Edgar Allan Poe, writer of "The Masque of the Red Death" could very well be talking about present-day disease, Ebola. In the story, many things send readers' minds straight to the disease and for good reason. Poe could be psychic, or he may simply have a very avid imagination; nonetheless, the similarities are very, very strange. Some of those similarities are the symptoms. One symptom that stands out in my mind as a similarity is the bleeding of the pores. In the beginning of the story, Poe tells of bleeding pores as one of the main symptoms. Did I mention the sharp excruciating pains in the abdomen? Well, that is another one of the terrible symptoms. How did the author know that Ebola, the famous disease, would have these symptoms? The differences are many, but maybe he simply left some things out so nobody would catch on that he is a psychic, or a male witch. Who knows, right? The author also describes …show more content…
Is he a mad scientist? Okay, so he is not the inventor of the disease, because unlike the Red Death, there is believed to be a cause of Ebola; fruit bats. We live almost in a different world than those in third-world countries like Africa. They eat things we would never dream of, and surely they think the same about us. One of those things, are fruit bats. It is believed that the fruit bats first carried the disease Ebola. Being that it is contagious, scientists and doctors believe the disease first transferred to humans when people ate the fruit bats. With the Red Death, you died within thirty minutes. In those times, they were not sanitary. They could have had the symptoms for a long time and not known about it until it became severe, the day, or hour, they would die. With Ebola, you have the disease for longer, so if you actually had it and did not know about it, could that be added to the list of
Nancy Jaax almost became infected when she tore her space suit while performing an autopsy on an infected monkey. Luckily she didn’t, but danger can happen around any corner. Even though Doctors new a lot about Ebola it was still very scary and unpredictable to work on. The beginning of the book gives the reader a very description of what Ebola is and does to its unlucky victims. “Ebola the slate wiper, did things to people that you do not want to think about.
The Sudan strain of Ebola began with a shopkeeper named Yu G. This strain spread throughout his district. A more horrible outbreak occurred in Zaire which started from the use of dirty needles in a medical clinic. Although many hundreds died, Preston gave details of a nurse named Mayinga N who was infected at Ngalemia Hospital.
It describes the symptoms of the fever as having yellow eyes, being extremely cold all the time, having a very high fever, coughing up blood, and of course, being very contagious. According to “The Yellow Fever Epidemic of Philadelphia, 1793”, “Yellow fever is known for bringing on a characteristic yellow tinge to the eyes and skin, and for the terrible “black vomit” caused by bleeding into the stomach…and most believed the fever to be contagious.” Therefore, the author of Fever 1793 was very accurate when describing the effects of the Yellow Fever.
This presents how not only has virus been located in the US and West Africa but in another known location as
This novel “Fever 1794” gave me the knowledge of the different perspectives of Philadelphia during the yellow fever outbreak. “Fever 1793” is a novel about a girl named Matilda and how she had to go through the deadly, depressing and horrible yellow fever outbreak, which affected her life in many different areas. Yellow fever was a disease that spread across Philadelphia in the late 1790s it was a deadly disease at that time because people didn't know the exact cause and the exact way to cure people who were diagnosed with it. For instance, Dr.Benjamin Rush who was a famous doctor at the time thought bleeding people by cutting a part on their arm so the bad infected blood would come out, many people thought that getting bled would cure them,
A trip in the wilderness from Baltimore to Richmond took months to complete. If Poe faced any dangers it would have been freezing to death, and being attacked by a rabid animal. Rabies just like tuberculosis was common when they didn’t have a cure, and many people died from it. Those who have rabies have distinct signs: they are delirious, they cannot drink water, and they act like they are drunk. When Poe was admitted to the hospital all of these signs showed.
The Masque of the Red Death has a lot of symbolism that has to do with the circle of life- such as the different colors of the seven rooms each meaning one stage of life. The stages of life obviously have relations to death, possibly even being centered around it. The thought is just so artistically
In response to the Ebola scare in 2014, many people evinced strong fear and xenophobia (Kim, 2016). Especially about the zombie-like symptoms of the virus. In addition how does the virus slowly kills the victim without even realizing that he’s suffering from Ebola virus by replicating and filling the body with crystallized viruses hence damaging the human cells just like a new living organism controls another’s body and killing it bit by bit. To exemplify my relatives used to live in kenya about 43 years ago they were surrounded by ill people that make them terrified and fearful of getting the highly contagious disease, therefore they left kenya and currently they live in the UAE. The most complicated part if you were surrounded by Ebola virus is to calm people down and instead of leaving the country finding beneficial solutions so that the virus won’t disperse from one country to another.
There actually was a yellow fever outbreak that hit Philadelphia in 1793. It was one of the worst epidemics in US history. In almost three months it killed nearly 10% of the city’s population, which is around 5,000 people. Many had fled the city even Congressman as mentioned in the book, along with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Since medicine wasn’t very developed at the time many doctors did drain blood from patients, trying to get rid of the “pestilence”.
Throughout history, many influential writers have used literature to teach people about human nature; these writers used their works improve the morals of humanity. In the 18th century, Romantic and Gothic writers used many literary elements to make their works more meaningful. These included figurative language, symbolism, imagery, allusions, mood and tone to enhance the theme in their stories. Two men who did this were the Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe, and the Gothic romance writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The works “The Masque of the Red Death” by Poe, and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Hawthorne, are examples of using literary elements to enhance theme.
Death can never be escaped no matter what. In “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allan Poe shows the theme of death, a suspenseful mood, and an ominous tone. Through Poe’s use of literary devices, the reader can discover tone, theme, and mood. Throughout Poe’s life he experienced death with two of his mother’s and his young wife. Death is shown how inevitable it is with Poe’s writing and experiences combined together.
The Masque of the Red Death: Essay The Masque of the Red Death is a short gothic horror story. Overall is about a prince who thinks he is invincible, while having a party one night a mysterious guest appears and all the party-goers are very frightened of him. In the end this red death man kills the prince along with many other people at the party. This story became more horrific because the setting was in a castle, there was supernatural elements, and there was revenge.
The “The Ghost Map” is a book written by Steven Johnson. In the book, the author explains to us why urban planning is necessary to prevent deadly diseases, such as the deadly cholera outbreak. In 1854, Cholera seized London with incredible force. A capital of more than 2 million people, London had just become as a one of the first modern cities in the society. But lacking the foundation necessary to sustain its dense population - garbage extraction, clean water sources, sewer systems - the city has grown to be the ideal breeding ground for a terrifying epidemic no one understands how to cure.
Demi Pyle February 20, 2018 English 1302 Looking Closer at “The Masque of The Red Death” In the grim short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1842, “The Masque of the Red Death” tells the tale of a kingdom ravaged with disease and a prince’s journey to escape death. Poe hides underlying messages throughout the story, leaving the reader to interpret the true meaning of prosperity and death. Edgar Allan Poe uses symbolism and imagery in the form of an allegory to reveal to the reader that death is inescapable, no matter how wealthy you are.
Rough Draft Analysis Some people think that running away from problems in life is an amazing way to get out of them. “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, expresses how the effort of running away from a disease is not possible. The people believed that now that the prince, their loyal friend, had let them into the castle they were all safe from the terrible disease called “Red Death”. Everyone was having a good time at a ball that the prince had made for his friends.