Comparing The Masque Of The Red Death And The Premature Burial
In "The Masque of the Red Death," by Edgar Allan Poe, Prince Prospero's evolution from fear to bravery in his encounter with the Red Death, Poe captures Prospero's transition from initial fear to bravery or impulse, through irony, visual imagery, and foreshadowing. Initially, Prospero believes himself and his followers to be above the reach of the Red Death, he retreats into his abbey, fortifying its walls and hosting a masquerade ball as if he can run from the Red Death. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red Death.” This is ironic because the guests, who believe they can escape death by hiding in the abbey, ultimately meet their demise within its walls during what was supposed to be a festive event.
Same Technique, Different Purpose Descriptive scenery or imagery is used throughout literature for a variety of purposes. It can be used to paint a mental picture of the setting, to portray symbols, or even to relay themes. The authors Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe exemplify the use of the same technique, descriptive scenery, to deliver different purposes. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce and The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe both use imagery in order to characterize characters and foreshadow events.
This story of death works out, because Edgar Allen Poe gives good use to author’s craft. Edgar Allen Poe uses imagery, symbolism, and setting to create an effective story. In the “Masque of the Red Death” Poe uses description to give imagery.
Beginning with diction: To put it plainly, diction is the overall word choice the author chooses to use within their story to provide a variety of meanings, set particular tones, etc. Edgar Allen Poe’s complex diction further heightens the eerie atmosphere and foreboding suspense that frequently lingers within his iconic Gothic short stories, and are all the more present within Masque of the Red Death. It’s evident that Poe pays attention to connotation and meticulously chooses words that best convey the unsettling imagery that he’s going for, as shown when the narrator was describing the 7th room, “But in the western or black chamber the effect of the firelight that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in
Poe wrote in the “Masque of the Red Death,” “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men,” (Poe 1). It goes to show to what length people will go to survive. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Montresor's cellar represented the embodiment of death
This story focuses on accepting death in a peaceful way. In contrast, Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” is more about avoiding death despite its inescapability. Prince Prospero secludes himself and his friends from a deadly plague that still finds its way into his castle. While both “Shaving” and “The Masque of the Red Death” are about death, their individual perspectives on death differ greatly. “Shaving” and “The Masque of the Red Death” are similar in the way
Many people that Edgar Allan Poe loved and cared about died, and his feelings about their deaths were reflected in his writings. Poe lost his wife and mother to tuberculosis, the Red Death, which spread like wildfire during Poe’s time. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe writes of a Prince who built walls around his palace in an attempt to prevent the disease from getting inside. Through vivid descriptions and similes, Poe allows the reader to come to the conclusion that the Red Death got inside the walls anyway, and killed everyone in its path. In “The Conqueror Worm”, Poe writes of a worm that enters a theater during a play and eats the actors and the audience when they are least expecting it.
Poe’s use of foreshadowing, characterization, and symbolism develops the theme of inevitability of death to illustrate that regardless of
Edgar Allan Poe once said, “The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.” Many of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems, including “The Mask of the Red Death”, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, are very similar in the way that they have no physical descriptions, dark and deep plots and themes, and they all have similar settings. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Prince Prospero invites his family and friends to his castle to escape the red death. When the clock strikes midnight a ghostly figure appears.
In everyday lives lots of good and bad things happen, that cannot be avoided no matter what because there meant to happen. Some examples might be car accidents, falling, winning lotteries or doing good on an exam. In the story called “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe shows how the Red Death is just inevitable to happen no matter what. Edgar expresses this by making the setting the story in a gothic tone and dreadful to portray red death.
Correspondingly ‘’The Premature Burial’’, is the most obvious story that deals with the theme of being buried alive. Poe confesses his true fears about being prematurely buried, ’’to be buried while alive is, beyond question, the most terrific of these extremes which has ever fallen to the lot of mere mortality’’. (1) We see the development of the theme of being buried alive through the unnamed narrator who becomes more and more anxious about being buried alive due to his untimely fits of catalepsy. Christopher Dribble argues that, ‘’Poe’s unnamed narrator describes in Gothic detail his increasing paranoia and excruciating fear of hasty or untimely burial’’ (3).
The simile Poe uses is by comparing the red death to a thief. The figurative language of personification and simile of the red death contribute to the tone of the story. The red death is described as, “ He had come like a thief in the night” (Poe 3). This contributes to the tone because Poe gives the story a more ominous sense by giving the red death human characteristics of a thief as well as comparing the red death to a thief that steals.
Despite the belief that one can live forever, death is certain. Edgar Allen Poe wrote his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” with a greater meaning than simply the Red Death, or plague. He wrote this story, symbolizing the stages of life. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses the symbols of the hallway, the rooms, and the braziers, to enhance the allegory, and to show how death is inevitable and one can not spend their life worrying about it.
Demi Pyle February 20, 2018 English 1302 Looking Closer at “The Masque of The Red Death” In the grim short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1842, “The Masque of the Red Death” tells the tale of a kingdom ravaged with disease and a prince’s journey to escape death. Poe hides underlying messages throughout the story, leaving the reader to interpret the true meaning of prosperity and death. Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism and imagery in the form of an allegory to reveal to the reader that death is inescapable, no matter how wealthy you are.
The Masque of the Red Death: Essay The Masque of the Red Death is a short gothic horror story. Overall is about a prince who thinks he is invincible, while having a party one night a mysterious guest appears and all the party-goers are very frightened of him. In the end this red death man kills the prince along with many other people at the party. This story became more horrific because the setting was in a castle, there was supernatural elements, and there was revenge.
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