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.
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.
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий