ipl-logo

Masque Of The Red Death Analysis Essay

1030 Words5 Pages

Author’s Craft on “The Masque of the Red Death” People have always tried to avoid death, but they cannot. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” the characters try to avoid the Red Death, but they fail. Every hour when the clock chimes, that is indicating that life is passing by and death is near. People being to die every minute once the Red Death enters. Poe wrote a good story because of the decisions he made in using the author’s craft. In “The Masque of the Red Death” he uses the setting, imagery, and symbolism to create an effective story.
One way the author creates an effective story is through the setting. The Red Death is all over the countryside, and has been for a while. “The “Red Death” had long devastated …show more content…

Prince Prospero symbolized man-kind and its unable to do something to deal with death in general. Prince invited citizens “from among the knights and dames of his court” (84). When the Red Death begins to kill most of the people in Prospero’s kingdom, he attempts to use his wealth, noble, respected and care to escape the fate of everyone. Poe points out in this allegory, no man can escape death, because it will find you, that is why man-kind is unable to escape death. In the end, the Red Death has made its way through the company, "and the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay" (88). The Ebony Clock in this story symbolizes the ethics and reminds the people of death, when the clock chimes each hour. The clock chimes each hour and yet even though it shows that death is near, some do not understand. “While the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation” (87). Poe shows that yes some do understand and are afraid. For example, the dizziest going pale, while others are often unaware of what is going on and are

Show More
Related
683 Words | 3 Pages

Edger Allen Poe is an incredible author of horror. His story, The Masque of the Red Death, was an amazing chiller about a party that was ended by a disease. Throughout the kingdom a disease is spreading from citizen to citizen, killing each one who possesses it so the king invites those closes to him to a party where no one can leave and will be safe from the disease but yet in hindsight they were locking themselves in with the disease. Throughout the course of this hair-raising story, several symbols are represented to array Poe’s theme of death. Symbols such as the seven colored rooms, the clock, and lastly the Red Death are all symbols that are displayed to help get Poe’s notion across.

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

“The Masque of the Red Death” draws many parallels to the Black Death or Bubonic Plague ”The Red Death, a bloodier version of the Black Death”(EBSCO

Read More
2469 Words | 10 Pages

The man awaiting his death started to go insane. He was physically handicapped by the rope tied around him (Great Books). This short story exposed the true anxiety and emotional stress of death. It symbolized how people are afraid of death. The story was dark because a man was literally looking death straight in the eyes.

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
844 Words | 4 Pages

Poe uses symbolism a lot in his stories to make his writing have a more eerie feeling. ”The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Masque of Red Death” both have symbols that induce fear into the main characters hearts. In The Tell-Tale Heart Poe writes “...for it was no the old man who vexed me but his evil eye “(75).The narrator kills an innocent old man for that hr thought the old man's eyes were judging. Although the old man just had cataracts ,the narrator could not stand the man for his eye he compared looked as vulture's eye. The narrator was afraid of this old man and his “evil eye”.

Read More
905 Words | 4 Pages

The Black Plague struck Europe in the 14th century and spread rapidly, destroying families and towns (“Black Death”). To become infected, it only took some contaminated bodily fluid and the infected would die within a few short days. In today’s world, the Plague is easily treatable with common antibiotics. However, that was not the case back then and this changed people’s lives and outlooks on society. Different groups of people within a culture responded to death in different ways, that culture’s writing reflects this.

Read More
1094 Words | 5 Pages

It seemed to behave like an apparition as no one was able to grab ahold of the mysterious figure. The metaphor of red death, along with the witching hour, helps to add to the feeling of eeriness and helps to portray the actions of the courtiers. The witching hour itself signifies the arrival of a evil in this world. As the clock rings out and the devil’s hour gets closer, the chimes begin to encroach on the courtiers’ comfort as the hourly silence gets eerier every time it

Read More
220 Words | 1 Pages

All together 50% of all Europe’s population was dead in less than ten years. Now scientist think it was more than just one diseases. 3. Botches or plague sores would form in the groin, armpit or neck, then rupture, causing pain so agonizing that some victims would leap from windows. Finally, speech would become difficult, and victims would suffer delirium before succumbing to heart failure.

Read More
541 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

200 years ago Edgar Allen Poe wrote the story “ The Masque of the Red Death”, comparing both the red death, and Ebola from what I read Poe was not talking about Ebola in the story. For instance the symptoms of both diseases have common affects on people when they come in contact with disease. Poe wrote the story 200 years ago, at Prince Prospero , but Ebola has only been around for a short period of time. For example both infections scared everyone, and the people isolated themselves from the sick. Based on what I read Poe was not talking about Ebola in the story.

Read More
917 Words | 4 Pages

The last sentence in the text is “and Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all” (Poe 4) Following Prospero’s confrontation, the disease takes the lives of everyone at the party, symbolizing the downfall of the rich as a result of their lack of consideration for those with less privilege than them. This destiny humanizes the seemingly untouchable ruling class. This trajectory can be interpreted in many contexts, including the COVID-19 pandemic. While many working class individuals such as front line workers lacked the means to support themselves, they had to risk their own health to make money while those with substantial wealth found themselves relaxing in isolation without much regard for those who did not have such luxury.

Read More
769 Words | 4 Pages

As mentioned before, he had lost many important people in his life due to tuberculosis. His mother, wife and brother all died from it. “The Masque of the Red Death,” released the same year, is about a plague that is killing peasants in gruesome fashion,” (Violence in Popular Culture: American and Global Perspectives). The plague in this case is referring to Tuberculosis. “The Masque of Red Death” was written in 1942 which is when Virginia became heavily ill.

Read More
514 Words | 3 Pages

Time running out isn’t the only symbol in the story. The last symbol that exemplifies death is the Red Death. Poe stated in the story,“THE RED DEATH HAD LONG BEEN FEEDING ON THE COUNTRY. No sickness had ever been so deadly - so great a killer - or so fearful to see.”.

Read More
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.

Read More
918 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Masque Of The Red Death Analysis Essay

Related Topics

Open Document