Masquerade

Humans try to prevent the inevitable, yet they do not attempt to achieve the uncertain. Throughout history, people have endured fatal invasions, brutal weather, societal regulations, and plagues. During a plague’s outburst, Prince Prospero invites one-thousand companions for protection from the illness by secluding the party in his ‘castellated abbey’ to wait until the plague’s termination. Prince Prospero attempted to use his wealth and reputation to overcome nature. Prospero decided that he…

The title “The Masque of the Red Death” Author - Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) Date - First published as “The Masque of the Red Death. A Fantasy” in 1842. Republished as “The Masque of the Red Death” in the July 1845 issue of a magazine called the Broadway Journal Summary - At the beginning of the story we are introduced to the red death and Prince Prospero. The prince goes to lock off himself and all his friends away in his luxurious “Castellated abbey” to stall the coming of death as…

handmaid’s become walking billboards advertising the scarlet woman” (Snodgrass). With this allusion to Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter, Atwood clearly displays the isolation that comes along with the name tag of “handmaid”. In this society women are judged on what color they wear. Yet, if none of them were to wear a color, no man or authority figure would be able to tell the difference between them. Once again looking back on the American Gothic era, the Puritans held a similar class system to…

Antonio Antonio is a Venetian merchant with an air of melancholy about him. He has many friends and is close with Bassanio. He deeply cares for Bassanio, agreeing to his proposal and allows him to borrow money on his behalf. Antonio is said to hate Jews, showing that he has his prejudices. Although he does not usually lend or borrow money with interest, he is willing to break this habit in order to help Bassanio, showing that he deeply cares for him. Antonio has kicked and spit on Shylock in the…

How does the story of the Lion, the Witch, and the wardrobe reflect Christian beliefs and what does it teach us about the Christian faith? By Adam Shooshtarian The story of Narnia is one of the most popular fantasy novels in the world having sold over 100 million copies in 47 different languages. When you read or watch Narnia for the first time you may not understand the true meaning of the events taking place, for there is more depth and hidden meaning to what seems like an innocent children’s…

movies in a more modern setting. A Cinderella Story stars Hilary Duff and she is a high school student with a meticulously cruel step-family and a job as a janitor/dishwasher in her mother’s diner. The story plays out the same, however the ball is a masquerade school dance. The other movie , Another Cinderella Story which stars Selena Gomez, is slighter weirder in which both…

Much Ado About Nothing Background Although Shakespeare is known for his tragedies, his comedies exemplify his natural genius. As is the case with his other 38 plays, the plot of Much Ado About Nothing is also borrowed. Critics have noted two possible inspirations for this comic play. One is Matteo Bandello’s Novelle, dealing with the love story of Sir Timbreo and his fiancée Fenicia Lionata and the other one is Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso on the romance of Ariodante and Ginevra. Since,…

IMAGINING THE APOCALYPSE: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON AMERICAN AND THIRD WORLD DYSTOPIAS - NIRZARI PANDIT Dystopian imaginings in literature, particularly literature of the 20th and 21st century, reflect both global as well as national predilections depending on the immediate social realities most imminent to their authors. While this need not necessitate a convenient bracketing of dystopian works into distinct dystopian themes that may quite appropriately be labeled as fitting into a…

also resides in the title of the Poe’s short story. The word “masque” can be taken literally, but it also immediately denotes another meaning. The spoken word evokes the physical mask that Death wears to the party. However, “masque” is defined as a masquerade party instead of a physical mask. Since the story is entitled “The Masque of the Red Death,” it suggests Death has ownership of the party (Magnuson 31). The all-conquering guest replaces Prospero as the host of the party and in turn, ruler…

When the symbol reminds people’s trauma, they will immerse in their imaginary world and forget who they are. Indeed, their imagination will influence their reality, which would change their attitude toward lives, even make them perform negative masquerade. Stout mentions the situation of her patient’s unbalanced imagination and reality by saying that: “he took the part of himself that worries about work problems and other ‘real’ things, and separated it from the imaginative part of himself so…