Masque Of The Red Death Literary Analysis

Throughout history, many influential writers have used literature to teach people about human nature; these writers used their works improve the morals of humanity. In the 18th century, Romantic and Gothic writers used many literary elements to make their works more meaningful. These included figurative language, symbolism, imagery, allusions, mood and tone to enhance the theme in their stories. Two men who did this were the Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe, and the Gothic romance writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The works “The Masque of the Red Death” by Poe, and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Hawthorne, are examples of using literary elements to enhance theme. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, the main character, the prince, locks the aristocrats

He refuses to remove it and people speculate that he is hiding something. Both works have many Gothic elements, such as sin and death, in them. However, “The Minister’s Black Veil” also has some Romantic elements such as individualism and focus on solitary life. Both works were from different writers, and written in different styles, but used imagery, figurative language, and symbolism to enhance their themes. To begin with, Romantic and Gothic writers used imagery to appeal to the senses of the audience and put them in the story with the characters. 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). This quote makes the audience visualize a person dressed up as a deadly disease; the person, dressed like a corpse,