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The Masque Of Red Death: No One Can Hide From Death - Online Term Paper

The Masque Of Red Death: No One Can Hide From Death

In "The Masque of Red Death", Edgar Allen Poe tells a story of human denial
and struggle with death, especially among the wealthy. Poe uses powerful
images of sensual texture, color and symbols to show the passing of time
and life.
Prince Prospero along with "a thousand hale and lighthearted friends from
among the knights and dames of his court" (202) sought a haven from the
"Red Death" that is devastating the country. They lived together in the
prince's luxurious abbey with all the amenities and securities imaginable.
The Prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. "There were
buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet dancers, there were
musicians, there was ...

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that
foreshadows a horror to follow. The "masque" takes place in the imperial
suite, which consisted of seven very distinct rooms. Seven being a symbol -
seven wonders of the world, seven deadly sins with seven corresponding
cardinal virtues. Seven also suggesting the stages of one's life, from
birth to death (Birth, childhood, teenage, young adult, middle age, old age,
death).

The seven rooms are laid out from east to west, reminding us of the course
of the sun, which measures our earthly time. Time in this story is seen in
the symbol of the "gigantic clock of ebony" (203) which is draped in black
velvet and located in the final room. Although the clock is an object, it
quickly takes on human aspects as Poe describes it as having a face and
lungs from which comes a sound that is "exceedingly musical" but "so
peculiar" (203).

The rooms were irregularly set up so that you could see little more than
one room at a time. This can also be taken as a suggesting that we ...

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The Masque Of Red Death: No One Can Hide From Death. (2006, November 6). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Masque-Red-Death-No-One-Can/55131

"The Masque Of Red Death: No One Can Hide From Death." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 6 Nov. 2006. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Masque-Red-Death-No-One-Can/55131>

"The Masque Of Red Death: No One Can Hide From Death." Essayworld.com. November 6, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Masque-Red-Death-No-One-Can/55131.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 11/6/2006 03:43:13 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 972
Pages: 4

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