Death, killed over sixty percent of Europe’s population. “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is about wealth and privilege, where the prince hides from the Red Death with his revelers. Poe uses symbols such as setting, objects, along with characters to reveal an allegorical theme. Thus being the theme, everyone will perish, even the wealthy and privileged.

In “Mask of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe uses setting and symbolism to deliver the theme that no one escapes death. The story follows the naïve and pompous Prince Prospero, and his feeble attempt to escape dying from the Black Plague. As the plague spread through his kingdom, the prince called one thousand of his closest friends to reside within the safety of the castle in order to seclude themselves from the horror and death going on outside. During the last months of their seclusion, the prince decided to hold a masquerade ball in order to amuse his many guests living within the confines of the rather odd castle. The dance takes place in a variety of unusual apartments within the castle, spaced apart so the guests would only see one room at a time. The apartments flowed east to west, each decorated in a different color and theme while following a pattern of blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet and finally ending in black. During the ball, guests enjoyed a dreamlike atmosphere as they danced through the many colored apartments, each of them avoiding the final black room. This final dark patterned room contained a large ebony clock which chimed eerily every hour, causing the party goers to pause their merriment for a few moments of uneasy silence. As midnight drew near, a new guest arrived, sporting a costume more ghastly and morose than any other. The mask he wore resembled that of a plague victim, and his clothes resembled a funeral shroud. Prospero became angry

In the words of Seneca the Younger, well-known Roman Philosopher, “Oh, what darkness does great prosperity cast over our minds!”. In Edgar Allan Poe’s 1842 story, “The Masque of The Red Death”. The story takes place during the 1300’s during the ravage that was the Bubonic plague, referred to as the Red Death by Poe. Many argue the identity of the narrator in this story, but it is lucid that they are a figure of biblical proportion due to Poe’s use of allusions to the Bible, “Tempest”, and the Red Death as an Anti-Christ.

Death and darkness, Just two words used in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" to bring out grotesque imagery inside your head and force you to unwillingly share deep emotions embedded within your soul that you would otherwise not share with the world. This passage uses a third person view to follow the prince Prospero in his attempts to avoid a dangerous plague named "The Red Death". Edgar Allen Poe uses his language and word choice to create a mood which is terrifying and gloomy.

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

Prince Prospero in Masque of the Red Death written by Edgar Allan Poe is a Prince of his kingdom who escapes and eludes the Red Death sweeping throughout his kingdom killing all it comes into contact with. Prospero 's fight or flight reaction, a built in mechanism inside all humans and his reaction to fear of his own death ultimately lead to his downfall and instead of keeping him alive prove unable to beat the elutable and all mighty red death. Picture a scenario where you are put to the test to see your own flight or fight reaction, you and a few friends are on the train chatting about everyone’s most embarrassing moments. All of a sudden, someone comes from the other train car and yells, “Someone has a gun on the train!” This scenario

In the writings “Masque of the Red Death,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and the poem “Alone,” written by Edgar Allan Poe, there are qualities about them that make them similar. Examples of some of these similarities would be isolation, mood, symbolism and death. All of these similarities are common in many of Poe’s writings because of his personal life. Throughout Poe’s life he experienced the deaths of his mother, adopted mother, and wife due to illnesses (Tuberculosis). Because of these deaths, it effected his style of writing, which is depressing, sorrowful and he goes deep into his feelings.

Poe who wrote "The Mask Of The Red Death" 200 years ago was not talking about modern day Ebola. Modern day Ebola takes up to 3 months to die. Red death kills the people faster then 30 min.

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.

When the term “isolation” is used, most people think of it as an action performed in solitude. It brings to mind an empty space in which one person resides, far from all others. However, isolation does not always occur in a singular sense. In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, isolation is used by a large population as a means of safety. In “The Thing Around Your Neck” by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, isolation occurs among crowds of people and even in the company of someone close to one’s heart. In both aspects, isolation serves to exemplify the broken portions of life. Isolation is a destructive force and as a theme, isolation serves to exemplify a particular viewpoint and worldview while serving as both a cause and effect.

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

the Red Death shows the futile attempts by a prince and his guests of a party,

Throughout the history of literature we see an obvious string of religion connecting most works to the core of their beginnings. From creation stories of tribes, to colonial poems, to the twisted mind of Edgar Allan Poe, there is a connection. Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” may not seem to portray the ideas of religion but through close examination, the association will become less cloudy. Poe’s use of symbolism, narrator, word choice, helps readers unmask the idea of religion.

The red death is about a rich prince that thought he could outsmart death with money and ended up dying anyways. The red death is also based on the effects of the black death which killed millions of people in europe during the middle centuries. The red death is a very strange story written by edgar allen poe which describes the red death as being so deadly it kills within an half an hour. The story is very strange often including easy to miss symbolism.