Similarities Between The Nightmare And The Masque Of The Red Death

Everyone fears their own death, thus why some people will do anything to escape it. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, this fear is experienced by all. In the story, a prince named Prospero and his people try to elude the Red Death through seclusion and isolation in the prince's abbey. However, no walls can stop death since it is unavoidable and inescapable. Throughout the story, Poe uses symbols such as the rooms, the masked figure, and the clock to convey the theme that no one can escape death.

“The Masque of Red Death” is considered an allegory because it is made of many different symbols, from the clock to the colors of the seven rooms. All of the forms of symbolism come together to make the short story. The allegorical meaning of “Red Death” is in fact, death. Even though there was a castle and a dagger to protect the Prince from the inevitable, he still died in the end with the rest of the characters. The allegorical meaning behind the colors of the seven rooms, are the stages of life. From blue being birth to black being the end, death, Poe illustrates to his readers that the castle is setup to include death even though that is something that is not necessarily wanted by Prince

In ‘’the Masque of the Red Death’’ the feeling the author Edgar Allan Poe is trying to give is he wants the readers to feel scared. In the story there are multiple places that Poe is trying to show that it is scary. For example, ‘’ there were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution.” This shows that Poe is trying to make it scary because hearing that this sickness could make you bleed at the pores just puts this awful scary image in the readers head. The Red Death is portraying tuberculosis so when people read this they know that this is a real disease and people actually get it so it makes them worry about if they can get it or not. Another example would be “there were twelve strokes to

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.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” and short story “The Masque of The Red Death” Poe illustrates a fear of death. Death has taken away the people he cares about most in his life. As an author of fear and death, Poe's own life was the inspiration for his spine tingling poems and stories. In his poem “The Raven” Virginia was the influence for Lenore, whose death the speaker is grieving. In Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” the red death is a representation of tuberculosis which his wife as well as his mother, foster mother, and brother all obtained and die from.

In both “Masque of the Red Death” and “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author uses specific elements to express meaning and to develop a theme. He is portraying the idea that neither love nor death has a limit, no matter what we want to imagine. We have no control of either, especially death. In “The Masque of The Red Death” Poe makes the inference that death is inevitable or inescapable. In “Annabel Lee” he uses the power of two character’s love to show that death is not preventable no matter what you do. Also, he shows that love never vanishes even after death. In both selections, Poe uses rhetorical devices such as parallelism, symbolism, and imagery to draw the reader into the story.

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.

Symbolism is a type of figurative language that many authors use to portray their theme and keep the reader engaged throughout the story. Edgar Allen Poe is known for often putting hidden meanings in his works and he does not disappoint with his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” with his use of figurative language. Poe uses his writing to get his point across to the audience, all the while entertaining them with an amazing story. In “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allen Poe uses the symbolism of different colors, seven rooms, and the location of the rooms to convey that death is inevitable.

The fourth and final gothic element Edgar Allan Poe uses in Masque of the Red Death, is the air of mystery and suspense. Poe does this by creating a gloomy setting and entering a ghost that creates mystery because the readers cannot see his face or know what he is or what he is up to. Poe describes him as, “The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave.” There is many ways Poe shows the mystery and suspense, Poe also uses a lot of death and blood to create a mystery because the reader doesn’t know who is going to die next, neither does the characters in the story.

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.

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 Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Masque of the Red Death", red death is a scary disease.

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

Liz Brent states, ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s short story ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ may be interpreted variously as a parable for man’s fear of death.’ This specific quote gives great description on the feelings of the main character in this story. The conflicts overall play a major part in the story. As Kenneth Graham says, “If time is the destroyer of all things material, so, too, is the pendulum the destroyer in the pit, and the ebony lock in.” The critic is explaining the overall conflict of this story, and displays how the ebony clock is the symbol for death. In all, conflict is important to the story, as it ties back to the themes and describes the problems occurred.

He had published several other literary works, but these had not brought him fame and a reputation in the horror scene. With Poe’s writing of the poem, The Raven, with its darker setting and inclusion of death brought him more recognition from the general public as well as fitting into the gothic horror type of writing. The Masque of the Red Death, which is another of Poe’s short stories, had direct inspiration from Walpole’s novel, The Castle of Otranto, with its setting and ending to the plot. The Masque of the Red Death is set in an abbey owned by the main character, Prince Prospero, here all of the wealthy and powerful people go so that the Red Death can’t get to them. There are seven rooms which are all different colors, the last one being painted black with a scarlet light lighting up the room, giving the room a sense of being covered in blood, and in the corner a frighteningly white ebony clock. Very few people went into the room due to the room being “decorated in black and illuminated by a scarlet light, ‘a deep blood color’”, because of this combination these people were not brave enough to step into that room. Later in the story a figure comes in and wreaks havoc, Prince ended up chasing this figure only to find out that this figure is the Red Death itself, and when everyone comes to see who it is they end up dying soon after