The Masque of the Red Death Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death” is a twisted story about how no one can outrun death. “The Masque of the Red Death” revolves around a prince who believes he can outrun death. He throws a masquerade ball, but is appalled when a man who appears to be a victim of the Red Death himself appears at his party. In an effort to capture the masked man, he chases the new guest to the black-and-red room. After confronting, Prospero dies along with the red of those locked up in the palace for the Red Death has infiltrated the castle. In portraying this macabre story, Poe’s use of the literary terms imagery, mood, and symbolism help bring the story to life and give the reader a better understanding of the …show more content…
story. Imagery is woven into the story through Poe’s descriptive word choice. Poe relies heavily on mood throughout the story to give the reader all kinds of feeling. Symbolism is woven into the story as well, for example the seven colored rooms. Supposedly, the rooms represent life itself, so throughout the story the course the characters walk in is both metaphorically and literally the course of life to death. Edgar Allan Poe uses complex literary devices such as mood, symbolism and imagery to offer a powerful statement about life and death. Throughout Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, mood and tone go hand in hand to create a feeling of Gothic and horror. The dark tone of the story first begins with the opening lines of Morris 2 Poe describing how the situation of Prospero’s kingdom, and characterizing how 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, 84) Whilst giving the reader a feeling of uneasiness this line also sets the mood, which is depressing and horrifying. The mood shifts to fear as the effect of the ebony clock sets upon the guests, for when the chimes of the clock ring, “the it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation.” (Poe, 86) Each time the clock sounds, time stands still. When the chime of the ebony clock sounds, everyone is motionless; no one speaks and the band does not play. But when the clock does not sound it appears as the rooms take on a luminescent glow and the guests are in dreamland In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses the literary element, symbolism, to communicate the horror and the inevitability to the reader to deliver the ultimate message of: No one can outrun death.
Many consider Prince Prospero’s seven rooms in his palace to be a symbolism of human life. The rooms are set up from East to West, and the colors range from a vivid blue, to purple, green, orange, white, violet and lastly black and scarlet all to represent different stages. Ironic enough, the masqueraders do not go near the black room, for only few of the company are “bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.” (Poe, 86) Thus indicating their fear of death. Also located in the black room is the ebony clock, so it’s almost obvious it is meant to be the symbol of death and the fact that it is inevitable. The clock alerts people to their mortality, and awakens them to reality for “there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company”. (Poe, 86) The revelers could neither stop its pendulum …show more content…
from Morris 3 swinging towards their inevitable death, nor could they prevent the sinister tones from dampening their enthusiasm. Imagery in “The Masque of the Red Death” is ghastly yet enchanting, and Poe takes advantage of this by using vivid descriptions to pave for way for the mood and setting of the story.
He uses captivating descriptions of these dreams that “writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps.” (Poe, 87) Poe’s description of writhing dreams seems to suggest the whole scene was almost like a product of a twisted imagination. The reader can vividly picture the dizzying scene as if it’s one gigantic sickening dream, with “much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust.” (Poe, 86) Poe discusses here more of the masquerade floor, and it gives the reader a sense of awestruck, but also the language Poe uses to describe the scene seems oppressively meaningful, much similar to a dream. Poe’s explicitly descriptive language creates a dream realm for the
reader. All throughout the story, Poe uses his elegant writing style and a combination of complex literary terms such as mood, symbolism and imagery to allow the reader to visualize the ghastly effect of the Red Death. Mood and tone work together throughout the entire story to create a feeling of Gothic and horror. Poe also uses symbolism to communicate the horror and inevitability of death to the reader, as well as it provides hidden meanings. Imagery helps the reader visualize and better understand the vivid descriptions taking place in the story. Edgar Allan Poe uses complex literary devices throughout the “Masque of the Red Death” such as mood, symbolism and imagery to offer a powerful statement about life and death, which all help provide a gruesome feeling for the reader. With Poe’s incredible ability to Morris 4 use mood, imagery and symbolism, the reader is not just able to visualize himself in the story, but also see the candles go out, leaving only "darkness, decay, and the Red Death." (Poe, 89)
Authors use various styles to tell their stories in order to appeal to the masses exceptionally well and pass the message across. These messages can be communicated through short stories, novels, poems, songs and other forms of literature. Through The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven, it is incredibly easy to get an understanding of Edgar Allen Poe as an author. Both works describe events that are melodramatic, evil and strange. It is also pertinent to appreciate the fact that strange plots and eerie atmospheres are considerably evident in the author’s writings. This paper compares and contrasts The Masque of the Red Death and The Raven and proves that the fear of uncertainty and death informs Edgar Allen Poe’s writings in the two works
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.
Edgar Allen Poe, in the short story “The Masque of the Red Death”, shows how people may try to outsmart death and surpass it, but in the end they will die since death is inevitable. He reveals this in the book by showing all the people closed up in the abbey that belongs to Prince Prospero. They are trying to escape the “Red Death” and think that they can escape the death by hiding away in the abbey. They manage to stay safe for six months but in the end they all die after the stroke of midnight during the masquerade ball Prince Prospero puts on from the Red Death itself which appears after midnight and leaves no survivors in the end. Poe develops the theme of how no one can escape death through the use of the point of view, the setting, and symbolism.
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.
“And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall” (Poe, par. 14). After the mummer kills Prince Prospero, the masqueraders in the abbey perish one by one until the ebony clock runs out and none remain. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe uses the symbolism of the iron fortress, the masque, and the mummer to reveal the theme that man does not have control over their fate, and they cannot run from death.
"The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. 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,'" (209). As Edgar Allen Poe set the scene for his story, he also created an ominous mood and a sense of suspense supported by the setting. He details the fun and amusement inside the prince's abbey, in contrast to the horror and doom outside, and the reader's curiosity is piqued, because such bliss cannot be maintained for long. Throughout the story Poe explicates and changes elaborate environments to build the suspenseful energy and create a strong structure. In "The Masque of the Red Death," setting is employed to organize motives and action, and to focus the reader on the climax. Poe targets the culminating point of his story using rich descriptions of the abbey, the masquerade, and the clock.
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.
I chose to write about the comparison of two of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. The two stories that I chose to write about are “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Both of these stories create and have a gothic mood to them, which draws you in as a reader. The story of the masque of the red death is written about the black plague that was spreading across Europe at the time, and the story of the fall of the house of usher is written about a sickness or a disease that affects the characters of the story. In Edgar Allen Poe’s story of the “The Masque of the Red Death “, it is narrated by an unknown onlooker within the castle itself. In both stories with the narrator being an onlooker or as an unnamed friend as in “The fall of the House of Usher” forces or draws the reader to feel a part of the story itself. “The Masque of the Red Death” is about a prince who is rich that invites a thousand of his close knights and people of nobility to his castle where he has it sealed up to keep the plague from reaching his guest and his self. Edgar Allan Poe made the rooms of the castle in this story to be bazaar with all seven chambers of the castle different colors that went in one direction from east to west representing a life cycle. The last chamber was colored black with red stained windows that represented the final stage of life or death. The prince and his guest did not dare to enter this chamber because they feared death and were terrified of the idea of it (2012). In this story the prince and his guest think that they are safe and have a masque ball, while at the party they drink and are having a good time not thinking of the plague that is ravishing the country around them nor the poor that are being stric...
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.
Everyone fears their own death, thus why some people will do anything to escape it. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, this fear is experienced by all. In the story, a prince named Prospero and his people try to elude the Red Death through seclusion and isolation in the prince's abbey. However, no walls can stop death since it is unavoidable and inescapable. Throughout the story, Poe uses symbols such as the rooms, the masked figure, and the clock to convey the theme that no one can escape death.
In the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” written by Edgar Allan Poe, death and color are portrayed as a narrative meaning. Edgar Allan Poe writes about death as an actual entity that lurks his way through the last masquerade of the night. In the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” there are seven colored rooms that each have their own distinct color that describe what stage of life the followers of Prince Prospero were facing. The symbolism in the rooms of the castle “The Masque of the Red Death” has a unique meaning; furthermore, the symbols used in the story is the most important part in the story.
In the Masque of the Red Death, Poe utilizes diction of deception, visual imagery, and archetypes to show that even in full awareness, people did not use their resources to help those in need or in other words one can not escape death; however, Poe also utilizes foreshadowing and irony in order to create a mysterious mood;ominous tone in the story. For example, “the presence of the Red Death had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood bedewed halls…...Poe 5)” This portrays the theme of the short story because it shows the reader that no one is capable of escaping death; moreover, Poe also incorporates his superfluous use of diction and visual imagery in order to give the reader a sense of feeling of how it is like to be held in the hands of the plague that haunts the hallways of Prince Prospero.
Seize him and unmask him--that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!” This quote was taken from the mysterious story The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe. This story was mainly focused about fate and the ignorance of humanity today. Edgar tells the story about a prince, Prospero, who confines himself in his castle with revellers who are trying to escape the disease that is spreading in their home. However, the castle’s rooms are each a specific color, resembling the phases of a human’s life. The revellers move through the rooms, showing they are aging and becoming closer to the final room which is black, resembling death. At the end of the story, there is a horrendous cloaked figure that symbolizes death, stalking the revellers. After Prospero confronts the mysterious figure, he is slaughtered. “And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.” Soon after Prospero’s ignorant death, the cloaked figure catches up with the revellers, killing them off as well. This storyline written by Poe, shows that he feels that fate cannot be changed, in the end, you will die. His character Prospero and the revelers represented the fact that people believe they can change their fate, escape death, but Poe created a character, the red death, or
“The Masque of the Red Death” contains many instances of symbolism. The use of symbolism is prevalent in this tale. In Poe’s tale each room stands for a part of life. The blue room stands for birth, the purple room stands for maturing, the green one represents bodily growth, and the orange room symbolizes adulthood. Later, the tale goes on with more rooms such as; the white, violet, and black rooms which represent old age, imminent death, and death
Matthews states that a short-story is a story which focuses on one single thing, instead of elaborate many of them (398). It creates a “unity of impression” meaning that all elements of the story are combined together to leave a single feeling or effect on a reader (Matthews 398). The author stresses that the singularity (i.e. one place, one event, one character) in a short story is the main key that leads the reader to develop this unified impression (398).