Comparing Death In 'Masque Of The Red Death And'

Everyone dies at some point. It is simply a fact of life. Many people believe that they can evade their demise, but those who think they can run from death will meet bitter failure. Death affects everyone. Edgar Allan Poe's story, "Masque of the Red Death," a prince shuts out the sick and contagious world and proceeds to throw a party with each of his friends. Little did he know, death would still find him. Similarly, in Vic Armstrong's, Left Behind, the main character watches as the world panics, while death plucks random people from the Earth. Each story illustrates that death affects each and every being, which can be seen through the similar conflicts, character traits, and the underlying regret felt by each protagonist. First and foremost, the conflicts in "Masque of the Red Death" can be compared to the conflicts in Left Behind as panic ensued shortly after death arrived. In "Masque of the Red Death," the partygoers were shocked as "one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel" (Poe). The deranged, uninvited guest killed the attendees one at a time …show more content…
In "Masque of the Red Death" one can infer that those who attended the princes festivity regretted doing so as soon as the masked figure showed up. The feeling of tension increases exponentially at his arrival. The invitee's distress can be seen as they, "died each in the despairing posture of his fall" (Poe). The despairing posture most likely refers to the fear they felt as the masked figure struck them down. Similarly, in Left Behind Ray Steele confesses his sins in hopes of finding penance for the act of adultery he had committed. He tells views himself as a "negligent father and a lustful husband with a roving eye" (Armstrong). Ray acknowledges and regrets the way he is, but it is far too late as his family is torn apart. Death had taken his family, and there was nothing he could do to get them