Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

“It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream..” This quote by Poe represents how everything that is living will have an end. Edgar Allen Poe was a famous writer who was known for his gothic literature. Gothic literature combines fiction and horror, death, and at times romance. It is a topic in which Poe was very familiar with. Poe wrote many stories that included gothic literature. He wrote the story “The masque of the Red Death”. This story has the characteristics of isolated settings and death, which are showed throughout the story. He Also wrote the story “The Black Cat”. This story has the characteristics of horrible death and terror and anger. In
Some of the characteristics that are included in the story are the isolated setting and death. Both of these characteristics which represent the gothic theme. The masque of the Red Death represents isolation because the character of the story is by himself only with his friends in the castle. Also his castle is isolated from all the people of the town because they are sick. “When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence of a thousand hale and light-hearted friends among the knights and the dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys” (poe 1). This quote represents an isolated setting because it explains how he is in deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys, or in other words, alone with his friends in his castle. Also the story The masque of the Red Death characterizes death. It represents death because the strange masked figure goes through all of the rooms in the story and once he gets to the black room he is killed. The figure represents death and how it is inevitable. “And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night” (poe 6). This quote shows death because it describes how it came so fast and there was nothing that anyone could do to stop it. It describes how death will happen no matter what, even if you try and resist it. Throughout
Some of the characteris that he uses to describe in this story are horrible death and terror and anger. Both of these describe the theme of gothic literature. The Black Cat represents horrible death because in the story the man kills a cat in a violent unnecessary fashion. He kills the cat and has no good explanation for killing it. “One morning, in cold blood, I slipped a noose around its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree;” (Poe 7). This quote represents horrible death because of the way that he killed his cat and how he had no real reason on why it should have died. Also in the story The Black Cat, Poe shows the characteristic terror and anger. The way that he shows terror and anger in the story is when he killed his wife out of anger because she was trying to save the cat. He chose to kill her in a gruesome way that was out of anger. When he killed her he showed terror because of what he had done. “... I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot” (Poe 19). This quote shows terror and anger based on his actions that he took to kill his wife. Throughout the story The Black Cat, gothic literature is shown through the characteristics horrible death and terror and