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What Is The Allegory In The Masque Of The Red Death

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Running and hiding will only get you so far, the inevitable finds everyone eventually. The short story called “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story in which there was a Price and in order to try and escape a going around plaque, known as the red death, he takes a group of people to a “safe” place where the sickness cannot find them. After a while, without the plaque finding or entering Prince Proserpros’ abbey they decide to throw a party, which would later be a huge mistake. For decoration, the Prince decides that each room will be a different color with different furniture. Throughout the night someone shows up at the party dressed as a red death victim, and when Prince Prospero goes to confront this strange person, …show more content…

Insanity can be seen through many different lenses. Furthermore, this lens shows the fear of escaping death’s arms. Prince Prospero would constantly be worrying and running from his destiny. Poe writes, “...that Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice…”(Poe 87). To help bring to light what Prince Prospero truly represents, Poe writes in a distinguished way disguising him as a person who is hiding from the Red Death when in reality he is insanity trying to run away from death itself. The Prince had very interesting taste in decorations. While designing the different rooms he used many colors and had barbaric furniture for his designs. This further shows that he was very mentally unstable and thus not connecting with his …show more content…

The Masquerade party was showing people how easy it is to hide one’s identity. Poe Communicates the importance of the Masquerade party by “... Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence”(Poe 82). Because no one was wearing a mask there was a feeling of fear and timidness among the people at the party for no one knew who anyone was. Not knowing the identities of the guests, they would describe their emotions or opinions with the color of their masks. Also, with masks on they could tell who might have been sick or who was fully healthy. Overall the Masquerade party was to give the people a chance to also try and escape

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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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People act differently when they are with certain people than when they are alone. Some will call this act a “mask.” This metaphor is used because people cover up who they truly are or what they really feel with their actions; similar to the way a mask covers up a person’s face. This idea of a mask is explored in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask” and readers can see examples of “masks” in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. People often wear masks to hide something about themselves that they are not proud of or hide their emotions and fears they do not want others to know.

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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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The stories “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Man of the Crowd” by Edgar Allan Poe are similar in their setting, mood, main characters, and topics such as symbolism, conflict, and foreshadowing. Poe has a specific writing style that makes his works similar and easily identifiable. Poe tends to write about sickness and death. These topics reflect greatly on his life and show through in many of his works. When Poe was young he was adopted by a rich family, Mr. and Mrs. John Allen; he did not have a very good relationship with Mr. Allen.

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His scaredness for his own life, “ But the mummer had 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.” (Poe 5) The mask behind the Red Death had been shown reality through the blood and the features of the face that had been shown. He had been shown the horror that had been abrupt.

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Paul Laurence Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" is a powerful poem that addresses the complexities of identity, oppression, and the human experience. Through the use of vivid imagery, symbolism, and metaphor, Dunbar explores the ways in which individuals are forced to conceal their true selves in order to navigate the societal norms and expectations of the world around them. The opening stanza of the poem sets the stage for the metaphorical mask that is worn by the speaker and those around them: "We wear the mask that grins and lies, / It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.

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In Poe’s stories, the main characters experience fear, but they all handle it distinctively. Poe uses irony, symbolism, and imagery to show how fear affects the narrator’s mindset, along with their future.     In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of Red Death”, the main characters try to isolate themselves from evil, but Poe uses irony to show that death is inevitable.

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There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust,” (Poe 6). Poe describes the luxury and extravagance of the masquerade to enhance the dream-like qualities that he gives the story. By using such descriptive imagery, he reinforces the dark and dreary tone, which also enhances the theme of

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But the prince prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious”. By not caring about the people of his country, the prince proves that he is a self-serving leader. It

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