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Recommended: Masque of the red death literary analysis

Comparative Essay- Rachel Orbach

In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, and “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, both authors use similar protagonists who unwillingly have to face their death. Prince Prospero, in “The Masque of Red Death”, is avoiding a deadly plague by hiding in his castle with his kinsmen, and the man in “To Build a Fire” is traveling in the freezing weather trying to abstain from hypothermia and death. Prince Prospero and the man, while different from one another, are both trying to fight their ineludible destiny. While “To Build a Fire” takes place in the cold Alaskan frontier, and “The Masque of Red Death” is set in an isolated abbey, Poe and London both express through stubborn protagonists that regardless how hard one tries to hide from death, it is inevitable.

Both Prince Prospero and the man in “To Build a Fire” try to avoid their demise but are unsuccessful, showing the reader that death is inescapable. Prince Prospero’s excessive pride and arrogance causes him to attempt to fight the Red Death, and he is defeated. Through the Red Death’s triumph, it is understandable that despite how powerful Prince Prospero is, no one is more powerful than death. The prince thinks that it is “folly” to grieve and rather than concentrating on the negative, he throws a party and forgets about those not within the abbey since he believes that they must save themselves from death while he “escaped” it (Poe 1). Prince Prospero is ignoring how people are dying outside of the castle and by throwing a party, he is rubbing in the face of death that he is evading his fate, which he has not. The Red Death ultimately enters the castle and kills all the people proving that one cannot avoid death because death is un...

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Edgar Allan Poe and Jack London both prove through arrogant protagonists that despite how hard one tries to avoid death, death is predestined. Poe is able to better demonstrate that death is inevitable than London because the plague that struck Prince Prospero’s town is undefeatable however the prince continues to protect himself from his eventual death. The man in “To Build a Fire” is always able to prevent death but he allows death to overpower him by not taking precautions that are able to save his life. The Prince also attempts in fighting death representing his perseverance to live while the man does not try to conquer death but lies down in the cold, allowing death to conquer him. As a result, “The Masque of the Red Death” better implies how despite how powerful one is or the precautions one takes, no one can escape death because it is inevitable.

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