Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe in The Masque of the Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Masque of the Red Death”, is about a man named Prince Prospero and his attempts to avoid a dangerous plague. The plague is known as the Red Death. He plans to avoid the plague by hiding out in his abbey, along with other revelers during a masquerade ball in the seven rooms in the abbey. Through the locked gates, the mysterious figure finds its way into the party and causes death to all of the masqueraders. This story is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death.

Poe has one of the most unique writing styles of all authors. His best known fiction works are Gothic, a category in which “The Masque of the Red Death” falls under. He establishes recurring themes, physical signs and appearances, along with other details of gothic nature. In this particular story, Poe’s sentence structure is clear and defined. There are two parts that can be noticed in his sentences. These parts are the structure, and the color. He has many short sentences which unite to build a larger whole. The paragraphs are either very short or very long. Each long paragraph describes only one single thing. The first long paragraph describes the Red Death, while the second describes Prospero’s castle retreat, the third long paragraph describes the suite and the fourth the clock. The shorter paragraphs are usually put together from short sentences that are structurally simple. They have one or two small little details which like previously stated, build up for a larger whole. Poe uses that structure to s in the color portion. Much of the color and life in his writing comes from his word choice. Not all of his sentences are short though. Sometimes he puts in one massive sentence like the following: “its pendulum swung to an...

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...ingdom. He decided to lock himself in his abbey to create a place where he was safe from death so he could live his life without fear. His kingdom was the final holdout for his life. By the end of the story, death was able to get passed Prospero’s locked gates and into the holdout. The Red Death was able to get in and destroy everyone. The Red death held illimitable domination, meaning that death’s rule has no boundaries and it conquers all. It’s easy to see the ending as a warning against foolishness. How could Prospero really think he could escape death? No matter what, death is inevitable. Prospero and the revelers were bound to die sooner or later, but the death came sooner because they locked themselves in a castle with no way out. It’s useful to remember that Poe’s main goal in writing was to create intense emotion for the reader to give a better experience.