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Symbolism In Masque Of The Red Death

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The Prosper of Death: Revealing the Theme in "Masque of the Red Death" In gothic horror short story "Masque of the Red Death," Edgar Allan Poe writes about how Prince Prospero’s fear and obsession lead him to an inevitable psychological death. Poe reveals the message that phobias can cause people to lose sanity, regardless of who you are. This idea is conveyed through setting, characters, and symbolism. The setting in "Masque of the Red Death" is a symbol for Prince Prospero's mind and his isolation from the phobias that haunt him. The story takes place in a palace that is completely walled off. Everyone in the castle is oddly cheerful even though there is a disease killing people outside the castle walls.... In actuality, the castle represents the Prince's mind and his mental isolation from the phobias that haunt him. Prince Prospero is goes insane due to obsession and barricades himself in a place he thinks will keep him safe, his …show more content…

Prince Prospero fears the Red Death. His qualms due to the fixation become so great that he locks himself in a castle where he designs with an odd arrangement of seven apartments. Each complex is entirely composed of a single color: "...the eastern extremity was...in blue...in the west [a] black chamber" (Poe 421). When the Prince sees the Red Death he chases the masked man from the blue to black room. It is in this western, black room that Prospero is killed by the ghastly figure. The east represents the beginning, and the color blue corresponds to sanity and serenity. On the other hand, black is an archetypal symbol for death and the west is the epitome for the end(e.g. the end of the day). Prospero’s run from the blue room to black room represents his journey chasing an obsession similar to a sane man to being overtaken by his phobia. When the Red Death stabbed Prince Prospero, his sanity was

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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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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

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On the other hand, even though Prince Prospero tried his best to escape the horrible reality of the plague, in the end he died because of it. He failed to realize that the Read Death had entered his castle in the form of the masked figure. The masked figure clearly represented Death. The figure was “tall and gaunt,” wore “habiliments of the grave,” and had the “countenance of a stiffened corpse.” The “black velvet room” also hinted the presence of a mystery figure that would bring nothing but misfortune.

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Ultimately, the insanity of Prospero is anticipated onto the “phantasms” that occupy his thinking; the “dream” visitors are alluded to as “mad revellers”, demonstrating that they might be expectations of the prince Prospero’s own distraught personality. In addition to that, the veiled visage of death which shows up in the party even takes on the feature of insanity, as his “mad assumptions” have the impact of bringing “awe” in alternate visitors. The insanity of Prospero himself once more rises responding to the bravery of the Red Death, as the Prince Prospero “maddening with rage”, seeks after it to the seventh apartment. In an analytical perusing, the battle between the Red Death and Prospero could be explained as the interior psychical

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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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That's why he was so nervous for the guilt took over him,which exposed him to the cops. The same fear is present is in Masque of Red Death. In Masque of Red Death Edgar writes,” All these and security were within. Without the Red Death “(57).Prince Prospero has been running away from death,and he has tried to hide and escape from hiding in his castle to running away from the red death in the end. Prince Prospero was a tyrant ,for he was letting his people die well his was hiding in his castle.

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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.”

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The rooms are all connected so the path of death can never break. There’s no way to avoid the black room which represents that death can’t be avoided. Lastly, they are all connected so if you’re in one room you’re in the death room. Another example for a symbol would be the hallway. In the hallway you can’t see far ahead which symbolizes you can’t predict life.

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In Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, many symbols are used to justify the overall purpose and meaning of the story. These symbols include the ebony clock, the seven chambers, the scarlet and black room, and the Red Death itself. Each of these symbols help characterize the Prince and his guests, along with foreshadowing the overall outcome of the story. First of all, the seventh chamber and ebony clock not only provide a sense of eeriness, but reveal the underlying personalities and outcomes of the characters. For example, Zapf writes, “In the process of the story, of course, the seventh chamber more and more becomes the center of attention, and with it the clock of ebony which symbolizes the structure of temporality underlying and terminating all human

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1038 Words | 5 Pages

A prince revels in wealth, listens to an orchestra of music, gorges on food, and barks at servants; what else could he possibly need? Outside of his lavish quarters, the red death devastates the country. Everywhere, people were bleeding profusely through their pores, along with this, the people were plagued by fevers and seizures. Puss and blood was always in the line of one's sight. No one was safe except for Prince Prospero, cowering in his castle, refusing to help his dying kingdom.

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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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Death is inevitable is the overall theme of the story because death has been and still is a mystery that has generated both fear and horror. The fear and horror generated is an inspiration in subject that may involve topics of the infliction of death, the prevention of death even resurrection from death. Poe is greatly influence by death and one of his characters in the story Prince Prospero took drastic steps to avoid and escape from death. Symbolism is a figure of speech used when an author wants to create a certain mood or emotion in a work of literature; it is the use of an object, person, situation or words to represent something else like an idea in literature(Gill,2006;182).’’Symbolism plays an important role in literature’’(Knowles,

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731 Words | 3 Pages

Death can never be escaped no matter what. In “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allan Poe shows the theme of death, a suspenseful mood, and an ominous tone. Through Poe’s use of literary devices, the reader can discover tone, theme, and mood. Throughout Poe’s life he experienced death with two of his mother’s and his young wife. Death is shown how inevitable it is with Poe’s writing and experiences combined together.

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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.

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Demi Pyle February 20, 2018 English 1302 Looking Closer at “The Masque of The Red Death” In the grim short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1842, “The Masque of the Red Death” tells the tale of a kingdom ravaged with disease and a prince’s journey to escape death. Poe hides underlying messages throughout the story, leaving the reader to interpret the true meaning of prosperity and death. Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism and imagery in the form of an allegory to reveal to the reader that death is inescapable, no matter how wealthy you are.

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