Dropping Like Flies Edgar Allan Poe pens the dark short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” to comment on the new outbreaks of the times. The short story describes a young prince, Prospero, who secludes himself and his guests from the “Red Death” to protect them, but ultimately he fails because everyone dies. It correlates historically to the bubonic plague of the early 1300s. Although Poe does not specify what prompted him to write his short story, he intertwines the historical events such as tuberculosis and cholera to inspire the writing of “The Masque of the Red Death.” The bubonic plague wreaked havoc in Europe and Pope Clement VI “estimated that 23,840,000 people had died...one-third of Europe’s population died in about three years”(“Black
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Tuberculosis, “historically...known as consumption,” infects the lungs causing patients to experience weakness (4470 “Tuberculosis”). The epidemic of tuberculosis became known as “one of the great scourges of mankind”(236 Milne). It spreads so easily that, “Inhaling contaminated droplets from the air” would cause infection (4470 “Tuberculosis”). Poe guises this knowledge as the “Red Death” in his story. The antagonist, Death, in “The Masque of the Red Death” spreads the bubonic plague causing everyone to learn that escaping death remains inevitable. In the most horrific ways; for example, a patient of tuberculosis experiences “coughing up blood”(236 Milne). Similarly, “profuse bleeding,” a distinguishing sign of the plague (236 Milne). Poe guises the symptoms of tuberculosis with the description of the bubonic plague. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the spread of the plague “dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls”(Poe). Cholera, another epidemic, broke out in the 1800s. Symptoms of cholera include cramping, dehydration and vomiting. Cholera spreads from drinking unfiltered water and can kill within hours of infection. Poe wrote “a series of short, quirky, narratives” ( 30 Kennedy) when “the midst of a cholera epidemic...swept East” ( 30 Kennedy). In the beginning of “The Masque of the
Tuberculosis, “historically...known as consumption,” infects the lungs causing patients to experience weakness (4470 “Tuberculosis”). The epidemic of tuberculosis became known as “one of the great scourges of mankind”(236 Milne). It spreads so easily that, “Inhaling contaminated droplets from the air” would cause infection (4470 “Tuberculosis”). Poe guises this knowledge as the “Red Death” in his story. The antagonist, Death, in “The Masque of the Red Death” spreads the bubonic plague causing everyone to learn that escaping death remains inevitable. In the most horrific ways; for example, a patient of tuberculosis experiences “coughing up blood”(236 Milne). Similarly, “profuse bleeding,” a distinguishing sign of the plague (236 Milne). Poe guises the symptoms of tuberculosis with the description of the bubonic plague. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the spread of the plague “dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls”(Poe). Cholera, another epidemic, broke out in the 1800s. Symptoms of cholera include cramping, dehydration and vomiting. Cholera spreads from drinking unfiltered water and can kill within hours of infection. Poe wrote “a series of short, quirky, narratives” ( 30 Kennedy) when “the midst of a cholera epidemic...swept East” ( 30 Kennedy). In the beginning of “The Masque of the