Similarities Between Frankenstein And The Masque Of The Red Death

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Gothic Elements, Frankenstein and “The Masque of the Red Death” Mary Shelley’s work, Frankenstein, and Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Masque of the Red Death,” combine precise environment, society, and character description to formulate works of literature that contrast the finesse and light themes of romantic works. Specifically, auroras of mystery and suspense, grandeur and eerie setting, imperfect society, and character flaws develop into classic pieces of gothic romantic literature.
Initializing both works, mystery and suspense is used. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley achieves this through Robert Walton’s series of descriptive and informative letters sent to his sister. Letter 1 beings with Walton explaining his undertaking, where he writes, “a cold northern breeze play upon my cheeks, … travelled from the regions towards which I am advancing, gives me a foretaste … my daydreams become more fervent and vivid.” (Shelley, 4). Awkward and eerie events such as this continue throughout Walton’s documentation of his expedition, contributing to the creation of an uncertainty of outcome, extravagant danger, and emptiness of the environment the reader experiences. These factors, as well as the figurative pause created in Letter 4 by the ice that “closed in the ship on all sides” (Shelley, 11), formulate the mystery and …show more content…

The surrounding areas of the complex are void of nature, and the seven “movable embellishments of the seven chambers” are manmade (Poe, par. 5). Edgar Allen Poe utilizes the setting to enhance the experience for the reader. For example, the seventh chamber uniquely “failed to correspond with the decorations” and “the panes were scarlet--a deep blood color” (Poe, par. 5) relating to the ‘Red Death’. Poe’s use of scenery is magnificently executed to match the gothic genre, where a “sense of unease and foreboding” is achieved

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