Essay On The Mask Of The Red Death

Prince Prospero is the main character of this story whose name reveals more about him. In the text, Prince Prospero is described as being,”...happy and dauntless and sagacious.” (1). While his people were suffering and dying he was living a carefree life in his palace. Since he believed he was safe in his domain, he did not take notice of the environment around him. Prince Prospero's name has correlation to the term “prosperous”. Prosperous is the state of being wealthy and successful. This relates to Prince Prospero as he was a very wealthy man who had power. This wealth led him isolate himself in order to try to save his own life. Another symbolism in the text would be the seventh chamber of the abbey.

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.

Many short stories have an underlying message that the author does not directly convey. Logan Pearsall Smith states, “It is not what an author says but what he or she whispers, that is important.” This means that the reader needs to search for a hidden message within the story, as one might say; there is more than meets the eye. Two stories supporting this quote are “The Masque of the Red Death,” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant. The characters within these stories that gradually relate and connect to the quote are Prince Prospero and Madame Loisel.

The Masque of the Red Death is a short story written by acclaimed literary author, Edgar Allen Poe. The story is an emphasis on the fact that there is no avoiding death, no matter how hard you try, which is the overall theme. The text tells the story of Prince Prospero whose town is being plagued by the dreaded Red Death. He attempts to avoid the plague by inviting 1,000 of his closest friends, all of which are variably different, to isolate themselves in his palace. Throughout the story, Poe frequently uses symbolism to depict the theme of the Red Death.

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.

Prospero himself is a man of great wealth and power yet he is shown to be arrogant, selfish and ignorant of the suffering outside his castle. For example, when the red death killed half of the population in the country, Prospero was not scared or worried that the more people would be killed off too, but rather was “happy and dauntless and sagacious” (1) because he believed he was safe in his castle. Furthermore, he secluded himself completely with thousands of his friends to have a masquerade party to not only entertain himself and his guests but also be distracted from the misery and chaos outside of his castle. However, despite all Prospero could do to avoid death or to forget about it, a masked grotesque figure soon entered the castle and blended among the masked crowd until they noticed and were struck with an ominous fear. Prospero was scarred too but still wanted others to apprehend the figure for his mockery of the party

Death is an important theme in Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Masque of the Red Death”.

The story Masque of the Red Death by edgar Allen poe, is about a plague known as the Red Death that kills a lot of civilians in a country. As the plague is occurring Prince Prospero , the main character of the story, does not do anything to assist his people through their time of crisis. In fact he felt very happy and hopeful during that period of time. The prince decides to lock the gates of his palace in order to fend off the plague. After several months he ends up hosting a Masquerade Ball in his palace for no significant reason.

Book by Edgar Allan Poe A world where a deadly plague destroys kingdoms and kills people in a half an hour, what do the kings and nobles do, hide in their abbeys and castles and leave their kingdoms to die. This is the world that Edgar Allan Poe stages the book Masque of the Red Death. The two main characters in this book are Prince Prospero and the masked figure. Prince Prospero is a very rich, slightly mad prince who is the prevailing leader at his abbey.

Edgar Allan Poe was a great poet, but he was mainly known for his tragic, dark short stories. “Masque of the Red Death” is one such story, about the pusillanimous prince, Prospero, who locked himself and a thousand select people, locking out all the rest to hide from “The Red Death.” A plague that according to the story once you were infected with it, no one helped you, “...Shut out from the aid and from sympathy of his fellow men.” (Poe 446).

The beginning of the short story Edgar Allan Poe uses a metaphor catalog of macabre details usually Gothic fiction (Osipova 25). Edgar Allan Poe comes out with very strong details to how the red death kills the people from the start he has a gruesome tone to the story. This is shown at the beginning to help the tone progress as the story goes on. All the macabre detailing throughout the story helped convey how unpleasant and terrifying the red death is and why Prospero desire to conceal from it. When he decides to take people with him to the palace he thinks that he will be safe however since the red death is all the peoples guilt and fears it goes after them because Prospero fears it the most. “Poe’s use of ambiguity here is masterful; the physical reactions he describes could very well be consistent with terror, distaste, and rage, but they could just as likely be symptomatic of the disease”.(Bennett 46). Poe select to make The Mask Of The Red Death a very terrorizing story conveying that you can't hide from fear because sooner or later it will get you. The way the people feel whenever they get the disease is very crucial to the story because they are being taken over by their guilt. All of the terror that people feel could just be some sign of the disease which is the red death. The narrator plays an important role in The Mask of The Red Death because it is 3rd person which whose everyone's feelings. In the end scene where the Red Death is actually shown as the Grim Reaper is three things omniscient narrator, supernatural being, and the dreaded plague itself (Guercio 76). Edgar Allan Poe changes the point of view throughout the story to give it a different effect and angle to how the tone is set. At the part when the red death uses third person omniscient it shows the people reading the book how important it is. He uses that type of view to show that he is over everyone else. The narrator is the only one that uses third person and the fact that the red death uses it tells everyone that is has a higher value that how they have portrayed him the entire story. It shows its real self in other words takes off his mask to reveal his true power over people.

A fatal disease has spread to a fictional country where the story takes place. Known as the Red Death, this plague is widely known for taking the lives of half the kingdom to date. The suffering look to their leader Prince Prospero for heroism, but he proves to be no leader as he’s cowering in his deeply secluded castle avoiding the mess in its entirety. He left the poor to thrive for themselves while he, and many of his knights and fine women would join him for one never-ending party. There was music, women, dancing, food, entertainment-everything that you would ever need, Prince Prospero would have. He would weld the doors shut to ensure no one could enter. Meaning no one can get out either…..

Although Edgar Allan Poe wrote his short stories to entertain his readers, he also believed it was necessary for the writer to encourage the reader to think on different level about the human being in society. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the powered protagonist Prince Prospero tries to escape the plague without changing his lifestyle. Through Prospero’s actions Poe teaches that human beings think they can escape the power of death and that people have a responsibility for those who are less fortunate than they themselves.

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

Within the first two lines of this story, the reader gets a glimpse of what the major idea in this story will be. The words “death”, “devastated”, “fatal”, and “hideous” all have a negative connotation, foreshadowing that the story will be dark and puts its focus on death. The exposition continues with “But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious.”(Poe) This takes the reader to a realization that the Prince must somehow must have a way to avoid this “Red Death” and helps them to understand that the conflict could be between the prince and this disease. (99 words)