Death Is Everywhere In The Masque Of The Red Death

Everyone fears their own death, thus why some people will do anything to escape it. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, this fear is experienced by all. In the story, a prince named Prospero and his people try to elude the Red Death through seclusion and isolation in the prince's abbey. However, no walls can stop death since it is unavoidable and inescapable. Throughout the story, Poe uses symbols such as the rooms, the masked figure, and the clock to convey the theme that no one can escape death.

As a gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe created horror using gloom as his weapon. Hidden within the suspenseful story of “The Masque of Red Death” is an allegorical tale of how individuals deal with the fear of death as time passes. Frantic activities and pleasures (as represented by Prince Prospero and his guests) seek to wall out the threat of death. However, the story reminds the reader that death comes “like a thief in the night”(Poe 3), and even those who seek peace and safety shall not escape. Poe uses symbolism to illustrate that man cannot hide from his own mortality.

Throughout the gothic horror short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the struggle of an egotistical prince who refuses to face the inevitable reality of death. Through the downfall of the protagonist, Poe establishes the idea that the inability to face reality often leads to the destruction of the mind. The downfall of the Prince is emphasized by Poe’s use of characterization, setting, and symbolism.

Written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1842, “The Masque of the Red Death” is a short story that follows Prince Prospero, an ignorant prince who hosts a revelry in the midst of a pestilence befalling the country. While lives are claimed and the nation dies horrifically at the hands of the Red Death, the prince and his partygoers engross themselves in lavish celebration, only to be taken by the Red Death themselves. “The Masque of the Red Death” is a cautionary tale of ignorance and privilege. Poe conveys this theme through his use of plot, character, and tone. Poe establishes a theme of privilege and ignorance through the plot’s progression, reflecting such a message in the events of the story.

"The Masque of the Red Death," by Edgar Allan Poe is a gothic fiction story that reminds us there is no escape from death. In this story, a disease called the "Red Death" spreads rapidly, gruesomely killing its victims. The prince of the land, Prospero, plans to barricade himself and his guests at his abbey. A while later the prince throws a party with uniquely colored rooms. An unusual guest appears and eventually kills everyone after revealing himself as the red death. "The Masque of the Red Death," features Poe's literary skills as he utilizes symbolism, imagery, and irony.

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous American author known for writing gothic, dark, and haunting stories and poems. He always uses symbolism in his stories to set the dark mood. One of his most famous short stories is “The Masque of the Red Death”. In this story, the “Red Death” has been killing many people. A prince named Prospero locks himself and his friends in his castle to keep out the Red Death.

"The Masque of the Red Death" is a dark, fearful story. Poe's use of language helps to develop the foreboding tone of the passage. The story starts off with a description of the "Red Death and how it kills whoever is in it's path. For example the line "Blood was its Avatar - the redness and horror of blood.

The Masque of The Red Death is an allegory. An allegory is a poem that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. In The Masque of The Red Death pretty much everything in the story is symbolic. For example the rooms, the clock, the prince, and the masked intruder are all important symbols. The Rooms are all very symbolic because they each represent a stage of life beginning with birth and ending at death.

“The Masque of the Red Death” is an extraordinary story of many elements that can grasp any reader's attention. This story targets more of the emotions and actions of the characters, creating more of a fathom. Edgar Allan Poe wrote this story from his own perspective and perhaps succeeded in getting the reader to some what relate to the characters focusing on the feelings. The point of view Poe wrote this in makes a clear understanding.

Mark Twain once said “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” Edgar Allan Poe’s Prince Prospero, is the man who fears of death, so much he locks himself in a castle, to delay it as much as he can. Yet the inevitability of death, even the Prince could not defeat. The monster of death, is one of the reasons, that “The masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, is a horror story, because of the many monsters, the setting, and the supernatural elements.

“Frail humanity can never escape the ravages of time”. Humans are born and will eventually die; it’s the cycle of life. No one can prevent death, but it does not stop people from trying to prolong life. Fate is inevitably predetermined; death is our predetermined fate. In the allegory “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1842, Poe teaches that death is predestined and that you cannot avoid fate. Poe focuses in on an unusual character, Prince Prospero, who displays strange characteristics in a time of woe. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe uses Prospero’s urge for power, struggle for power, and failure to get power, to enhance the theme of fate being ineludible.

Death is a terrifying prospect for most people; imagine being face to face with it. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”, the revelers are in this very situation. Prince Prospero’s country is being devastated by the Red Death. A plaque that results in a painful, gruesome, death. Therefore, Prince Prospero being the selfish, uncaring man he is, locked himself and a thousand of his lighthearted friends in his abbey to hide from the Red Death. After 6 months of seclusion Prince Prospero throws a masquerade to celebrate that they were still free of the Red Death. It is at this masquerade that a gruesome mummer appears before Prince Prospero and all the revelers, and death quickly follows. In this short story, Poe personifies death through the mummer who appears like a thief in the night, stealing the lives of Prince Prospero and his court.

Could it be possible for there to be something so powerful in this world that we, as humans, are unable to hide from it? As said by Jean De La Bruyere, “The inevitability of death is partly mitigated by the fact that we do not know when it will overtake us; this uncertainty has something from the eternity,” meaning that we fear death mainly because we do not know when it will consume us which gives us the natural human nature to try and control when our time comes; this idea is conveyed in “The Masque of The Red Death,” By Edgar A. Poe, through Prince Prospero’s efforts to overpower the mummer (or death) which also enhances the overall theme of death being inevitable. Prince Prospero and his 1000 followers try to overpower death by hiding

The plot in the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allan Poe, does not fit the criteria of a gothic story. The requirements that a gothic story may contain in its plot are that while the plot may contain horror or may be a mystery, it has to have a moral, action may be inside or outside the protagonist, evil is ultimately destroyed, and the protagonist finds moral success in the end, even if he/she ends up dying. “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allan Poe, does not fit these requirements. Firstly, the text presents, “And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death” (3). This interprets how the protagonist, Prince Prospero, did not have success in the end and evil was not ultimately destroyed because the Red Death

From the day we are all born, we have an appointment with death. The truth is that people in society try to have the most fun in their lives by indulging themselves in food, dancing, and partying. Although all of these things are pleasant and enjoyable, people still cannot escape their death. Many try to pass time and live for themselves, when in reality they come closer and closer to their demise. No one better portrays this than Edgar Allen Poe, who in his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe shows that there is no artifice that can prevent the inevitability of fate when a rich nobleman named Prince Prospero throws a party in his luxurious castle, hoping the Red Death will not affect him.