The Danse In Late Middle Ages

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

The nature of fate also made a major impact upon the sense of doom and death. Fate played a major role in pagan society during this time period and this is demonstrated when, in his old age, Beowulf goes to fight the dragon and it says, “That noble prince would end his day on earth, soon, would leave his brief life, but would take the dragon with him”. This means that Beowulf accepts that he will die eventually and is leaving it up to fate whether or not he kills the dragon or if he is killed so, this allows him to fight with no fear just like he did against Grendel. During this time period life expectancy was much shorter which led to the sense that death was always right there waiting. Couple the short life span with the chance of war or disease killing you and life became a thing to cherish with death being the only thing a person was guaranteed to as even infants died before they could even do anything. Disease that today would be no problem for our modern medicine would wipe out entire towns and villages. With the wrong luck everything you worked for in your life could be wiped out and there is nothing that could be done.

Edgar Allen Poe's, "Masque of the Red Death" also has many gothic themes. A bloody disease called the Red Death has ravaged a country. Prince Prospero thinks he can hide from this plague and throws a ball to celebrate his victory over it. First, Poe uses several words in this play conveying horror such as fatal, bleeding, blood, redness, and chambers, which are all clue to death.

The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

Death is a terrifying prospect for most people , imagine being face to face with it. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”, the revelers were in this very situation. Prince Pospero’s country was devastated by the Red Death. A plaque that resulted in a painful, gruesome, death. Prince Pospero being the selfish uncaring man he is, locked himself and a thousand of his lighthearted friends in his abbey to hide from the Red Death. After 6 months of seclusion Prince Pospero throws a masquerade to celebrate that they were still free of the Red Death. It was at this masquerade a gruesome mummer appeared shortly before Prince Pospero and all the revelers to died of the Read Death. In this story Poe personifies death through the mummer who

Robert Corman’s Masque of the Red Death (1964) is a quality example that epitomizes the many connections between fairy tales in the gothic genre. Throughout the movie, candlesticks and candelabras appear in nearly every scene. Known to symbolize truth seeking and enlightenment (“Dreamicus”), they are a very powerful symbol in the darkener of the gothic. They are doomed silently to burn away as the inevitable struggle of self-sacrifice and the joys and pains of love submerges an individual (“Dreamicus”)—much like how Prince Prospero sacrifices himself in his devotion to Satan and endures the pain of allowing his new love, Francesca, to leave

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.

In these three literary pieces a prevalent theme is death. Death may be defined as the end-ing period of physical life. However, throughout the development of these stories, it was possible to distinguish plenty of physical but even non-physical death as well. This absolutely

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” deals with the theme of death, and does deal with this topic in a literal form in the presence of the Red Death within the country in which this story takes place at the time. However, the theme of death is most heavily portrayed in the form of symbolism to represent this idea throughout the story.

Economic aspect in a standstill. The phantom of death became a subject of art, music and folklore and it influenced the consciousness of the people. The impact of this mass killer caused enormous chaos and havoc to the medieval society because of its unknown origin, the unknown causes and preventions, its deathly symptoms and its breakdown of orderly life, therefore religion was greatly affected and changed.

It’s the mid 1300’s, daily life is going as usual, a plague is going around, people start to panic, adults abandoning their children, some people are locking themselves indoors. A vile stench goes into the air. Plague Doctors, with their creepy bird-like masks and creepy blood covered cloak, start walking into town. A sharp pain cuts through the townspeople's bodies as they start feeling weaker and they see that their face is turning very red. Before anyone knows it a familiar body is in the street unresponsive. Edgar Allan Poe took inspiration from the symptoms on people from The Black Death and used it for “The Masque of the Red Death”, such as body color changing after death, dying soon after anyone gets the plague, and more. Edgar Allan Poe took inspiration from The Black Death when writing “The Masque of the Red Death.”

Although the author and I agree that the life expectancy has greatly increased in the past 1000 years and medicine has changed, our old ways of viewing death have not. The author discusses how death is perceived, in which she concludes, “Therefore death in itself is associated with a bad act, a frightening happening, something that in itself calls for retribution and punishment”(220). Kubler-Ross analyzed how people viewed death and determined that it is never depicted positively in most circumstances. She felt people never found peace with death itself, typically finding something to blame to make death seem

“No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the redness and horror of blood” (Poe 446). Edgar Allan Poe is well-known for his gothic elements, bizarre plots, and chilling tones. The short story The Masque of The Red Death by Poe is no different. In the story the kingdom has been long devastated by the horrific “red death”, and their leader is failing to help them. Poe’s short story is strong in various uses of symbolism; thus, leading to the theme that death is inevitable.

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

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.