Edgar Alan Poe wrote among many short stories, The Masque of the Read Death. Although the title sounds horribly eerie, the story itself succeeded in becoming even creepier. Disease, known as the Read Death, struck a kingdom, killing off many subjects very gruesomely. The ruler, a prince known as Prospero, did nothing to assist in treating those ill, or preventing others from contracting Read Death. Instead, he ran, hiding away in a secluded castle, with noblemen, and entertainers. After six months of hiding, Prospero grew bored, and decided to host a masquerade ball. The ball took place in a suite, containing seven rooms of different colors: purple, blue, green, orange, white, violet, and black. Poe described the black room as black like
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He certainly lived up to his reputation considering how depressingly he wrote The Masque of the Red Death. Trent Lorcher, an educational writer gave several examples of how Poe used symbolism in his analysis of Poe’s short story. According to Lorcher, The Red Death represented the inevitability of death, the castle represented man’s attempt, but ultimate failure to prevent deaths, and the clock represented the countdown to death. He also presented an interesting idea of Prospero representing the end of feudalism, which was the government system during medieval …show more content…
During that era, people moved further away from romanticism, enjoying more realistic stories, as well as Poe’s darker tales. According to the Pabook Library Database, Poe may have settled with darker literature, because of his alcoholism, and excessive gambling. However, Poe’s remarkable story, The Masque of Red Death, though incredibly dark and depressing, has entertained audiences for the past couple hundred years. The Masque of the Red Death, featured a unique dark and eerie theme throughout the story. Like many of Poe’s works, it had a very dreary depressing ending, where nobody lived, and the Red Death prevailed. Ironically, Prince Prospero built the castle to “lock out” the Red Death. However, it had the opposite effect. Instead, the Red Death locked them all inside, in death, to forever lie rotting throughout the seven-room
He certainly lived up to his reputation considering how depressingly he wrote The Masque of the Red Death. Trent Lorcher, an educational writer gave several examples of how Poe used symbolism in his analysis of Poe’s short story. According to Lorcher, The Red Death represented the inevitability of death, the castle represented man’s attempt, but ultimate failure to prevent deaths, and the clock represented the countdown to death. He also presented an interesting idea of Prospero representing the end of feudalism, which was the government system during medieval …show more content…
During that era, people moved further away from romanticism, enjoying more realistic stories, as well as Poe’s darker tales. According to the Pabook Library Database, Poe may have settled with darker literature, because of his alcoholism, and excessive gambling. However, Poe’s remarkable story, The Masque of Red Death, though incredibly dark and depressing, has entertained audiences for the past couple hundred years. The Masque of the Red Death, featured a unique dark and eerie theme throughout the story. Like many of Poe’s works, it had a very dreary depressing ending, where nobody lived, and the Red Death prevailed. Ironically, Prince Prospero built the castle to “lock out” the Red Death. However, it had the opposite effect. Instead, the Red Death locked them all inside, in death, to forever lie rotting throughout the seven-room