I've mannage to do it.

It is the last post where I'd like to share my impressions about the couse of English Stylistics. I like this  interesting activity. I think that I've managed to succeed in this work. Knowledge of Stylistics help me to understand the deep meaning of any texts. To my mind this subject is of great use for any philologist.

Final Stylistic Analysis of the short story "The Masque of the Red Death"

    It's high time for me to do it.
    1. The short story "The Masque of the Red Death" is written by an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

    2. In 1842, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a short story called “The Masque of the Red Death.” It certainly seems as if Poe's conception of the story was helped along by accounts of the Bubonic plague, also known as the "black death." Taking on the form of an allegory, “The Masque of the Red Death” portrays many symbolic meanings appear to be hidden to the reader.  

     3.With these symbolic meanings, we can unlock the hidden message in the story that proves that no one can escape death. 

    4. From the point of view of presentation the text is 3rd person narrative.

   5. Only two characters are named in the story: Prospero and the Red Death.

Prince Prospero: The prosperous Prince invites citizens "from among the knights and dames of his court" to reside with him in his odd fortressed castle. His intent is to prevent the Red Death from affecting him or his guests. He falsely believes that he and his guests can prevent death. The Prince's name is symbolic. He is wealthy. He is noble. He is respected. He still dies.

The Red Death: Prince Prospero throws a costume party at which a figure "tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habilements of the grave" strolls through the castle. "His vesture was dabbed in blood and his broad brow, with all the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror." (149). The Red Death has arrived. Many interpret the story as an allegory of life, the end result being death to all.

Prospero's Guests: None of Prospero's guests are named. We do know, however, that they are of noble blood and that peasants and commoners are locked out, leading many to surmise that the story is an allegory for the death of feudalism, an economic system in which peasants worked the land and nobles made the money.

  6. The plot of the story:

Exposition: the author tells about "The Red Death" the pestilence which had devastated the counrty. There we got main information about the main character - Prince Prospero.

Climax: meeting Prospero with the ghost - "The Red Death", his death.

Anticlimax: "And now was acknowledge the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night."

Conclusion: "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

   7. The type of speech employed by the author of the analysed story are combination of narration, description and monologue.

  8. This story is full of stylistic devices which can be found almost in every sentence. The main function of stylistic devices in this short story is to describe the situation clear, to create special image and atmosphere of the horror gothic story.
There is a list of stylistic devices which is used in the short story "The Masque of the Red Death":
Epithet: light-hearted friends, a masked ball, a gigantic clock, a dull, heavy, monotonous clang, clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical sound, a magnificent revel, bold and fiery plans, a masked figure, the scarlet horror, blasphemous mockery, solemn and measured step.
Metaphor: the heart of life, to arrest the attention, there are chords in the hearts.

Allegory: “The Masque of the Red Death” is an allegory. It features a set of recognizable symbols whose meanings combine to convey a message. An allegory always operates on two levels of meaning: the literal elements of the plot (the colors of the rooms, for example) and their symbolic counterparts, which often involve large philosophical concepts (such as life and death). We can read this story as an allegory about life and death and the powerlessness of humans to evade the grip of death. The Red Death thus represents, both literally and allegorically, death. No matter how beautiful the castle, how luxuriant the clothing, or how rich the food, no mortal, not even a prince, can escape death. In another sense, though, the story also means to punish Prospero’s arrogant belief that he can use his wealth to fend off the natural, tragic progress of life. Prospero’s arrogance combines with a grievous insensitivity to the plight of his less fortunate countrymen. Although he possesses the wealth to assist those in need, he turns his wealth into a mode of self-defense and decadent self-indulgence. His decadence in throwing the masquerade ball, however, unwittingly positions him as a caged animal, with no possible escape.

Simily: He had come like a thief in the night.
Repetition: There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

Climax: No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the madness and the horror of blood.

Anticlimax: And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, of horror, and of disgust.

    To sum up everything which I've managed to mention, I want to say  that no one can escape death. And this story shows it. 

Symbolism and Imagery of the Story

    It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that "The Masque of the Red Death" is probably one of the best short stories Edgar A. Poe ever wrote. It is the perfect example of a story that doesn't need to be five hundred pages long to express a lot of symbolism and create a unique atmosphere.

    Some readers seem to think that "The Masque of the Red Death" is just a remarkable horror story. After all, Poe did write a lot of ghastly short stories and "The Masque of the Red Death" surely is one of them. But that's not all it was about, and it would be terribly unfair to consider Poe a simple "ghost story" writer. Thus we need to emphasize the symbolism of the words and contexts he uses not just to scare his readers, but also to make a more profound point.

    "The Masque of the Red Death," published in 1838, takes place in an unknown land, governed by Prince Prospero. The plague, or Red Death, devastates the region with a real slaughter among the population. But, as his name leads us to believe, Prince Prospero is very little concerned by the horrors of pestilence. Instead, he retires himself in his "castellated abbey," where he invites friends for a masked ball, thinking they would all be safe from the sickness. Eventually, a ghost symbolizing the Red Death appears in the crowd, killing all of the revelers.

     The genius of Poe in building a scary, horrible atmosphere is undeniable. His vocabulary is rich in meaningful adjectives, such as "fatal" or "hideous," and his description of the illness is pitiless: the sick suffer from "sharp pains" and will die in, at the most, half an hour. Also, we know that there's no hope for help:

    "(…) the scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow men."

     The predominant colour is red, symbolizing blood and agony.

    After this dreadful description of the population's doom, Poe introduces a new world, that of Prince Prospero. The atmosphere is different, but still frightening. There's no blood or epidemic in his apartments, but the Prince is said to be "eccentric" and "bizarre," and the rooms of his mansion are irregularly disposed, reminding the reader of a maze. The Gothic-style windows are "tall and narrow," the corridor is closed and each one of the chambers is decorated in a different color, as if to make up for the dullness of the outside world, producing an oppressive ambiance.

    The most impressive room is the seventh and last one, entirely decorated in black except for the color of the window panes which are painted in scarlet, "a deep blood color" as Poe writes. There's no light in this room, but there's a massive clock of ebony that patiently rings each hour; it is "dull, heavy, monotonous," creating an inexpressible feeling of fear among the Prince's guests:

    "(…) there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all."

    When the clock rings, all musicians stop playing to listen to the sound of the bell, and the guests seem to feel uneasy and nervous, taking a pause in their amusement as well.

    Poe doesn't forget any detail to make his readers also feel uneasy. We know something will eventually happen, as no element is there to reassure us, there's no element we can trust, not even the Prince himself:

    "There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not."

    Poe definitely succeeds in creating an uncomfortable, fantastic atmosphere. The reader does not feel any safer in the Prince's apartments than outside. The suspense reaches its climax when a ghostly figure finally appears, among the crowd, at the stroke of midnight, causing terror, disgust and panic. It is wearing "the habiliments of the grave" and the "mask of a stiffened corpse." The horror reaches its culminating point as the figure, the Red Death, finally kills the Prince and his guests. The clock goes out, the flames on the tripods go out. The Red Death brings darkness and decay, and "holds dominion over all."

    The curtain drops, leaving the readers thrilled. Edgar A. Poe brought enough fantastic, surreal, and awful dimensions to his short story to leave them satisfied. And yet, we won't doubt that his point was actually even more profound than that of scaring his readers. Behind the strange and the macabre there is outlined the criticism of the wealthy who believe they are "omnipotent." Prince Prospero wants to mock the Red Death, as the author explains that he's "happy," "dauntless" and "sagacious." He invites some "light-hearted" friends, firmly resolved to defy fate, and does not care about his people's distress:

    "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure."

    In the end, we know that it is the Red Death that will mock the prince and his friends. Not only does it kill them, it also ridicules them by showing that the strong walls of the castle, the gates made of iron, the hammers and the bolts didn't protect them from Death. It is no wonder why the words "masquerade" and "grotesque" are found several times in the story.

    The symbolism of the black room is also very powerful. The window panes are painted in red, as if stained with blood. That is where Prince Prospero will be stalked by the Red Death and will die. That is also where the ebony clock is.

    Poe subtly insists the importance of time. We know that the feast takes place "toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of [Prince Prospero's] seclusion." Each hour that rings reminds him and his friends that their power and money will not save them from fate, and that their hour will eventually come, even after having spent several months sheltered, away from the epidemic. We can assume that's why they are all nervous about the hours ringing, one after another. They know that they won't be able to escape their death, and that each hour that passes by gets them closer to it. The author even reminds us:

    "Then, after the lapse of sixty minutes (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the time that flies) came yet another chiming of the clock(…)"

    Rich or poor, time flies for all of us, making death the last justice, one that money can't buy. The black room symbolizes death; it's dark, and it's the room that no one wants to enter. On the other hand he writes:

    "The other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat the heart of life."

    The only element found in the black room is the clock, and its beats only mark the last hour of its victims. As such, we can assume that Prince Prospero fooled himself by thinking that his money and power would save him both from the pest and the time passing by.

    "The Masque of the Red Death" is definitely more profound than most people seem to realize. It is indeed a good fantastic, horror story. But it is also a criticism about the power of the wealthy and its illusion, as well as a reflection on the time that passes by, leading us to our inevitable end, whoever we are.

Stylistic Devices

      This story is full of stylistic devices which can be found almost in every sentence. The main function of stylistic devices in this short story is to describe the situation clear, to create special image and atmosphere of the horror gothic story.
     There is a list of stylistic devices which is used in the short story "The Masque of the Red Death":
     Epithet:  light-hearted friends,   a masked ball,  a gigantic clock, a dull, heavy, monotonous clang, clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical sound, a magnificent revel, bold and fiery plans, a masked figure, the scarlet horror, blasphemous mockery, solemn and measured step.
    Metaphor: the heart of life, to arrest the attention, there are chords in the hearts.

    Allegory: “The Masque of the Red Death” is an allegory. It features a set of recognizable symbols whose meanings combine to convey a message. An allegory always operates on two levels of meaning: the literal elements of the plot (the colors of the rooms, for example) and their symbolic counterparts, which often involve large philosophical concepts (such as life and death). We can read this story as an allegory about life and death and the powerlessness of humans to evade the grip of death. The Red Death thus represents, both literally and allegorically, death. No matter how beautiful the castle, how luxuriant the clothing, or how rich the food, no mortal, not even a prince, can escape death. In another sense, though, the story also means to punish Prospero’s arrogant belief that he can use his wealth to fend off the natural, tragic progress of life. Prospero’s arrogance combines with a grievous insensitivity to the plight of his less fortunate countrymen. Although he possesses the wealth to assist those in need, he turns his wealth into a mode of self-defense and decadent self-indulgence. His decadence in throwing the masquerade ball, however, unwittingly positions him as a caged animal, with no possible escape. 

    Simily: He had come like a thief in the night.
    Repetition:  There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death." 

    Climax:  No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.  Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the madness and the horror of blood. 

    Anticlimax:  And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, of horror, and of disgust. 

Characters of the story "The Masque of the Red Death"

     Only two characters are named in the story: Prospero and the Red Death.

     Prince Prospero: The prosperous Prince invites citizens "from among the knights and dames of his court" to reside with him in his odd fortressed castle. His intent is to prevent the Red Death from affecting him or his guests. He falsely believes that he and his guests can prevent death. The Prince's name is symbolic. He is wealthy. He is noble. He is respected. He still dies.

     The Red Death: Prince Prospero throws a costume party at which a figure "tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habilements of the grave" strolls through the castle. "His vesture was dabbed in blood and his broad brow, with all the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror." (149). The Red Death has arrived. Many interpret the story as an allegory of life, the end result being death to all.

     Prospero's Guests: None of Prospero's guests are named. We do know, however, that they are of noble blood and that peasants and commoners are locked out, leading many to surmise that the story is an allegory for the death of feudalism, an economic system in which peasants worked the land and nobles made the money.

Intriguing Plot of the Short Story

     The story takes place at the castellated abbey of the "happy and dauntless and sagacious" Prince Prospero. Prospero and one thousand other nobles have taken refuge in this walled abbey to escape the Red Death, a terrible plague with gruesome symptoms that has swept over the land. Victims feel overcome by convulsive agony and sweat blood. The plague is said to kill within half an hour. Prospero and his court are presented as indifferent to the sufferings of the population at large, intending to await the end of the plague in luxury and safety behind the walls of their secure refuge, having welded the doors shut.

     One night, Prospero holds a masquerade ball to entertain his guests in seven colored rooms of the abbey. Six of the rooms are each decorated and illuminated in a specific color: Blue, purple, green, orange, white, and violet. The last room is decorated in black and is illuminated by a scarlet light- "a deep blood color": because of this chilling pair of colors, very few guests are brave enough to venture into the seventh room. The same room is also the location of a large ebony clock that ominously clangs at each hour, upon which everyone stops talking or dancing and the orchestra stops playing. Once the chiming stops, everyone acts like nothing happened and continue on with the masquerade. At the chiming of midnight, the revelers and Prospero notice one figure in a dark, blood-splattered robe resembling a funeral shroud, with an extremely realistic mask resembling a stiffened cadaver, and with the traits of the Red Death, which all at the ball have been desperate to escape. Gravely insulted, Prospero demands to know the identity of the mysterious guest so that they can hang him. When nobody (out of fear) dares to approach the figure, instead letting him pass through the seven chambers, the Prince pursues him with a drawn dagger until he is cornered in the seventh room, the black room with the scarlet-tinted windows. When the figure turns to face him, the Prince lets out a sharp cry and falls dead. The enraged and terrified revelers surge into the black room and forcibly remove the mask and robe, only to find to their horror that there is no solid form underneath either. Only now do they realize (too late) that the figure is actually the Red Death itself, and all of the guests contract and succumb to the disease. The final line of the story sums up: "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

Mystrical Setting of "The Masque of the Red Death"

     The action takes place in the newly constructed "castellated abbey" of Prince Prospero. The castle has been boarded up, leaving "means of neither ingress nor egress" in an effort to keep out the Red Death, a plague that has killed half of the population in Prince Prospero's kingdom. The majority of the story's action takes place in the Imperial suite, which contains seven rooms, each exclusively decorated and lighted with a specific color, the exception being the last room whose black interior is complemented by red windows. Although the narrator never gives a specific time, the events occur most likely during the middle ages as indicated by the existence of castles, a sharp division between nobles and peasants, and the existence of a deadly plague.