Imagery In The Masque Of The Red Death

Words: 561
Pages: 3
Open Document
Blood gushing out of your pores? Sounds like something you would see in a horror movie, and that is exactly what Edgar Allan Poe wants you to feel. The Masque of the Red Death is written to show us that death is inevitable. The Red death slowly kills people from town to town until everyone is gone. He really hooks the reader with his gruesome descriptions, metaphors and ghastly imagery.

Poe introduces the setting and mood of the story by vividly describing the Red death. The Red Death is a fictional disease that is eliminating Prince Prospero's country. He describes this disease to be causing 'sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores', causing death within only half an hour. Sharp pains is agonizing enough, …show more content…
It was red, but it wasn't just described as red but 'scarlet—a deep blood colour'. The color scarlet indicates blood anyway, but Poe highlights the significance of it being the color of blood.

In this black room stands a clock. The author uses metaphorical devices to describe the sounds of the clock when it strikes at midnight. There came a 'brazen lungs of the clock', the word brazen means bold or without shame, this word is used to relate to the 'lungs' of the clock. Poe makes use of both personification and a metaphor here to add effect to the prominent sound of the clock.

At midnight, a new guest is seen wearing a 'corpse-like mask'. Here they are having this fancy masquerade ball when someone turns up in a Halloween costume, how rude! The new guest's vesture was 'dabbled in blood—and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror'. The word scarlet is used hear again, but now Poe writes that his face was 'besprinkled' with scarlet 'horror'. Scarlet horror means blood, and the word 'besprinkled' illustrates that the blood was splattered on the face, a way blood would spray on a murderers face in
Show More

Related Documents: Imagery In The Masque Of The Red Death

Tell Tale Heart Symbolism

In “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Masque of Red Death” symbolism of the characters fear, that turns into their obsessions. In “The Tell-Tale Heart” it uses symbolism in the eye of the old man. The eye of the old man represented his judgement towards the narrator. “One of his eyes resembled that…

Words 1493 - Pages 6

Essay Masq of the red death Edgar Alan poe

Sean Harrison Kelly Daubek English 201 9 February 2014 Literary Analysis Symbolism, Imagery, and Metaphor in ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ by Edger A. Poe Edgar A. Poe is one of the most widely read and acclaimed writers of fiction. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest literary artists of his time. His works have been evaluated, interpreted and dissected with the scrutiny of an insatiably curious mortician, one who, above all, seeks to fathom the inner workings of the deceased…

Words 1210 - Pages 5

Irony In The Masque Of Red Death

In “The Masque of Red Death,” it is ironic that Prince Prospero locks himself in the castle, hoping to seal his dreaded death, but ends up trapping it in. Poe writes, “There was a sharp cry- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon of which, instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero”(60). By trapping death inside his castle, Prince Prospero dies just as quick as the others. Despite the…

Words 953 - Pages 4

The Masque Of Red Death Analysis

motivating one’s survival. Fear can also be harmful by infecting us with paranoia or clouding rational thoughts. All main characters experience fear in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “Pit and the Pendulum”, and “The Masque of Red Death”. In these texts, Edgar Allen Poe uses symbolism, irony, and imagery to illustrate how fear distorts the narrator’s minds and the consequences that follow. Symbolism…

Words 858 - Pages 4

Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

anybody to know when they’ll die, just as the red death. Poe describes the red death as the poison depicting death for all those around it. During the 1800's, the red death was infecting everyone in New England. Once the red death had infected someone, it would eventually kill them; but the worst part is that they didn't know when they were going to die. Poe uses diction and imagery to explain how the clock symbolizes death. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe uses the symbolism of the…

Words 1383 - Pages 6

Masque Of The Red Death Literary Analysis

“Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe contains a gloomy tone, which is supported by a fluid combination of compound- complex sentences, sophisticated diction that is reminiscent of Medieval English, as well as allusions to Herod and imagery to bring the Red Death to life. “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner contains a bizarre yet conversational tone, which is shaped by a nonlinear storyline set over multiple generations and told in first person from the collective perspective of the townspeople…

Words 1327 - Pages 6

What Is The Mood In The Masque Of The Red Death

“The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Tell-tale Heart,” and “The Raven,” Poe uses shocking imagery that if we look into the real meaning of his imagery, we can connect it to our personal life. The explanation in Poe’s works have a tendency to be gothic, or inspiring a spooky state of mind. Poe was likewise an expert of tension, which means his works make the person reading wonder what will happen next. Authors indicate mood by how they select words. Examine the words Poe picks in “The Masque of the…

Words 329 - Pages 2

The Masque of the Red Death vs. the Cask of Amontillado Essay

Lester Small LITR 220 24 February 2013 The Masque of the Red Death vs. The Cask of Amontillado “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allan Poe are somewhat different. The major themes of these stories differ significantly, as does the emphasis placed on each character which dealt more to The Cask of Amontillado” than to “The Masque of the Red Death” Regardless of this, the stories are similar in many ways. For instance, both belong to the literacy of the…

Words 1572 - Pages 7

Red Death Imagery

Imagery is the use of figurative or descriptive language to create a vivid mental picture. It involves at least one of the five senses--sight, sound, touch, feel, taste. Imagery in "The Masque of the Red Death" is ghastly. Example of Imagery - "There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the sympathy of his fellow men."…

Words 499 - Pages 2

Figurative Language In Poe's The Masque Of The Red Death

towns are wiped out. The Bubonic Plague doesn’t pick or choose it victims, it terminates anyone it touches. Edgar Allen Poe portrays that death is inevitable no matter your social class or status in life, through the characterization of Prince Prospero, the countless examples of symbolism, and through the mass of figurative language in the “Masque of the Red Death.” To begin, Poe portrays characterization through Prince Prospero as arrogant, dauntless, and ignorant. The reading describes Prospero…

Words 935 - Pages 4