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Masque Of The Red Death Essay

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“Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is full of literary elements such as antagonist, climax, imagery, personification, and symbolism. Throughout the plenary story these elements are present. The antagonist, or ‘villain’, of “Masque of the Red Death” is the Red Death. It is the antagonist because it causes all of the tribulation in the story. The Red Death appears at Prince Prospero’s masquerade party and causes all of the party goers to die from the disease which it is named after. Clearly, the Red Death is an antagonist because it kills everyone and causes the main conflict, or climax, of the story. The climax of the story is when the ‘mysterious party goer’ is discovered during the midnight clock clang and what precedes afterwards. The climax is when the story reaches it’s highest point, or it’s most intense point. When the Red Death shows up and Prince Prospero chases after him and the chase ends in the Prince’s ultimate demise, along with the rest of the bedfellows. This is climatic because the whole story had been leading up to this point and then …show more content…

Prince Prospero’s castle represented his intention to prevent his death; he locks himself and his closest friends and entertainers in his castle and seals all of them off from the dying outside world. By doing so he ultimately seals his death because no one, even himself, can get in or out of the castle. Another symbol is “The Ebony Clock is a constant reminder of death and symbolizes the inevitability of it. The revelers could neither stop its pendulum from swinging nor could they prevent its ominous tones from dampening their enthusiasm.” (A Guide), this symbol is mentioned multiple times throughout the story reminding everyone attending the party that death is inescapable and you can’t hide from it, even if at the moment the attendees do not realize that this is the purpose of the

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The entire reason for this party was to defend the king and all those close to him from it, but there is no escaping the disease. The text states, “His vesture-was dabbed in blood-and his brow, with all the features with all the feature of a face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror” Poe, 425). The Red Death was a “walking corpse” looking figure that appeared out of nowhere during the course of the party; and how instantly makes his way toward the block room. All those who attended the shindig secretly feared the moving figure as it made its way to the room. The king did not stand for this so he planned to kill the figure, but yet the figure killed him.

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Poe builds suspense in "The Masque of the Red Death" by using foreshadowing to hint at the tragic end that awaits the characters. For example, the description of the Red Death as a "pestilence" that is "fatal" and "hideous" foreshadows the eventual death of the guests. In addition, the description of the last room is completely covered in black decorations with red-colored windows foreshadowing the tragic end that awaits the guests. The use of the color red and the imagery of blood thoughts the story also serves as foreshadowing for the tragic end. The ending of the story, in which the figure disguised as the Red Death causes the death of the guests, including the prince, is both shocking and inevitable.

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Though Poe took the short story in an entirely different sort of direction, some speculate that he got the idea from William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Not only did he name the prince “Prospero” like the main character in “The Tempest,” but he also devised the plague from it. In “The Tempest,” the antagonist, Caliban, screams out, demanding the “red plague” kill Prospero. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe refers to it differently, initially saying that the part was “without the ’Red Death,’” (Poe 15).

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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.

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This can be deemed the climax for two reasons: it is the most jarring display of violence within the scene and the scene begins to move forward immediately after. The implications of seeing a white man on horseback whip a black man running for his life are more than powerful. There is not a word to attach to the feeling the viewer recivices when the observe that scene. Anger, disgust, sadness, and disappointment are the most basic feelings one can associate with that scene. Hearing the whip crack in the air and against the man’s back transport the viewer into the scene and also brings to mind all other films or show in which they have observed a similar scene with a similar sound.

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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.”

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No one can defeat Death There once was a young woman, who strived to be immortal, this caused her to bind herself away from the world for years. She decided one day that she had conquered death by changing her fate and goes to venture the town where she met a strange man, who insults her, filled with anger she decides to go after him where she faces death. A very similar situation is portrayed in “The Masque of the Red Death” with the character Prince Prospero, who believes that he has changed his fate by locking himself in his palace for years but this doesn’t end well for him as he faces death in his own home. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, irony and symbolism to is used prove that death is inevitable.

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