Poe's Perspective Against the Upper Class

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Poe’s Perspective
Literary genius Edgar Allan Poe lived a troubled life. During his forty years of existence, Poe struggled with the deaths of countless family members, including his cousin-wife. These bruising events caused him to develop the mental illness depression. In his short story “Masque of the Red Death,” the views Poe developed during his tumultuous life are reflected in his writing. The theme of this short story emphasizes the inevitability of death in descriptive details because Edgar Allan Poe has encountered death so many times. He also makes social commentary on materialism and the value of life because he was raised in a wealthy household where he received more allowance than love. Poe’s melancholy overtone in this story can also be attributed to the sickness and death he watched his wife succumb to. The depression Edgar Allan Poe developed due to his turbulent and unfortunate life is depicted in his story “Masque of the Red Death” in the way he addresses death and the materialistic nature of human beings.
It is no wonder that Edgar Allan Poe developed depression as a result of the many emotionally draining events in his life. At a very young age, Poe lost his father to tuberculosis and he lost his mother to a building fire at the theater his parents performed at. His siblings were discouraging figures as well. His brother died at twenty-six as a man of lost potential, and his sister is described as being “so hopelessly dull that she could never attain proficiency in anything at school” (Pruette 371). Edgar Allan Poe saw the atrocious qualities his blood relatives possessed and probably thought that those qualities were innate for him as well. This would have played a factor in his depression, since he sees him...

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..., Edgar Allan Poe’s life has influenced his writing to be desolate and against the upper-class. This is because Poe had to deal with the deaths of many loved ones and because he was raised in a materialistic environment. Poe’s brilliancy was in his unique and intriguing viewpoint on life, which was reflected in his literature. In the end, the depression consumed him and he became suicidal. In November 1848, Edgar Allan Poe attempted suicide by taking the drug laudanum. This marked the end of Poe’s literary golden age during his life. Poe has left an everlasting imprint on the world with his literature that was made brilliant by his different views as a result of his tumultuous life. His mental state is best illustrated by this Edgar Allan Poe quote: “My life seems wasted--the future looks a dreary blank: but I will struggle on and ‘hope against hope’” (Pruette 398).

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