The Use Of Mood In The Masque Of The Red Death

“There came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of an orchestra were contained to pause”. Edgar Allen Poe uses mood and tone to convey the story. the setting as well helps the mood and tone of the story. In The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Raven setting is used to convey mood and tone throughout the story. The Masque of the Red Death is a short story about a plague that takes over most of the land but the most prosperous are secluded and “safe” from the plague in Prince Prospero’s castle. Mood and tone are created through this text with the setting: “With these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince’s eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron.” The excerpt shows that the tone of the narrator is grave, but the mood is revelry. The tone is conveyed through how the narrator uses the language, he is not describing the abbey as brightly …show more content…
“I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search-search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.” This excerpt shows that the tone of voice is suspense, and that the mood is horror. Poe establishes this tone by using vocabulary to add voice in the story. The mood is established though how the man is horrifyingly describing the events that are taking