Comparing The Pit And The Pendulum, And The Masque Of Red Death

Fear can have both a helpful and harmful outcomes. That sense that alerts you when something is perilous or amiss is an example of ways fear is useful. Adverse results of fear can cause paranoia, which can dangerously cloud your thoughts. Fear is essential because it is like a filter that suppresses irrational acts. Likewise, fear offers restraint, therefore it is key to survival. Similarly, in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Masque of Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses symbol, irony, and imagery to illustrate how paranoia can distort the narrator’s mind, which can result in different repercussions.

In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the primary symbol is the “vulture” looking eye, in “The Masque of Red Death” the major symbol

is death. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator fears and obsesses over the Old Man’s eye. The reader can infer that the eye makes the narrator uncomfortable and that “whenever it fell upon me (him), my (his) blood ran cold,”(74).

His obsessions are beginning to turn into fear because he views the eye as a threat, which haunts the narrator. He also sees the eye as a mockery. After being watched for eight nights, the Old Man gets killed. Therefore, the narrator is trying to erase his guilt by writing about the incident. Poe is also showing us that fear can get into your head and desensitize your thoughts. By clouding your mind, fear and obsession can make you act out in a negative way that could end like the Old Man’s death. In “The Masque of Red Death” the ebony clock symbolizes that death is inevitable. Prince Prospero fears death. Therefore, he also fears the clock. Prospero knows that with every tick that goes by means that death is one-second closer, every hour that passes represents another death. As the clock strikes every hour the dancers at the ball freeze and wait to see who dies next; “...at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause…”

(58). The fear of the clock and death take over the Prince, as he becomes intimidated by the Red Death. Prospero’s fear is disfiguring his mind to the point that he believes he can avoid death by parting himself away from society, by welding a door and ultimately changing his fate. At this point, he becomes so obsessed with the fact that death cannot be avoided. Prospero’s fear and obsession is distorting his mind, as he becomes more and more paranoid. Poe is trying to communicate and teach us that obsessions can be dangerous and can end in both death like in “The Masque of Red Death,” and guilt, like in “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

The ironies of both “The Tale Tell Heart” and “The Masque of Red Death” disfigures the narrator’s mind as they attempt to eliminate their fear.

An example of irony is when the Old Man in “The Tale Tell Heart” tries to keep evil out, but he does not realize that evil is already inside. According to the narrator, “for the shutters were closed fastened, through fear of robbers” (74) the Old Man was determined to keep evil out. The narrator describes himself as being kind and loving towards the Old Man, so why would he kill him? It could be because he is also insane or because he fears the Old Man. Fear also disfigures the Old Man’s mind to the point where he cages himself in. Both Prince Prospero and the Narrator attempt to keep evil and death away by segregating themselves from society, but they do not realize that evil is right under their nose. One major irony found in “The Masque of Red Death” is when the Prince also attempts to sequester himself and keep death away. He tries to keep the Red Death away, but he slowly appears in the rooms; “now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death”(61). The Red Death is lurking in the shadows of both the first and seventh rooms. When the appears in the chamber, he is also representing the first stage of life which is, birth. The seventh room coerces Prospero because he knows that this is last room which also means the last stage of life that is, death. Throughout the story, the narrator’s mind becomes distorted as he obsesses over

keeping the Red Death away. The reader can construe that Prince Prospero chooses to ignore the fact that death is coming for him and that there is nothing he can do because death is inevitable. Finally, Edgar Allan Poe uses irony as a literary device to illustrate that the narrator’s and Prince Prospero’s mind is distorted and haunted by the fact that their fate could be changed at any moment due to deadly and evil figures.

Poe uses imagery to delineate the fear of the narrator. In “The Pit and the Pendulum” the narrator is being haunted by the pit and its “ shark-like jaws.” The is described as being so profound and shallow that, “there was a sullen plunge into water, succeeded by large echoes” (66). The fear of the pit distorts the narrator’s mind because he knows that both the pit and the pendulum are one of the worst ways to die. The narrator views the situation as seeing that there is only one way to be born, but there are millions of ways to die. The image of the pit contributes to the narrator’s fear as he starts to stress and overthink the situation. He begins to calm down by taking everything into consideration slowly, and by fainting and panicking less. In this case fear has a positive impact on the narrator, he gets the sense and alert that something is wrong. After using fear to his advantage, the narrator survives by focusing on the positives and trading his fear for hope. In “The Pit and the Pendulum” Poe uses fear in a positive way to the narrator’s dominance.

Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism to express how the major symbols of the short stories can make the narrator, and the Prince overreact and make fate-changing repercussions. Poe also uses irony to distort and paranoia both the narrator and Prince Prospero as they attempt to blockade death or evil. Imagery is used particularly in “The Pit and the Pendulum” to empathize and show how brave the Narrator was to survive the pit. Poe balances and prevails hope throughout the stories. He shows the ways fear can benefit a situation in either a negative or positive way. Edgar Allan Poe illustrates how fear can have different repercussions.