Criticism In The Masque Of The Red Death

A Worthy Way to Live and Die According to Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is known for his masterful writing on all aspects of mortality, but his famous short story “The Masque of the Red Death” proves to be more than a simple story about death. While it is about death, Poe’s short story can be read and applied as a cautionary tale whose purpose is to illustrate a worthy way to live and die by portraying the opposite of both. This interpretation comes about when the story is viewed through the lens of New Criticism. This viewpoint shows how the story uses its formal elements converge to create one complex theme. Poe’s short story develops its theme through the use of paradox, tension, irony and ambiguity, all of which come together to identify

Organic unity is achieved when the formal elements of a text work together to produce a unified theme. The formal elements in play are paradox, tension, irony and ambiguity and each bring a new level of the theme to life. Paradox lies within Prospero’s reasoning when it comes to death. He is seeking to avoid that which is unavoidable, namely the ultimate death. Tension shows the means by which he intends to do this. He uses the party and revelry to avoid death, but it is simply a distraction from mortality. Irony shows the futility and danger of living life this way in that life is considered wasted if spent with the sole purpose of avoiding the unavoidable end. Ambiguity in the title reveals why life lived in this way is considered wasted by identifying Death as ruler over a life lived in complete avoidance of it. This is all sealed together under the ambiguity of setting that transforms this story into a parable to pass on and learn from. All four of these formal elements culminate in the story to say something important about death and the human experience. It conveys that death is an unavoidable part of the human experience while life is simply a distraction from one’s own mortality and should be lived with the knowledge of death’s inevitability in order to have a purpose. Without this understanding, death becomes the reigning power and ultimate conqueror. To use the words of Poe, a life lived in constant avoidance of that which is unavoidable finds its end where “Darkness and Decay and the Red Death [hold] illimitable dominion over all” (Poe