A short story entitled “The Masque of the Red Death” is a wonderfully written story of many types of language. The author Edgar Allan Poe narrated this story from the perspective of himself. One reason the story was written by focusing on feelings was to get the reader to maybe relate to the characters even if only slightly. The seventh room in the suite is symbolic for death. Poe says, "The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue" (359). The symbol of the seventh room is of someone’s life ending. He talks about seeing black which is associated with death. Another representation of death is the fire light in the suite. This is symbolic because the sun sunrises in the east and sets in the west most people believe light means happiness or in this case it means life and darkness is associated with death. darkness is being used as another example of a representation of what death is. Poe has made The Red Death's thoughts not very clear compared to Prince Prospero as the prince knows what he wants and what he feels. Poe says, "The Prince …show more content…
The level that the conflict is on plays a big role, bringing together two characters emotions to. Inner and outer conflicts within the Prince, and the Red Death assist in analyzing the theme of death and madness. Prince Prospero’s main conflict is with death itself. The madness of never knowing when death will come for him. The point of view in the story helps the reader to know what a specific character is thinking. Gale states, “Poe carefully chooses his words to paint a picture of unrelieved fear, suspense, and dread.” Poe’s as a special way of writing and using techniques correctly is why this story a is the reason why thousands of people still read it
All people wish to avoid suffering, and those with wealth usually take too long to realize that they cannot avert it. In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe tells the readers of death, and how the upper class deals with it. In this story, Prince Prospero and his wealthy friends hide away in a castle to evade death. This obviously does not work, as death is inevitable, but of course, they attempt to save themselves anyways. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses the courtiers, Prince Prospero, and the stranger to symbolize the members of the influential upper class and their habit of using their power to postpone their own impending doom.
The Masque of the Red Death was very serious from the beginning to end. The story never pulled away from the sense of a looming threat. Poe did not waste anytime, he cut straight to the point and set the tone right away. The tone relates to people language and the specific words that he uses to create illusion and imagery. Poe uses different times of words to define his language which is called Old English today. Poe sentences are also short and they are practically identical in the simple structure. Poe is a very different writer than most writers today, he has a unique way about his language.
In the short story “ The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allen Poe uses symbolism to express ideas to develop his theme and characters. “ The Masque of the Red Death” tells a story of prince Prospero who locks his friends and himself in a castle to escape the Red Death, a deadly disease. Much to Prospero’s dismay, in the end, the deadly disease causes them to perish. Poe uses the dark room to reveal Prospero’s unusual character and reveal that death is always there and cannot be avoided.
“The Masque of the Red Death” is a short tale about a king who rules a dominion plagued with a disease called the red death. The Prince decides to build a fortress that will hold many of his closest friends and relatives and keep the disease out. The castle in which the Prince and all of his closest friends are inside of, is a magnificent fortress that is lavish and decorated with a variety of colors for each apartment. Poe explains, “That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue—and vividly blue were its windows.” In this quote, the use of imagery describes the first of seven apartments that hold guests for balls and entertainment. In addition, the last of the seven apartments described is a black room that in itself symbolizes the red death. In this room stands a clock that clangs every hour and when the clock begins to clang. Everything in the fortress seems to stop while the clock clangs. Poe describes the clocks clang very vividly, to set the mood of the seventh room and what it is like. Poe states “Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang.” This example of imagery uses the hearing sense, and it helps the reader understand the mood of the room. Poe wants this room to be creepy, dark, and scary and conveys that clearly through the use of
Edgar Allan Poe's short stories, "The Telltale Heart" and "The Masque of the Red Death" are two very different stories. One is about a simple man, perhaps a servant, who narrates the tale of how he kills his wealthy benefactor, and the other is about a prince who turns his back on his country while a plague known as The Red Death ravages his lands. Yet, there are some similarities in both. Time, for instance, and the stroke of midnight, seem to always herald the approach of impending death. Both are killers, one by his own hand, the other by neglecting his country. One seeks peace, the other seeks pleasure, but both are motivated by the selfish need to rid themselves of that which haunts them, even at the expense of another's life. However, the point of this critique will show that their meticulous plans to beat that which torments them are undone by a single flaw in their character - overconfidence.
Poe is trying to get across to the reader that death will come to all, rich or poor and we should not overlook the needs of those less fortunate. Even though Prospero thought his fortune could save him from the Red Death, ultimately he also was faced with
The first symbolic mean of death is depicted in the seventh room in the suite. Poe says,
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).
He shows off his prosperity while ignoring the sick people of his land. Poe unmasked, “There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."”(Poe 1). Prince Prospero shuns the Red Death without worries; he mistakenly believes his wealth will protect him from death itself. Unlike the Prince, Goodman Brown falsely assumes that his faith will protect him. The two characters rival in thought and inevitably both pay the price for
The Plague was a tragedy that took many lives all across Europe; “the Red Death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal- the redness and the horror of blood” (Poe 373). This short story takes place during that time, but it has a slight twist to illustrate the theme. Death is something everyone fears and no one can elude. “The Masque of the Red Death” written by Edgar Allan Poe communicates the idea that death cannot be avoided no matter how many precautions are taken; this is accomplished through foreshadowing, symbols, and allegory.
In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses imagery, sensory detail and symbolism not only to build suspense, but also to convey the idea that an individual can not hide or run away from death which becomes closer as time passes on. Throughout the story Poe uses imagery details to create suspense in the story. For example when the author is describing the disease that has taken many lives he describes the unfortunate event as, “ Blood was its Avator and its seal- the redness and the horror of blood. One can understand that in the story the tragic death of someone might occur as tragically as the disease is described. Accordingly, as the story progresses the deep shade of the color red is evident in many areas to represent symbolism.
When confronted with the red death “the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all” (Poe 116). Feeling shame, the prince realizes that he could not escape from death no matter what he did. People in rage tend to do things hurriedly and for Prospero this triggers a flight or fight reaction. Before he would flight as he ran away from the red death by hiding in his castle but now he decided to fight it instead, therefore the conflict in Prospero gets resolved once he made a decision. It was only after the Prince’s death did the guests fight the figure as well “Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revelers at once threw themselves into the black apartment ,” (Poe 116) and ended up dying as well. Unanimously they all joined at once to kill the red death and it shows that the revelers having a conflict with the red death as they only go after the Prince is dead because of how afraid they were before. This was the last straw before the guests finally realized the truth about , and it also initiates a fight or flight reaction like Prospero and they decide to fight which ends with their
First, in Poe’s life, his biological mom and his biological dad died of Tuberculosis when he was a kid. Later in his life, his foster mom also died from Tuberculosis. Then he went to live with his aunt and married his cousin virginia. In 1847, his wife Virginia then died of Tuberculosis. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, many people die of the Red Death, likely including people that Prince Prospero knew. This relates to the “The Masque of the Red Death” because both Poe and Prince Prospero knew people that died of a deadly epidemic. In addition, the symptoms of these two diseases are also similar. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, the symptoms of the red death include sharp pains, dizziness, bleeding from the pores, and most common symptom, blood stains on the victim’s bodies. Tuberculosis is also similar in symptoms because coughing a lot and coughing up blood are common symptoms. Therefore, this deadly epidemic affected Poe and his writing which caused him to write a story about an outbreak of a disease. In conclusion, the death of Poe’s wife, his gloomy childhood, and Tuberculosis influenced him to write the stories he
In the story, “Masque of the Red Death” it covers six months during the Red Death.It takes place in a castle which has seven different colored rooms.In the beginning of the story it describes the main character prince Prospero as happy,fearless and wise. Towards the end of the story a new guest appears to the party and everyone is scared and Prospero goes from being happy to mad and in the end the new guest kills Prospero and everyone dies because he was the Red Death. The message in this analogy ,”The Masque of the Red Death “ by Poe is life passes by so quick that you don't realize what's going on until it's your time to die.
The tone that Poe achieves in The Masque of the Red Death is terror, alarm, and overall, horror. Poe wanted his reader to leave the piece not being able to stop thinking about it, to walk away with fear in their mind, bones, and heart. Poe achieves this through the words he uses and how he uses them. Poe’s structural style is very ridged, he does this in order to keep the flow of his writing very strong and smooth. In The Masque of the Red Death he makes each of his paragraphs about one topic, by doing this he is able to choose extremely specific language to coincide with each idea. The other aspect of Poe’s writing that assists in his success is the words he uses, or the colour of his writing. One cannot argue the fact that Poe does not have a sheer talent in the choosing of the words, not a single word is written that does not donate to the over atmosphere of the writing. Poe depends on the vividness and dramatic quality of each of the words he chooses. The way he describes the Red Death as “scarlet stains” which appeared upon the face of the victim to the “scarlet” window pane which illuminated the black of the seven coloured room. Poe’s explicit word choice adds to not only the success of his composition but also adds to the feeling of the