How Did Poe Contribute To The Masque Of The Red Death

World famous author Edgar Allan Poe is known from some of the best horror stories ever published. However, some say that Poe’s stories are not just any horror story that any author could write. It is believed that Poe’s life tragedies played into his role as a writer, and he could not have written these skin crawling stories without his terrible life experiences. Edgar Allan Poe’s works are relatable to his life through illness, alcohol, and frustration.
Poe’s experiences of illness are believed to have influenced the sickness of characters in his stories. Amongst the countless characters that die in his stories, the most notable ones are in “The Masque of the Red Death,” which is a good analogy to Poe’s life since his family mostly died from

Most people know that when Poe was succumbed to alcohol, he became “staggering drunk after a single glass” of any alcoholic beverage (Geiling). Poe wrote about these horror stories about alcohol. For example, in “The Cask of Amontillado,” the character Fortunato is a drunk who “prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine” (Poe, The Cask of Amontillado,”) that is easily lured by the temptation of good wine. This ultimately leads to his death. This could be Poe writing about his own life experiences with alcohol. This evidence explains why he wrote about characters like Fortunato and other stories that are not related strictly to alcohol but have similar stories to suffering from sickness. Poe’s alcoholism could have led him down a dark path, which could be symbolized in the following quote, “My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so” (Poe, The Cask of Amontillado). The dampness of the catacombs could be symbolizing his sullen feelings towards his alcoholism, or how he felt about his life because of his drinking problem. The only reason why these stories would not be relatable to Poe’s alcohol suffrage is if Poe did not know he suffered from alcoholism, which is a long stretch since his Mother, Father, and Sister struggled with the same problem, which makes it seem hereditary. Alcoholism was a part of Poe’s life he struggled with, which could have influenced