Edgar Allan Poe, The Masque of the Red Death
The fictional country and its people are plagued by the Red Death, a disease that kills its victims fast and grimly. The prince, Prospero decided to lock the gates to his humongous palace to keep off the plague as it is spreading quickly across the land. After many months, he throws a masquerade ball. For the celebration he decorates the rooms of his palace in single colors. The easternmost room and its windows are painted blue, the next room is decorated purple and the other rooms stretching westward are painted green, orange, white and violet respectively. The seventh room gets a black hue on its walls while its windows are decorated in red (Poe & Van, 1998).
There is an ebony clock in the room that rings each hour so loudly that everyone keeps quiet and the orchestra stops playing. The guests are mesmerized by the elegantly decorated rooms but are fearful of the seventh room. In the middle of night a guest with a face resembling that of a corpse and strange apparel appears. His face has blood spots and his garments look like a funeral shroud suggesting that he may be suffering from the Red Death. Prospero is not amused that the stranger found his way to his party and becomes irritated. All the other guests are dead scared of the masked man and are unable to stop him from entering the rooms. Prospero follows the ma to the seventh room where he dies instantly. The other revelers enter the black-and-red room to confront the masked man but he is no where to be seen. Consequently, everyone dies, for the Red Death has entered the palace (Poe, 2008).
[...] Regardless of whether people live in palaces or are rich and famous they can not escape death. Prospero is portrayed as a tyrannical prince who ignores the plague ravaging his people and instead indulges in a party. However, his lust for pleasure positions him to meet with death itself (Poe, 2010). Allan Poe uses the character "Prospero" to represent a rich person who does not care about the plight of the poor in society. Prospero resembles John Allan whom Poe lived with. [...]
[...] Edgar Allan Poe - The Masque of the Red Death I. The Masque of the Red Death II. Analysis III. The Black Cat IV. Analysis The fictional country and its people are plagued by the Red Death, a disease that kills its victims fast and grimly. The prince, Prospero decided to lock the gates to his humongous palace to keep off the plague as it is spreading quickly across the land. After many months, he throws a masquerade ball. For the celebration he decorates the rooms of his palace in single colors. [...]
[...] Alcohol makes him unusually temperamental that he kills his pet, Pluto and hitherto estranged wife. Allan Poe suffered a myriad of diseases ranging from alcoholism, cholera to tuberculosis. Since the narrator was set to be hanged due to his crime of murdering his wife, Allan Poe is believed to have committed suicide after his wife died. References Poe, E. A., & Van, L. D. (1998). Selected tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Poe, E. A., & Cosham, R. (2003). Classic Poe. [...]
[...] Falls Church, Va.: Sound Room Pub. Poe, E. A., Irving, W., Benchley, P., Battista, L., & Hill, B. (2008). Poe & Irving stories. Falls Church, VA: Spencer Audio Theater. Poe, E. A., Becher, A. E., & P.F. Collier & Son Corporation. (2010). The works of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: P.F. Collier & Son. [...]
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