Style and Technique
The style of “The Masque of the Red Death” focuses primarily on the pictorial rather than on narrative. Poe attempts to create the sense that the story exists as a painting does, within space and outside time. The story has been called Poe’s most pictorial composition, an arabesque that attempts to create an intricate geometric spatial pattern. Thus it is quite static, lacking in narrative plot and emphasizing instead the spatial arrangements of painting. However, the irony is that because “The Masque of the Red Death” is a story and therefore exists in time, time triumphs. Thus the conclusion of the story emphasizes that the artistic effort to transform temporality into spatiality is doomed to failure. Even the seven rooms, which suggest a geometric pattern of static positioning, become transformed into an image of the time span of life when Prospero follows the Red Death through a temporal progression from birth to youth to maturity to old age and finally to death. It is when Prospero must confront the reality of the temporality of life that he inevitably must confront the death that life always insists on.
Thus, although the story is ostensibly about the moral lesson of the human inability to escape death, it is actually an aesthetic allegory or fable, in which Prospero represents Poe’s image of the artist who insists on creating an ideal artwork, but who is always trapped by the time-bound nature of life. “The Masque of the Red Death” embodies an aesthetic theme common to much of Poe’s short fiction. Such stories as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “Ligeia” also focus on man’s attempt to find refuge from death in the immutable realm of art. However, while these other stories attempt to create a world of psychologized obsession to embody this theme, “The Masque of the Red Death” is a striking example of Poe’s attempt to deal with it in the conventional genre of allegory. Like much of Poe’s fiction, “The Masque of the Red Death” should not be dismissed as a simple gothic horror story, but rather should be understood in terms of the aesthetic theory that dominated Poe’s work.
The Masque of the Red Death
Prospero takes extraordinary precautions against the plague’s appearance. He fortifies his abbey with a lofty wall and iron gates. He also provides elaborate comforts for his favored subjects within. These include entertainments such as a masquerade ball.
The ball suite contains seven rooms, each a different color ranging from blue to ebony. Their number can represent the threescore and ten years of life, their colors life’s stages. The black room has scarlet windows and a gigantic ebony clock against its west wall. It combines the color of death and mourning with that of blood and also time imagery with the location of the classical underworld. Only the boldest guests dare enter this last room, and its clock’s chime silences the musicians and makes the ball guests grow pale.
Though he directs every detail of life within the walls, Prospero cannot control the Red Death’s appearance as “guest” at the masquerade. The plague claims Prospero within the black western chamber, then one by one destroys the revelers.
Death’s inevitable triumph fascinated Poe and recurs often in his work. That death appears in the splendor and comfort of Prospero’s abbey makes its victory more ironic, and Prospero’s name adds to the irony. Nevertheless, Poe’s symbols are suggestive rather than rigid.
Poe’s comparison of Prospero’s ball to that in HERNANI, an 1830 play by Victor Hugo, is a clue to Death’s arrival. Hugo’s protagonist kills himself upon the arrival of a black-robed figure. The ball guests of Poe’s play in like manner fear the sinister stranger.
Historical Context
Tuberculosis
Three significant women in Poe's life succumbed to tuberculosis. While the
"pestilence" in Poe's story "Masque of the Red Death" is not explicitly named,
it is plausible that his personal experiences with tuberculosis influenced its
depiction. The "Red Death" is marked by excessive bleeding, akin to the
hallmark symptom of tuberculosis, which is the expectoration of blood.
According to Britannica Online, tuberculosis, often termed
"consumption" in literature, is described as "one of the great scourges of
mankind." The disease "reached near-epic proportions" in rapidly
industrializing urban centers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
becoming "the leading cause of death for all age groups in the Western world"
during that era.
Impressionism
A significant portion of Poe's work can be classified as "impressionist,"
capturing the nuanced details of a sensitive mind from a deeply subjective
viewpoint. Britannica Online defines an impressionist story as "a tale
shaped and given meaning by the consciousness and psychological attitudes of
the narrator." Impressionism, initially a movement in painting, began in France
in the mid-1860s. Renowned impressionist painters include Claude Monet and
Pierre August Renoir. These artists rejected the prevailing artistic norms,
which focused on mythological subjects, and instead aimed to "accurately and
objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and
colour," as noted by Britannica Online.
Gothic Fiction in England
Poe is recognized as an early master of Gothic fiction. The term "gothic,"
originally derived from architecture, refers to a literary style that emerged
in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in England.
Gothic fiction is known for its dark, eerie atmosphere and themes of death,
horror, madness, and the supernatural. Notable works of Gothic fiction in
England include Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Robert Louis
Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), and Bram
Stoker's Dracula (1895).
The Short Story in Russia and France
The short story evolved into a respected literary genre during the nineteenth
century. Poe was a pioneering figure in this development and played a
significant role in establishing the aesthetics of the short story form.
Concurrently, the short story was also being refined in Germany, Russia, and
France. Prominent French short story writers included Alphonse Daudet and Guy
de Maupassant, while many novelists also explored this form. In Russia, authors
such as Nikolay Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, and Anton Chekhov emerged as masters of
the short story. Gogol, in particular, produced impressionist stories
comparable to Poe's, with his 1842 story "The Overcoat" being one of the most
influential Russian short stories of the time.
The Grand Guignol
Poe's Gothic horror tales lay the groundwork for contemporary horror fiction
and modern horror films. However, before cinema emerged around 1895, Gothic
horror was brought to life on stage in a style known as Grand Guignol.
Initially performed in England but finding greater success in France, Grand
Guignol shows featured graphic horror scenes, including true-crime murder
reenactments, and focused heavily on special effects involving blood,
dismemberment, and gore.
Expert Q&A
How do the characters' desperate measures in "The Masque of the Red Death" reflect real-world responses to a deadly threat?
The characters' desperate measures, such as Prince Prospero's retreat into a secluded abbey to escape the Red Death, mirror real-world responses to deadly threats through isolation and quarantine. In "The Masque of the Red Death," the abbey is fortified to prevent anyone from entering or leaving, reflecting how societies use quarantine to contain disease. Real-world practices also include restricting goods and assessing travelers' health to prevent disease spread.
Can "The Masque of the Red Death" be interpreted as a political statement?
"The Masque of the Red Death" can be interpreted as a political statement highlighting the denial and decadence of the wealthy classes, who believe their opulence shields them from death. This mirrors historical contexts, such as the aristocracy's insularity before the French Revolution and their eventual downfall. The story critiques the illusion of safety wealth provides, emphasizing that death is an inevitable equalizer, unaffected by social status or wealth.
The relationship between "The Masque of the Red Death" and the Romantic period
"The Masque of the Red Death" reflects the Romantic period through its emphasis on emotion, individualism, and the supernatural. Edgar Allan Poe's story delves into themes of human mortality and the futility of trying to escape death, highlighting the Romantic fascination with dark, gothic elements and the exploration of intense psychological states.
Literary Style
Allegory and Parable
"The Masque of the Red Death" is often seen as an allegorical story,
meaning its literal elements are intended to symbolize deeper meanings.
According to Britannica Online, an allegory ‘‘uses symbolic fictional
figures and actions to convey truths or generalizations about human conduct or
experience.’’ More specifically, this tale can be interpreted as a
parable, a type of allegory where, as Britannica Online
notes, ‘‘moral or spiritual relations are set forth.’’
As a parable, "The Masque of the Red Death" symbolizes human reactions to the awareness of their mortality. Prince Prospero and his "thousand friends" attempt to use their material wealth to avoid the inevitability of death. However, the arrival of the "masked figure" who sneaks in "like a thief in the night" symbolizes that no amount of wealth or privilege can shield someone from death. No amount of entertainment or distraction can completely eliminate the fear of death, and no level of security can prevent death from coming to one's door. "The Masque of the Red Death" underscores the futility of human efforts to deny and defy mortality.
Imagery and Symbolism
In his article "‘The Masque of the Red Death': An Interpretation," critic H. H.
Bell, Jr. suggests that the seven chambers of the abbey represent the seven
decades of a person's life. The final chamber, adorned in red and black,
symbolizes death. Bell views the seven chambers as "an allegorical
representation of Prince Prospero's life span." This is supported by the fact
that the first room is in the East, symbolizing birth, as it is the direction
of sunrise, and the last chamber is in the West, symbolizing death, as the sun
sets in the West. Bell interprets the colors of the seven rooms—blue, purple,
green, orange, white, violet—as symbolic of "Prospero's physical and mental
condition in that decade of his life." The seventh room, signifying death, is
ominously decorated in black and red—black being associated with death and
night, and red with blood and, in this story, the Red Death. Meanwhile, in the
first six rooms, "the heart of life beats feverishly."
Situated in the seventh room, the clock symbolizes the finite nature of human life. Each hour, its chime serves as a stark reminder to the guests of their own dwindling time. Midnight signifies the moment of death, as it is at this hour that the "masked figure" appears to the attendees. These symbolic elements reach their peak when the Prince meets his demise in the seventh room, just after midnight, as he literally confronts his own mortality. The clock as a metaphor for human existence is further emphasized in the closing lines, where "the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay."
Narration
On the most basic level, this story is narrated in the "third person," meaning
the storyteller is not a character within the tale. However, critic Leonard
Cassuto has suggested that the narrator might be the Red Death itself, as all
the characters are dead by the story's end, leaving the Red Death as the sole
entity to recount the events. Alternatively, if the entire narrative is seen as
the delusion of a madman (Prince Prospero), with all characters being figments
of his imagination ("dreams"), and his death being psychological rather than
literal, then the narrator could be the Prince. Finally, given the story's
resemblance to a biblical morality tale, where a divine force punishes the
wicked by sending a "pestilence," it could be argued that the narrator is a
divine entity.
Setting
The story unfolds in an unspecified "country," without any clear time period or
geographical location, which has been devastated by a deadly "pestilence." The
vagueness of the setting imparts a "once upon a time" quality, placing the
story in the realm of a parable or fable.
Personification
Personification involves attributing human characteristics to non-human objects
or animals through metaphorical language. Poe demonstrates personification by
capitalizing certain concepts, treating them as proper names. He personifies
The Red Death, Time, Beauty, Darkness, and Decay, infusing the story with a
mythical or fairy tale quality, as each term symbolizes broader aspects of the
human condition.
Gothic horror
Poe is recognized as one of the early pioneers of Gothic horror fiction. This
genre, which emerged in the nineteenth century, initially in British
literature, is marked by supernatural elements, gruesome horror, dark settings,
and a focus on death and madness. "The Masque of the Red Death" encompasses all
these characteristics.
Expert Q&A
How does Poe create atmosphere and mood in "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Raven"?
Poe creates the mood, or emotional atmosphere, of "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Raven," through connotation, irony, and symbolism. Darkly connotative words pervade all three, and irony is often created by the text's events or even by the speech of the narrator. This irony increases the reader's feeling of tension. Finally, the symbolism of midnight, which figuratively refers to death, is used in all three texts, making them seem more ominous.
What is Poe's tone in "The Masque of the Red Death"? How did the ebony clock affect the guests?
The tone in "The Masque of the Red Death" is unsympathetic and judgmental, particularly towards Prince Prospero, highlighting the inevitability of death despite wealth or power. The ebony clock instills fear in the guests, as its chimes remind them of their mortality, causing a temporary halt to their revelry. This fear contrasts with the sense of beauty and contentment they feel when the clock is silent, symbolizing the transient escape from death's inevitability.
What type of masked ball is described in paragraph seven of "The Masque of the Red Death" and what mood does it evoke?
The masked ball described in paragraph seven of "The Masque of the Red Death" is characterized by grotesque and bizarre costumes, reflecting the madness and instability of the revelers. The mood evoked is one of horror and disgust, as the masquerade is a manifestation of the characters' extreme selfishness and descent into psychosis. The gathering resembles a "multitude of dreams" with a nightmarish quality, underscoring the terror and chaos of the situation.
The mood created by Edgar Allan Poe in "The Masque of the Red Death" and its evolution throughout the story
The mood in "The Masque of the Red Death" begins as one of eerie opulence and false security within Prince Prospero's lavishly secluded abbey. As the story progresses, the mood shifts to one of growing dread and inevitability, culminating in a sense of horror and doom as the Red Death infiltrates the abbey, bringing death to all.
Compare and Contrast
Nineteenth Century: During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, tuberculosis, often called ‘‘consumption,’’ reached epidemic levels, especially in growing urban and industrial regions. At that time, it was the leading cause of death in the Western world.
Twentieth Century: Advances in sanitation and hygiene significantly reduced the spread of tuberculosis for much of the twentieth century. However, the disease saw a resurgence in the West during the 1980s and continues to pose a threat in developing countries.
Nineteenth Century: Gothic fiction, also known as Gothic horror, emerged as a literary genre in the nineteenth century. In England, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) was among the first notable Gothic novels, followed by works like Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1895). In America, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were significant contributors to Gothic fiction.
Twentieth Century: By the late twentieth century, Gothic fiction had evolved into two distinct genres. Modern horror stories thrived, both in literature, with prolific authors like Stephen King, and in film, with movies such as Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Simultaneously, the modern mass-market paperback romance novel, often called Gothic romance, also traces its roots back to the Gothic novel.
Nineteenth Century: On stage, Gothic horror stories were most notably presented in the Grand Guignol style, known for its graphic depictions of gruesome violence. Grand Guignol theater was primarily performed in France, although it briefly gained popularity in England.
Twentieth Century: Gothic horror found its greatest success in the twentieth century through cinema. From the 1960s onward, horror films began to portray increasingly graphic scenes of blood, gore, and violence.
Nineteenth Century: The HIV virus did not exist.
1990s: The AIDS epidemic, which began in the early 1980s, led to the global spread of the HIV virus, believed to cause AIDS, reaching epidemic levels. The rise of AIDS is considered a primary factor in the increased prevalence of tuberculosis in the West, as individuals with AIDS are more susceptible to tuberculosis infection.
Media Adaptations
Poe's short stories, compiled as "The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Terrifying Tales," were recorded on audiocassette by August House in 1995. Syd Liberman narrates these stories.
"Poe Masterpieces" is a collection of Poe's short stories, recorded on audiocassette by the Listening Library in 1987.
Poe's detective stories are featured on an audiocassette titled "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," released by Books on Tape in 1992.
"The Best of Edgar Allan Poe" is a selection of his short stories, recorded on audiocassette by the Listening Library in 1987.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Sources
Bell, H. H., Jr. “‘The Masque of the Red Death’—An Interpretation,” in
South Atlantic Bulletin, Vol. 38, No. 4, 1973, pp. 101, 104.
Britannica Online [database online], Chicago, Ill.: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1999- [cited August 1999], available from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., Chicago, Ill., s.v. "Allegory," "Impressionism," "Infection," "Parable," “Short Story,” and "Tuberculosis."
Cassuto, Leonard. “The Coy Reaper: Un-masque-ing the Red Death,” in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 25, No. 3, 1988, pp. 317-20.
Cheney, Patrick. "Poe's Use of The Tempest and the Bible in 'The Masque of the Red Death,’” in English Language Notes, Vol. 20, No. 3-4, March-June, 1983, p. 34.
Roppolo, Joseph Patrick. “Meaning and 'The Masque of the Red Death,’” in TSE: Tulane Studies in English, Vol. 13, 1963, pp. 59-69.
Thompson, G. R., Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 3: Antebellum Writers in New York and the South, edited by Joel Myerson, Gale Research, 1979, pp. 249-97.
Further Reading
De Shell, Jeffrey. The Peculiarity of Literature: An Allegorical Approach
to Poe's Fiction, Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson Presses,
1997.
Explores Poe's detective stories and horror tales through their allegorical
significance.
Deas, Michael. The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe,
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989.
A collection of daguerreotype portraits of Poe.
Silverman, Kenneth. New Essays on Poe's Major Tales, New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Offers a variety of critical analyses on Poe's short stories.
Smith, Don. The Poe Cinema: A Critical Filmography of Theatrical
Releases Based on the Works of Edgar Allan Poe, 1999.
Catalogs films and videos inspired by Poe's works, including plot summaries and
thematic elements, primarily in the horror genre.
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