Another scene of supernatural manifests onto the screen when the “Red Death” removes the mask and the Prince Prospero was chocked by the fact that the “Red Death” is a precise mirror image of his face. This is presented in the end of the story as follows: “and the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all” (ibid, 18). This shows the duality of the divine and the evil. While Prospero tortured the people and kept the richness for himself, death on other hand shows mercy for the people and delivered them from their suffering and showed fairness by taking the life of Prospero and his nobles. That’s why Prospero and the Red Death have the same face in the…
The red death is a terrible disease that is quickly destroying the population of the kingdom. Prince Prospero, in an attempt to save his people, “…summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court…” (The Masque of the Red Death, pg. 1) He brought them into his castle, which had strong walls and gates to keep out anyone who was infected, and threw a large party for them after being in the castle for six months. Prospero had entertainers of all sorts there to keep his guest happy and entertained.…
Norman F. Cantor, In the Wake of the Plague (New York: Harper Collins First Perennial edition, 2001) examines how the bubonic plague, or Black Death, affected Europe in the fourteenth century. Cantor recounts specific events in the time leading up to the plague, during the plague, and in the aftermath of the plague. He wrote the book to relate the experiences of victims and survivors and to illustrate the impact that the plague had on the government, families, religion, the social structure, and art.…
The Plague is a disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. It is responsible for killing millions of people in the Middle Ages. However, today we have a cure for it. The author Giovanni Boccacio wrote The Decameron to report, warn, and record the disease. He wanted people to be aware of what happened. The disease spread from place to place, animal to human, human to human. The people around it were aware that it was spreading and understood that is was “contagious”. As a result, they got rid of the infected bodies after they passed and kept the sickened away by barring them from the city. There was no cure for the disease that they could find, which is why so many people died. I think by saying “the nature of the disease did not allow for any cure” might simply mean they put their faith into God and it was not accepted. As for “ignorance of physicians”,…
“The Masque of the Red Death” displays the gothic element of a character's motivation caused by fear. Prince Prospero insured his and his guests safety with “The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts” (Poe 430). In order to protect himself and the guests from the contagion he had the doors of the abbey sealed shut. The fear of getting the contagion caused Prince Prospero to seal himself in the abbey. Prince Prospero’s fear is not only shown towards the contagion but towards the masked figure. After he saw the masked figure, Prince Prospero shouted, “Who dares insult us with the blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him - that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise” (Poe 433). Prince…
Throughout the gothic horror short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the struggle of an egotistical prince who refuses to face the inevitable reality of death. Through the downfall of the protagonist, Poe establishes the idea that the inability to face reality often leads to the destruction of the mind. The downfall of the Prince is emphasized by Poe’s use of characterization, setting, and symbolism.…
The universal theme, no one can escape death, is displayed in “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. In this story, Prince Prospero threw a masquerade to distract him from the pestilence that was The Red Death. His guests were worried about the plague getting to them and killing them all, and they tried forgetting about it. Eventually, The Red Death came and everyone, including the prince, was killed. This theme is not just found in this story, it appears in other places. The universal theme, no one can escape death, is found in “The Masque of the Red Death” as well as in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and in the “Book of Psalms”.…
You hear the moaning. Hopelessness drifts in the air as it whiffs by you. Next to you in a bed is a little boy. He is whimpering until you slowly see the life drip out of him. This image is what Dr. Rieux faced everyday as he tried to contain the plague.…
When a widespread disease conquers everyone throughout the country, one man hopes to escape the disease by locking himself and many of his wealthy friends in his abbey. “The Masque of the Red Death,” by Edgar Allan Poe, is a story about a disease called the Red Death wiping out the country side. Prince Prospero believes he can escape the Red Death by locking himself in his abbey with a thousand of his wealthy friends. To celebrate escaping the deadly disease at the end of the fifth or sixth month, Prospero throws a masquerade ball. The ball takes place in seven different rooms; blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. When the party is in full swing, the ebony clock strikes twelve and everybody stops. Once everybody stops they…
The black plague: The black plague also known as the black death started in the years 1346-1353 leading in the deaths of 75 to 200 million deaths, almost a third of the population. The black plague is also known as the black death because, of the dark patches on the skin caused by subcutaneous bleeding. The black plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. A deadly epidemic known as the Sixth-Century Plague or Justinian's plague struck Constantinople and parts of southern Europe 800 years earlier. The Black Death returned several times throughout the rest of the century. (mid 14 century)…
“Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins... A peninsula nipped off while red hot and allowed to cool into an antarctica of lava…” These are two of the opening lines from Lawrence Durrell’s book “Prospero's Cell”, originally published in 1945. This is the book that made Corfu famous, as it is generally accepted. While these claims could be argued as overblown, indeed the “Girl of the Ionians” could not have found a fitter chronicler. Seductively balancing descriptive prose with historical detail brings to life the landscape and manners of the island of Corfu. Moreover it did last year an even greater service when the book turned into an ITV series which proved to be a rollicking delight for the English channel, attracting…
The plague has affected the world in many different ways. In the terms of media, arts and architecture the Plague has been strongly present. Hundreds of books have been written about the plague. Some of them being The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks and “The Decameron” by Giovanni Boccaccio. Both books focus around the effects of plague and what happens to those who get it. The Plague has also been portrayed in many ways in art and theater. Both became hyper focused on portraying death and dying. Lastly, the plague led to a big turn in architecture styles. Many architects were reverting back to the Gothic style and the Greco-Roman style. Media, arts, and architecture changed to show the devastation people were facing. Although the Plague…
What would it be like if the world as we know it fell apart? What would you do if you had to fend for yourself without any government, while people are dying around you? Stephen R. Quinn had to face these conflicts everyday in the book, “The Eleventh Plague” by Jeff Hirsch. Stephen fought through the plague, while many people around him perished. He had to learn to live without his grandfather and eventually his father, while trying to help rebuild civilization.…
This story takes place in a happy, joyful castle. There was a king and a queen who had a young son who they believed would be the most happiest future ruler of all time. There was a plague going around and people were getting sick. The severity of their sickness was very high. The king and the queen worried for their son. They hired a caretaker to take care of their baby for when the king and queen died.…
Every day of the human life is faced with one goal: surviving. After the Plague by T.C. Boyle is a story of just that. In the beginning of the story, the reader is presented with a man self-named “Jed”. Jed is a writer who escaped to the mountains of California for seclusion and free flowing creativity. He soon gets waves of radio and news broadcasts speaking of an outbreak of a wide spread disease, eventually wiping out the entire population, leaving behind Jed and the few human beings who fortunately were able to escape the epidemic. A hiker named Sarai found Jed in his cabin and harshly begged for entrance. Through the story, Jed and Sarai discover they do not go well together and eventually lead out to the “new city”. There, Jed meets Felicia,…