Examples Of Marxism In The Masque Of The Red Death
Death for the Rich “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe can be looked at through many different lens of literary theories such as the Marxist theory. The Marxist theory takes a look into the economic views of the literature, the different social classes and economic struggles that people faced in the past and still face in today’s society. “The Masque of the Red Death” may seem to have a religious meaning but going beyond the words, there’s an obvious economic and social class issue. In the Marxist theory, there is, “a binary opposition between bourgeoisie (the upper class who were in charge) and the proletariat (the workers)” (Moore 2). “The Masque of the Red Death” is a story of the lower class, those who are struggling to
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The economic conditions under which characters live affect their actions and behavior, the lower class was dying, they wanted revenge on the prince for ignore his people. What other way to get the prince back than to have him come face to face with the plague that those outside the kingdom had to face? But how? Sneak the plague in, mask the plague so no one would know the truth. Throughout the party no one had once noticed a masked figure until the clock struck twelve and became, “aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual around” (Poe 3) No one knew who this mysterious figure was, it was causing great fear, the kingdom was somehow under attack. The prince had followed this figure into the very last room, the room was, “closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries… carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of windows failed to correspond. The panes here were scarlet” (Poe 1). The room gave off the vibe of death, that the prince’s life may soon be gone. At last the lower class was able to rebel, the prince went to remove the mask of this unknown figure he, “gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted
The economic conditions under which characters live affect their actions and behavior, the lower class was dying, they wanted revenge on the prince for ignore his people. What other way to get the prince back than to have him come face to face with the plague that those outside the kingdom had to face? But how? Sneak the plague in, mask the plague so no one would know the truth. Throughout the party no one had once noticed a masked figure until the clock struck twelve and became, “aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual around” (Poe 3) No one knew who this mysterious figure was, it was causing great fear, the kingdom was somehow under attack. The prince had followed this figure into the very last room, the room was, “closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries… carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of windows failed to correspond. The panes here were scarlet” (Poe 1). The room gave off the vibe of death, that the prince’s life may soon be gone. At last the lower class was able to rebel, the prince went to remove the mask of this unknown figure he, “gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted