Judgment In Poe's The Masque Of The Red Death

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Poe makes the allusion to the day of judgement being “ a thief in the night” because there is no escaping death or judgment when it comes to take us. In the Masque of the Red Death the partygoers are interrupted by the clock in the black room chiming every hour causing everyone who hears it to stop what they are doing and listen. Poe writes “ and while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that even the giddiest grew pale…” (Poe 2) The clock causes fear in the partygoers because it is a reminder of the time that they have waste and have left to live. The partiers lives are passing by them as they wait to either live out the death outside the abbey's walls or die themselves. The day of judgement is “a thief in the night”, it takes