ipl-logo

How Does Poe Create Suspense In The Masque Of The Red Death

595 Words3 Pages

In Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The Masque of the Red Death”, the terror spreading throughout the guests of the party helps it seem as if the Red Death was slowly forcing itself into the masquerade. The masked figure within the story is described as “…unutterable horror” (Poe, 452). The vivid descriptions within the story produce anxiety and cause unease for the guests, adding to the underlying fear of the current red death pandemic. A quote that builds a lot of suspense is “…turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer” (Poe, 452). This chase forces the guests to freeze because a confrontation is about to happen. Poe also decides to leave the guests with wonder after the climax by adding “…untenanted by any tangible form” (Poe, 452). The quote proceeds to induce fear within the guests because they are now trapped with an invisible killer. The fear of death is strongly exhibited within the quote “…mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat” (Poe, 451). Death is the ultimate fear for the characters of this party and seeing a close resemblance …show more content…

The main metaphor expressed in this essay Is the bug and the door. King states that not knowing what is behind the door is terrifying but the reality is nothing behind the door will be scarier than the unknown. This metaphor is important because it helps build the suspense in the reader’s mind, the intended effect by King. When the thing behind the door is revealed, the readers will feel relieved but will still remember the suspense filled moments before the reveal. King’s metaphor discloses that the readers can be built up for as long as the author wants but must eventually be shown what is behind the

Show More
Related
57 Words | 1 Pages

The Masque of the Red Death has a lot of symbolism that has to do with the circle of life- such as the different colors of the seven rooms each meaning one stage of life. The stages of life obviously have relations to death, possibly even being centered around it. The thought is just so artistically

Read More
467 Words | 2 Pages

Poe uses Gothic diction to explain the dire significance of the red death, while also creating an ominous mood. Early in the story the speaker introduces the devastation that the Red Death causes. The speaker describes the effects as “So fatal.” (1.1) The word fatal is often used when regarding something that causes death.

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

Poe uses symbolism a lot in his stories to make his writing have a more eerie feeling. ”The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Masque of Red Death” both have symbols that induce fear into the main characters hearts. In The Tell-Tale Heart Poe writes “...for it was no the old man who vexed me but his evil eye “(75).The narrator kills an innocent old man for that hr thought the old man's eyes were judging. Although the old man just had cataracts ,the narrator could not stand the man for his eye he compared looked as vulture's eye. The narrator was afraid of this old man and his “evil eye”.

Read More
819 Words | 4 Pages

Poe is often known for his dark, sometimes twisted short stories and poems. “The Masque of the Red Death” is no exception. In this short story, Poe creates and eerie and ominous mood by using a wide variety of literary techniques including imagery, diction, and syntax. Poe’s use of imagery contributes to the dark and mysterious mood of the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death.” In the first paragraph, a sense of darkness is conveyed in the sentence, “There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers.”

Read More
1036 Words | 5 Pages

Poe’s use of foreshadowing, characterization, and symbolism develops the theme of inevitability of death to illustrate that regardless of

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

Rough Draft Analysis Some people think that running away from problems in life is an amazing way to get out of them. “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, expresses how the effort of running away from a disease is not possible. The people believed that now that the prince, their loyal friend, had let them into the castle they were all safe from the terrible disease called “Red Death”. Everyone was having a good time at a ball that the prince had made for his friends.

Read More
1394 Words | 6 Pages

The authors’ use of strong imagery invokes strong emotions that give the audience a personal connection to the characters and events. In the “The Masque of the Red Death”, the theme is mortality. Poe shows how people are vulnerable to death, even after taking every possible precaution. Poe writes, “The mask ... was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse ... gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood - and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror” (6).

Read More
698 Words | 3 Pages

In Poe’s stories, the main characters experience fear, but they all handle it distinctively. Poe uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to show how fear affects the narrator’s mindset, along with their future.     In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of Red Death”, the main characters try to isolate themselves from evil, but Poe uses irony to show that death is inevitable.

Read More
1590 Words | 7 Pages

If Poe’s intention are to scare the reader, then he is going to do it. As an author, he wants to use rich detail to really protrude his ideas of the story being

Read More
1822 Words | 8 Pages

Poe ups the fear by bringing these images of this man being entombed alive and the fact that he is virtually unable to do anything about it. And all for some unknown reason, since Montresor never admits as

Read More
810 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More
781 Words | 4 Pages

This essential theme is presented directly. This is the method that Poe chose to achieve his unity of effect. But Poe wants to achieve an effect a total, unified effect in order to show the close proximity of the revelry of life and the masquerade to the inevitability of death itself. Poe's story possesses no real characters. The greatness of the story lies in his use of an age-old theme the inevitability of death and in the way that Poe creates and maintains a total unity of effect, he brings us into the horror of the story.

Read More
638 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
678 Words | 3 Pages

Suspense by Edgar Allen Poe Suspense is a writing style that authors use to make it so a reader is ahead of the characters in the story. Edgar Allen Poe profoundly used this technique in his story “Tell Tale Heart”. The narrator is psychotic and is particularly tormented by an old man’s ‘evil’ glass eye. He was willing to do close to anything to be rid of the eye, including murder.

Read More

More about How Does Poe Create Suspense In The Masque Of The Red Death

Related Topics

Open Document