Use Of Irony In The Masque Of The Red Death

Poe uses irony in his stories to demonstrate how fear can distort the mind and what the result of that fear looks like. In Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero locks himself and other wealthy people up in his castle, leaving only the castle to live in: “They resolved to leave any means of ingress or egress…” (57). This is ironic because by locking himself and other wealthy people up in his castle, he secured his death and the death of everyone else he lives with. Prince Prospero’s fear of Death leads him to make these decisions. In the same way, “The Tell-Tale Heart” is ironic in that the old man bars his windows and makes his bedroom dark because of his fear of death, however, death is already inside. The narrator describes

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

Symbolism is used to convey messages that are harder to show without saying it directly. In “The Tell Tale Heart,” The old old man’s “ eye’s is resembled of that of a vulture-a pale blue eye, with a film over it,”(74). The narrator had a fear of the eye and compared it to that of a vulture's: hideous, cold and always looking to snatch something from the ground. He is a psychopath and doesn't understand that the old man has a disease. The fear of the man's eye becomes and obsession and gets to the point til that's the only thing that he can think about. His obsession for this eye leads nowhere pleasant. After seven nights of stalking the man, he finally kills him. In “The Masque of Red Death,” The ebony clock is very symbolic: “And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay,”(61). The ebony clock emblematizes time and life. When the clock stops the life of the party and Prince Prospero does too. When the time came the ebony clock died with Prince Prospero. Fear is what made Prince Prospero lock himself in a castle. Prince Prospero wasn’t afraid of death alone, he was afraid of time itself. When the ebony clock struck midnight, everyone stopped. They were reminded of something the wish the had not been. They knew that time meant death and death was inevitable. The life of Prince Prospero’s kingdom was represented by the clock because when the clock

For instance, Poe gave the name Prospero to a wealth prince. “But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious” (83). Giving the prince this name symbolizes the wealth of the prince, how he thrived, and how successful he was. Another example of symbolism is when the Red Death appears after the palace doors are bolted lock. “When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image solemn movement….” (87). This part of the story shows that no matter how hard you try or how much money you have, you cannot escape or cheat dead. One last example of symbolism being used in this story is Prince Prospero rushing through the rooms chasing the Red Death. “It was then, however, that Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers….” (87). This example of symbolism was the one that stands out the most. The 7 chambers of Edgar Allen Poe are similar to the 7 stages of life of William Shakespeare. While Prince Prospero is rushing through the

The illusion of death has wondered and astonished many for years. This doesn 't exclude the fantastic author Shakespeare. Throughout the play, Shakespeare focuses on death and how society glorifies it. He often uses metaphor and analogy in order to make death seem more welcoming.

In the poem “Because I could not stop for death” by Emily Dickinson, death is described as a person, and the narrator is communicating her journey with death in the afterlife.

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 first example of symbolism is the rooms in the abbey. Each room was a different color and line up from east to west. This is a symbol for the progression of life and death. The first room was blue, representing birth, then purple representing youth, green representing adolescence, orange representing adulthood, white symbolizing old age, violet symbolizing imminent death, and black and scarlet symbolizing death itself. This is also a metaphor as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; it can also be seen as symbolism for the progression of a day. As Prince Prospero and the masked guest go from room to room, they are symbolizing the progression of life from birth to death. This is an important symbol in the story because it emphasizes the theme of inescapable death. The next example is the Black Clock in the black room. This symbolizes the span of life. In the story, the clock struck midnight and the Prince’s time was up, symbolizing his life being over. The clock is black because black symbolizes death, which can mean that the clock could also mean one’s time left until death. The next example is Prince Prospero; his name representing prosperity. By hiding in his abbey and building iron gates, he symbolizes human desire to escape death. As he tries to hide from death, it is ironic that death walks undetected into his abbey that was so heavily guarded. The final example of

The Masque of Red Death is an allegory for the conflict between humans and nature, life and death.

In fictional writing there are many important componates that contributes to it success. Such as tone, mood, and setting. Nevertheless symbolism is very also a vital aspect of fiction. Symbolism ensures that the reader looks at the deeper meanings of a piece. This could not be more evident than in the story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. Symbolism is the foundation of this story. Everything and everyone in this story in some way was a symbols.

People have always tried to avoid death, but they cannot. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” the characters are trying to avoid the Red Death, but they do not succeed. Every hour clock chimes indicating that life is passing by and death is close. People begin to die every minute once the Red Death enters. Poe uses imagery, symbolism, and setting to create an effective story.

Descriptive scenery or imagery is used throughout literature for a variety of purposes. It can be used to paint a mental picture of the setting, to portray symbols, or even to relay themes. The authors Ambrose Bierce and Edgar Allan Poe exemplify the use of the same technique, descriptive scenery, to deliver different purposes. In An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce and The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe both use imagery in order to characterize characters and foreshadow events. However, one also used this same strategy as a way to deviate from reality, while the other used it as a way to face reality.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez effectively incorporates irony in the novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” with the objective to depict hypocritical values and views on the Latin Culture. Gabriel Marquez uses this technique to portray his views on; the role of women, the honour killing actions taken by the Vicario twins, the society in Latin America, the role of Santiago 's mother and the role of the Church.

For example in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the author explains the appearance of the man’s eye: “One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture” (pg. 74). The old man’s eye symbolizes the man’s obsession over judgement. The man thinks the old man is watching and judging him. He’s so afraid of judgement that he creates an uncontrollable obsession over the eye. His crazy obsession makes him kill the old man just so he doesn’t have to see the eye anymore. In “The Masque of Red Death”, the author includes 7 rooms, one being black, which is where the Prince locks himself in: “There were seven-an imperial suite… The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls…” (pg. 58). The seventh rooms shows how death is always there and always will be. The Prince fears that he’s going to be contaminated, so he does everything in his power to avoid death. The Prince creates an obsession over escaping death, what he doesn’t know is that death has always been there and always will

In “The Masque of the Red Death” Poe creates strong images of various decorative rooms which have been designed to go from east to west. This is no coincidence, as the rooms seem to imitate the course of the sun from daytime to nighttime, or even the course of human life- birth to death. The first room, coated in the colour blue, represents the freedom and tranquility felt by the guests in the castle. In contrast, the final room, coated in the colour black symbolises the fear and despair felt by the guests in relation to death and its inevitability. This idea is emphasised strongly by the author, as is written, “and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.” (The Masque of the Red Death).