Death Bites A Founding Father of our nation, Benjamin Franklin, once said: “Death takes no bribes”(Franklin). Death takes no bribes and described as unforgiving. with no known way to outrun it or escape it. In the short story by Edgar Allan Poe titled “The Masque of The Red Death,” there occurred a masquerade at a castle for healthy people to isolate themselves from the plague. Later on, a stranger arrives and is revealed to be death itself. All the guests later die due to “The Red Death”. In “The Masque of The Red Death” Poe includes gothic characteristics to prove that death not escapable The inclusion of Mortality became a common practice among gothic writers. In Poe's story, he utilizes this characteristic with the presence of “The Red Death” or the entity Death. For instance, while the people were dancing at the masquerade, a stranger appears inside the castle. People began to notice this figure and then after a chase through the castle involving the Prince and the stranger all the people began to get sick and die. Once this occurred Poe wrote, “And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night.”(Poe). All of the guests who were at that party had failed to …show more content…
In Poe's story, he utilizes this characteristic with the presence of the stranger in the castle. For instance, when the stranger first appeared at the masquerade, Poe wrote “And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly… expressive of disapprobation and surprise --then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.”(Poe). The atmosphere at the party when the stranger arrived was one of mystery. This leaves the reader in suspense of not knowing what is so exciting and then later disgusting about the stranger. If the guests would have realized that they couldn't escape death then maybe this stranger wouldn't have arrived at the