Running Head: LITERARY CRITICISM Literary Criticism of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque Of The Red Death James Williams Thornwood High School Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19th, 1809. His family had many actors such as his mother. Poe’s father however, was a lawyer. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was three years old and then his father abandoned him. He was raised by a businessman named John Allan, in Redmond, Washington. As Poe approached his teenage years, his relationship with Allan became a stormy one. While the narrator in The Tell Tale Heart didn’t really care about the money, Poe needed Allan to support him financially. Allan supported Poe’s education at a private English school for 5 years. However, …show more content…
It is set in the period of the Red Death. It is set inside an abbey. The characters are Prince Prospero, his court, and the Red Death. Skiped. The story starts when the red death taking hold of the country. Many had fallen victim to the terrible disease. Those afflicted with the disease suffered from pain, dizziness, and profuse bleeding from the pores. Those with the disease could be identified by the scarlet color of their face. The disease prevented people from helping out one another out of fear of catching said disease by helping. The cycle took about an hour. While everyone else was dying, Prince Prospero was having the time of his life. He was living life carefree. When half of his citizens had died, he called for a thousand of his closest friends and went into the deepest parts of his castle. They sealed themselves in with enough supplies and luxuries to wait out the plague. 6 months had passed, and millions of people had died. Prince Prospero decided to throw a masquerade to entertain his friends. It was during this time that they decided to throw a masquerade. The palace looked fabulous with many magnificent rooms and decorations. Suddenly, everyone's attention was on a mysterious figure who no one had noticed before. Everyone was talking about him. He looked like the Red Death. When Prince Prospero looked at him, he was scared and angry. He ordered his