Death is one of those things in life we can’t control. Maturity ties in with this topic because whether or not we’re ready, we have to mature at some point in our life. Putting it off and not being accountable for yourself and your own actions will only make life more difficult for you. Having a nonchalant type of attitude towards things will not allow you to have any advantage to anyone else or the next person who deals with situations accordingly and responsibly, whether they’re good or bad. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe uses symbols to represent his hidden message- that we all have to go through each stage of life at some point, regardless of our carefree attitude. Poe explains how Prince Prospero
Detachment from reality is what the main characters in both Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” express. “The Things They Carried” is the collection of interrelated short stories of Lieutenant Cross and his experiences throughout the Vietnam War. “The Masque of the Red Death” is the story of a prince who fears the “Red Death” who hides himself, along with some townspeople, to escape from the terrible disease. Each character, despite having two very different roles in their lives, have to face reality. In order to fully understand the relationship between these two works, each of these factors in turn.
Hundreds of people thought that they were being isolated from a deadly contagion, but it had seemed to find another form of an entrance. “The Masque of the Red Death”, was written by Edgar Allan Poe, a poet from the mid-1800’s, with a wife who had tuberculosis. The short story begins with a lengthy description of the pestilence, which can be interpreted as tuberculosis, that has infested the fictional country. The wealthy Prince Prospero decides to house a thousand of his friends, in order to keep them safe. The artistic home of this Prince has seven rooms, each decorated with a separate color. After five or six months of being sheltered from the contagion, Prince Prospero decides to throw a masquerade ball. As the party progresses, the large ebony clock in the black room chimes, on the twelfth chime, a new guest appears. The rooms turn silent as the ghost of the red death slowly walks through, the fearless Prince Prospero follows
Arguably the only social practice that will always recur no matter the time or place is social hierarchy. This is because there will always be an order of importance among people in a civilization. An extreme example of social hierarchy can be seen In The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, the story takes place in a fictional kingdom during the middle ages in the kingdom there is a strong divide between the rich and poor. As a plague sweeps through the kingdom the Prince is seemingly unalarmed by the large death toll of his people and feels that he is immune to the illness because he is so much more important socially. The Prince is so unconcerned he throws an extravagant party that only people who are of the same social ranking
Sogyal Rinpoche stated “When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life now.and come to face the truth of yourself. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.” Death is imminent. Many people today fear death for various reasons. Some people are able to accept it, while others deny its existence.
Throughout the short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses vivid symbolism, structure, and reoccurring details to paint a powerful image regarding the finality and inescapable reaches of death itself. “The ‘Red Death’ has long devastated the country,” yet the Prince Prospero continues to hold extravagant parties for his fellow elite members of society. Rather than merely telling a series of events, Poe carries his readers throughout the many rooms and scenes that hold the Prince’s masquerade, up until the clock strikes midnight and the partygoers can no longer hide behind their façade, and death comes in to take those that thought themselves invincible (Poe 438-442).
Death is not a concept that is well grasped or understood but we all know the cycle of life, we live and we die. We do not know how and we do not know when, our fate is laid out for us, we just learn to accept it because it is just how it goes. Some are lucky enough to live a healthy life with few to none complications and some find themselves fighting for their lives because of a terminating illness or severely injured from any type of accident. In an act of pain, torture, agony and knowing there is no hope for survival why can it not be you that has the upper hand in deciding when it is time to say goodbye.
In our lives, we go through stages of mindset and maturity that naturally coincide with aging. One thing that remains the same, though, through all of these stages, is that eventually, we die; we are completely aware of that as humans. Whether because it’s due to the painful reality that is mortality, our ever-diminishing ability to be wistful and imaginative, or merely the impending coming of the Grim Reaper, our entire lives are, ironic as it is, surrounded by and flooded with death. However, as we grow older, our perception of death changes. It goes from taboo in our young ages to something that begins to surround and eventually consume us as we grow older. Between the poems “For the Anniversary of my Death” by
Just like in “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allen Poe. Poe makes the protagonist Prince Prospero represent what pride can do to a person and how it can affect themselves and others while hiding from death.
Death is part of the circle of life and it's the end of your time on earth; the end of your time with your family and loved ones. Nobody wants to die, leaving their family and missing the good times your loved ones will have once you pass on. In the Mercury Reader, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross “On the Fear of Death” and Joan Didion “Afterlife” from The Year of Magical Thinking” both share common theses on death and grieving. Didion and Kübler-Ross both explain grieving and dealing with death. Steve Jobs commencement speech for Stanford’s graduation ceremony and through personal experience jumps further into death and how I feel about it. Your time is on earth is limited one day you will die and there are many ways of grieving at the death of a loved one. I believe that the fear of death and the death of a loved one will hold you back from living your own life and the fear of your own death is selfish.
“The Masque of the Red Death” is an extraordinary story of many elements that can grasp any reader's attention. This story targets more of the emotions and actions of the characters, creating more of a fathom. Edgar Allan Poe wrote this story from his own perspective and perhaps succeeded in getting the reader to some what relate to the characters focusing on the feelings. The point of view Poe wrote this in makes a clear understanding.
As a young girl at 14, I used to reminisce about the future, how badly I wanted to grow up, to drive, to be popular in high school, go to college and land an amazing job, have a huge home, nice cars, and an extremely handsome husband. The older I got, the more I began to realize all of the things I once desired for were not what I truly wanted. I began to realize the value of happiness, adventure, and creating memories rather than the value of temporary popularity, material items, and physical appearances. What I realized was that when one is lying on their deathbed, because the only thing guaranteed in life is death, they will not think, “oh what a lovely car I drove” but rather, “I remember when I went on my first road trip with my friends.” As mentioned in “Tuesdays With Morrie” by Mitch Albom, Morrie emphasizes the idea, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live,” meaning, remembering that one day we will all depart from this world, one will realize what it truly means to live. Another pointer that can essentially alter one’s vision of living life: to live simply, as discussed in “Where I Lived and What I Live For” by David Henry Thoreau. Although thinking about death is a harsh reality on a young teenager, it is rather helpful to wrap our heads around it at a young age. Why? because as one grows older, they will see more death. Living a simple life may seem boring to a young teenager, but as one grows older and their schedules become bustled with work, and responsibilities, they will wish that they could step back, and choose a simple lifestyle.
Overall, “Masque of the Red Death” is by far the best example of horror. The story goes above and beyond with making people really ponder, bring out emotions, and brings the reader into the story. No other author could have ever done the amazing work with this horror story like Poe did. This horror story will give a scare to anyone who reads it, gives them chills that run down their body, feel sick to their stomach, and have their heart start to race and as a result, creates one of the best horror stories to date.
Oppression lurks within a hierarchical structure and it is where opulence lies in the control of the nobility while the underprivileged suffer. Before the French Revolution, the aristocrats quarantined themselves in illusory settings where it was serene, festive, and filled with laughter. Thereof, the peasantry masses broke in; and, it was then that the lower masses nevermore submitted to the aristocracy and the nobles did not feel safe once more. The Masque of the Red Death is a gothic allegory composed by Edgar Allan Poe that exposes the corruption in a feudalistic system that devastated Europe. It fixates on the nobility who hid behind closed doors to enthrall themselves in petty pleasures and rejected the external world who was dying of pestilence. Poe exhibits no
Death is the one great certainty in life. Some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will be unaware of the moment of death itself. Still, death and dying well can be approached in a healthy way. Understanding that people differ in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can promote a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying.
Death is a difficult subject for many people. The topic alone can cause a lot of anxiety because of all the things we don’t know. Most of us fear death for many reasons. Whether it’s your final day, or a final moment with a loved one, it’s a painfully scary process because of its uncertainty.