An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. In the story, a terrible disease called the Red Death struck the country. It’s incredibly fatal and gruesome, and it had already killed off half the kingdom. The ruler of the kingdom, Prince Prospero, does not care about the decease of his kingdom and proceeds to throw a masquerade ball in his mansion far away in the woods. During the ball a masked person appears and he portrays a frightening corpse who died of the Red Death.
Then a red masked figure comes to the party. “The Masque of the Red Death” symbolizes fear, life, and death; the author wants to let the world know that death cannot be avoided by escaping from it. Fear cannot be controlled by ignoring it. based on the quote, the red masked figure symbolizes fear because of the description of his appearance. This text states of his appearance, “His vesture was dabbled in blood and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with scarlet horror,” (pg.425).
He comes to the figure in the black room and quickly, he meets his fate. After that, the Red Death slowly makes its way throughout the abbey killing every person in its path. Now in my opinion, there is a lot more to this story than Poe actually wrote. It seemed that he was implying a lot, like he does with much of his work. The way that I took the message of this story is that no matter who you are, and what
Kristy Everett Ms.Burns-6th PAP English-II 14 May, 2012 Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death,” is a short story about a prince who invites a thousand of his “lighthearted friends” to a masked ball, while the rest of his kingdom is dying from a plague. When the narrator describes seven different colored chambers in the prince’s castle, suddenly a stranger appears described as the Red Death. Prospero becomes angry that someone with such little humor would join his masque ball. At once the Prince orders the guest to remove his mask, but no one dares to go near him. The Prince then chases the stranger through six of the seven chambers, but when the masked stranger approaches and enters the seventh chamber, which is the black room, he falls dead upon the floor.
“There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution.” Poe's vision of Red Death is shown through this scene by enabling the reader to see the severity of Red Death. A victim of Red Death endures a painful death; present is an immense amount of bleeding and excruciating pain. “There was a sharp cry – and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero.” This is a very important part of the story. After everything Prince Prospero does to evade Red Death he is killed by the very thing he went to the extreme to
"At a supper party in January of 1842, Virginia was playing the harp when she suddenly caught her breath and coughed violently, then blood spouted from her mouth, staining her white dress." (Mondragon 1997) This is the first reference to her disease within "The Masque of the Red Death" where Poe states, "Blood was its Avatar and its seal-the redness and horror of blood." (Poe 1842) Virginia’s affliction with this disease was not the first time Poe dealt with tuberculosis within his family. Both his mother and father died of consumption when he was just a little boy. (Mondragon 1997) He knew the tell-tale traces of blood upon Virginia’s lips began a new chapter of horror in his life.
The night had been unruly; th’wind strong. I heard i’th’air, strange screams of death and prophesying with accents terrible of dire combustion and confused events; th’king’s death. By whom you may ask? Well, actually by the king’s own guard, as it seemed. Their hands and faces were all covered with blood, so were their daggers which, unwiped, was found upon their pillows.
Nick Kasper Long Live the Curse of the Pyncheon Family Throughout the novel The House of the Seven Gables, there are many main themes that contrast and intertwine with each other, but the main and central theme that most excites me is the plot and theme surrounding the Pyncheon curse. The Pyncheon curse is one of greed and evil that is brought on the Pyncheon family and the generations after when Colonel Pyncheon accuses Matthew Maule of being involved in witchcraft in the first chapter The Old Pyncheon Family, and eventually has Matthew Maule hung at the gallows so that he can take his land for himself. The Curse starts off in the very beginning of the book and works down through, which plays key roles
Aria Carlson 9/21/12 The Masque of the Red Death The short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe is a tale about a prince named Prospero. During his reign, there was a lethal plague called the Red Death in his land, and the Prince used his castle as a shield to protect himself from it. Meanwhile, Prospero hosted a large masquerade ball inside his castle. During the ball, unexpectedly, a mysterious and ominous figure enters the room. Metaphorically speaking, Poe used setting and symbol to convey the theme that if you try to hide from the problem, the problem will always find you.
A tragic hero refers to the nature or character of a person. Their characteristics may include having a tragic flaw, falling from a great height in society, and most importantly meeting a death, which causes the reader to ache for this character. There are many ways in which John Proctor of The Crucible by Arthur Miller may be considered a tragic hero. Some of these ways include that he realized all his mistakes and confessed all his sins. Another characteristic that makes John Proctor a tragic hero is his tragic flaw and his final tragic death.