Tales of horror and hidden messages of Edgar Allen Poes stories and poems have kept readers in deep thought to this day. People have argued for years about the vivid imagination of this historic writer. Everyone has their own opinion of the meaning behind his twisted stories. The Masque of the Red Death has been a topic of discussion because of its many different messages. This is typical of many of his haunting stories, in which there is always a bit of truth and reality to his twisted tales. The characters in this story have thought to have different meanings, from Prince Prospero to death itself.
There have been arguments of the intended meaning behind the seven elaborate rooms, which you travel through in this tale. Probably the biggest discussion of them all is who is supposed to be the narrator of this story since all characters die except death himself. Prince Prospero is one of the characters to which Poe focuses on in this tale. He is the only character in the story that speaks. Prospero hides him and his friends in a castle from the plague and basically death itself. His name being close to prosper or prosperous suggests that it means happiness and success, but in the end this is not what becomes of our brave prince.
The other character that gets the readers attention is the Red Death. His wardrobe and mask gave us the feeling of horror and terror. Poe writes: The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting a cheat.His vesture was dabbled in bloodand his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror. (21) When are two main characters finally confronts one another it shows that no matter what you do you cannot escape from death. Secluded and hiding with your friends in all of your happiness and success no matter what you do, death is inevitable. The most descriptive part of this tale is the seven rooms of Prosperos castle. Arguments have arisen to what the meanings of these seven rooms are.
The Essay on Written Story Film Death Character
The film, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, differs in many ways from the written story bearing the same name. The point of view depicted had a different color about it completely when comparing the two. The content of the two stories also differed in many ways. After viewing the film and reading the story, I felt as if the film did not do justice to the piece of writing. I thought that the French ...
Each one is decorated in its own beautiful setting as to symbolize the stages of ones life. The rooms are decorates in colors that are alive until the last room, which is black and has a reddish glow to symbolize death. The number seven has significance to it. There has been history of the world consisting of seven ages or stages in life. There are the seven deadly sins and the seven wonders. The number seven has always been used with mysticism.
These rooms are shown to be life, from birth to death. In the black room there is an ebony clock, which symbolizes time in life. Sooner or later time runs out for us all and death comes. Prospero ventures down all the rooms where he confronts death in the black room as if we have seen his life as someone without a care in the world except for the fear of death. In the end Prospero finally got what he was hiding from all this time. Readers have argued the narrator of this story since this story was told.
Was Poe telling this story from his own voice and mind like a mother telling a child a bedtime story or was there someone in the story who giving us this descriptive story of death. The only person in the story who survived the dance of the dead was the Red Death. Is it him who is giving us the narration of this story? In parts of the story the narrator speaks of himself as he or me: It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. (18) Later in the story the narrator talks about the Red Death as if he was just another character in the story. If this were death narrating this story would he/she speak about him or herself in the third person? Since the beginning of time death has always been here.
The Essay on “The Masque Of The Red Death” By Edgar Allan Poe
... seven rooms. This room is supposed to symbolize death as it is the last of the seven rooms, corresponding to the last stage of life. Poe ... life(death) and as a symbol of passing time. The image of the rooms used in the story has a main contribution to the ... the passing of “the time that flies”, as Edgar says so himself in this quote of the story, “ The next chiming came ...
Since Poe is giving death a body and mind as if he/she is some sort of being maybe he has an attitude as well. People who think highly of themselves speak in third person all the time and since death seems to be victorious in the end maybe he/she thinks very highly of themselves. This gives the story an eeriness of who or what death is. Is death this cocky or is he/she trying to put fear in us all that there is no escape. Edgar Allen Poe stories are always enriched us with descriptive pictures and many questions to the meaning of his stories, settings, and characters. The Masque of the Red Death form the book The Short Story. has raised many questions from the meanings behind the characters and the seven colorful rooms of life. The writing of this tale will always keep us guessing who is telling us this story, Poe or death itself? His stories will always keep our mind in deep thought.
Bibliography:
Works Cited Lawn, Beverly The Short Story.
New York: St. Martin, 1992 Internet Willms, Janice L. Poe, Edgar Allan: The Masque of the Red Death. www.endeavor.med.nyu.edu New York: 1996.
