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::Literate Blather::

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Literary Criticism: Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"

Summary: A terrible plague, known as Red Death, has beset the lands of Prince Prospero. After the plague has killed more than half of his subjects, the Prince gathers up his closest friends and associates and they retreat to a secluded abbey surrounded by high walls. Stocked with ample portions of food and drink, the group shuts itself up to await the plagues demise. Six months later, the Prince holds a grand masquerade ball in his private chambers. One of the guests arrives dressed as Red Death. Enraged, the Prince confronts the man and is struck dead. The rest of the guests realize that the figure really is Red Death and begin to drop dead from the disease.

Analysis: Edgar Allan Poe had a vivid, nightmarish imagination and that creativity is one of the reasons why he has risen to the ranks of the literary elite in American literature. Another reason is because he was such a fascinating character – encompassing failure and post-humorous success, a marriage to his cousin, and, of course, a life-long battle with alcoholism that killed him at the age of 40.

Unfortunately, while many of his stories and poems are horrifyingly original (Poe is truly the literary grandfather of Stephen King), Poe is an inconsistent writer (Give him an A for effort – because Poe tried so hard in everything he ever wrote). “The Masque of the Red Death” is a perfect example of Poe’s strengths and weaknesses as a storyteller.

The limited success of “Masque” lies mainly in Poe’s ability to create a surreal landscape and infuse it with enough creepiness to, if not scare readers, certainly to give us pause. Poe uses this ability to great effect in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Black Cat,” two of his better stories. It’s not as prevalent in “Masque,” but he does manage to create just enough sinister atmosphere for the story to work on that level. We also need to tip our cap to Poe for inventing the “epidemic” narrative for without “Masque” we might not have gotten Albert Camus’s The Plague or Stephen King’s The Stand.

Otherwise, “Masque” has several glaring weaknesses. Poe’s writing can be as blunt as a mallet to the head and in “Masque” that obviousness is in full form. The main character, if there is such a thing in this story, is Prince Prospero (even the name lacks subtlety). The Prince for whatever bizarre reason has set up his inner chambers into seven distinct rooms of differing colors: blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. They represent each stage of human life from birth to death. Overlooking all of this is a gigantic ebony clock that chimes haunting notes on the hour. All of this set decoration seems – and is – so staged. There only because Poe requires it for his story.

When the Prince and his associates, locked away from the Red Death plaguing the kingdom, throw a grand masquerade ball it is within this maze-like rainbow of rooms. The reader is left to ponder why? The only explanation we are given for the ball or the ominous interior design is that the Prince is well… weird.

So is it any surprise that when the costumed reveler who turns out to be Red Death incarnate kills the Prince that they run through all the rooms starting at the first and ending up in the last one – the black one – where the Prince ends up dying? Of course not. “Masque” is a morality play, an allegory that tells us the obvious – “You can’t cheat death.”

But in the end it’s the writing that really harms “Masque.” There are not efforts to even try and establish characters other than the superficial Prince. When he dies (and we know all along that he’ll die) there’s no emotional connection to him. He’s simply another prop in Poe’s allegory. The story is also filled with too much telling and not enough showing. “There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There was much of the beautiful much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little that which might have excited disgust.” Poe doesn’t bother to show us the beautiful, wanton, bizarre or terrible with any specific examples.

In the end, “The Masque of the Red Death” only survives as filler in anthologies of Poe’s work. It is minor and inferior in every way.

Read our literary criticism of Anton Chekov's "A Dead Body"

Labels: Edgar Allan Poe, literary criticism, literature

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Posted by GFS3 at 9:07 AM.

13 comments

13 Comments:

Anonymous said...

To complicate your superficial analysis: Poe did not believe writers should utilize allegory. Now what? Also, keep in mind that Poe was writing at a time when American literature was not yet born - give him some credit for being among the first to try.

January 24, 2009 4:20 PM

Anonymous said...

This is a really poorly written criticism.

March 12, 2009 9:33 PM

Anonymous said...

I hate to say it, but I'm a Junior in high school and i have to say this is the absolute worst critique due to the fact that you actually don't understand the story. Poe was not showing we cant cheat death, but that no matter how hard we try to win in our life, we will lose. If one would merely look at his past they would notice he never truly won.

March 25, 2011 12:20 AM

Anonymous said...

I do not agree at all with your criticisms. Poe truly was a fantastic writer. There was never meant to be a connection with the main character, the description was superficial because the man was superficial, and in the end his arrogance trapped him in a room with just the thing he was attempting to hide from.
Also, after six months of hiding inside of the abbey the people were growing restless and bored and the strange setup of the party rooms was simply for a change of scenery and an exciting new twist on their seclusion. The Prince was trying to raise the spirits of the people hiding with him.
Poe did have a nightmarish imagination, but many do, and he always hid deeper meanings behind the horror in his stories, it is a shame for you that you cannot find them.
And lastly, even your "facts" are incorrect. Poe did not die of alcoholism, he disappeared for three days and was found wondering aimlessly in the desert. It was initially assumed that he was drunk, but due to his dehydration, obvious delusion, and fear of water when it was offered to him, it is now widely believed that his cause of death was rabbis. Alcoholics do not fear water, however parched they may be.

October 09, 2012 11:38 AM

Anonymous said...

this piece of criticism...just needs to have more thought put into it. There's more than meets the eye. For instance, Poe took all this time to describe the layout, decoration, and color scheme of the rooms. There's more to this than "the Prince is well...weird". Poe has written a lot of literature and these details aren't meant to be pushed aside and the prince isn't implied to be "weird". Some say the seven rooms represent stages of life and the colors of each room make up what happens during that stage of life. "The story is also filled with too much telling and not enough showing" Well maybe Poe left that up to the readers to use their imaginations for the meanings behind these details.

January 02, 2013 5:00 PM

Unknown said...

You miss poes political criticism in the story- of a corrupt and degenerate monarchy and nobility. The theme of a crumbling aristocracy is repeated in the fall of the house of usher.

March 09, 2014 9:54 PM

Anonymous said...

hey this isn't good

March 04, 2016 2:46 PM

Anonymous said...

I agree ^

March 04, 2016 3:13 PM

Anonymous said...

i agree 2 ^^^^ dude this sucks so bad

March 04, 2016 3:15 PM

Anonymous said...

^^^^^yeah this is bad...really bad

March 04, 2016 4:33 PM

Anonymous said...

Shouts out to mrs allen

March 04, 2016 4:34 PM

Anonymous said...

he needs some milk

March 04, 2016 4:34 PM

Anonymous said...

Try reflecting on it some more, it may help improve this piece of criticism. Poetry is deep so I don't really blame you but try reading it some more and let it sink it for a few days ;)

May 01, 2018 2:27 PM

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