The Masque of the Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe1809-1849 What do you remember about Poe?

Short Stories: The Tell-Tale Heart The Cask of Amontillado Fall of the House of Usher The Pit and The Pendulum Poems: The Raven Annabel Lee To Helen Lenore Just a Few Titles

Literary Term: Gothic Elements • Supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action • High emotion, sentimentalism, but also pronounced anger, surprise, and especially terror • Use of words indicating fear, mystery: apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror, fright, fainting

Literary Term: Symbol • Something that is itself and yet also represents something else • Universal symbols embodying universally recognizable meanings • Invested symbols give symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work • Symbols are very common in literature

Allegory: A Story Behind a Story • An allegory is a narrative that is really a double story. One story takes place on the surface. Under the surface the story’s characters and events represent abstract ideas or states of being, things like love or freedom, evil or goodness, hell or heaven. • To work, an allegory must operate on two levels. On the level of pure storytelling, an allegory must hold our attention. Its characters must seem believable and interesting enough for us to care about them. On the allegorical level the ideas in the story must be accessible to us. As you read, you should find that the allegorical level of the story gradually begins to strike you. See if you find that Poe’s story of arrogance and death hooks you on both levels.

Allegory: A Story Behind a Story

The Masque of the Red Death: Background • Poe’s fictional Red Death is probably based on the Black Death, which swept fourteenth-century Europe and Asia, killing as many as two thirds of the population in some regions in less than twenty years. Poe calls the plague “the Red Death” because victims oozed blood from painful sores. In this story a fourteenth-century prince gives a costume party, or masque, to try to forget about the epidemic raging all around him.

The Black Death • This particular type of plague was the bubonic plague, which is caused by a bacteria that lived in rats and other rodents. Human beings were infected through bites from the fleas that lived on these rats. The symptoms associated with plague are bubos, which are painful swellings of the lymph nodes. These typically appear in the armpits, legs, neck, or groin. If left untreated, plague victims die within two to four days. Victims of this disease suffered swelling in the armpit and groin, as well as bleeding in the lungs. Victims also suffered a very high fever, delirium, and prostration (weakness).

Summary • Poe’s tale of an eccentric nobleman and the Red Death ravaging his land can be read both as a chilling ghost story and as an allegory representing human folly and the inevitability of death. (In other words, you cannot hide from death regardless how much money you have.)

Allegory in The Masque of the Red Death Two levels of meaning: 1. the literal elements of the plot (the colors of the rooms, for example) 2. their symbolic counterparts, which often involve large philosophical concepts (such as life and death). Symbols to watch out for: ·the use and importance of color ·the importance of numbers (especially 7) ·symbolism of East/West

What can colors symbolize? • Does the color remind you of a particular season/holiday? • Have you heard phrases that use that color? • What emotions does the color evoke?

Symbolic Numbers • Seven Deadly Sins • Seven Contrary Virtues • Seven Ages of Man

Seven Deadly Sins/ Contrary Virtues Which of these sins might Prince Prospero commit? Virtues Sins Faith Hope Charity Justice Fortitude Prudence Temperance • Greed • Gluttony • Pride • Envy • Anger • Lust • Sloth

Seven Ages of Man • Infant • Schoolboy • Lover • Soldier • Judge • Pantaloon • Second childhood Which stage might the ebony clock symbolize?

East/ West • How is east and west used in our daily lives? • What direction are the rooms in during the story? What color is each room?

Let’s begin… • Grab a textbook! • Turn to page

Masque of the Red Death- Blueprint Project • The goal of this project is to closely read the text of Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" to determine the design of Prince Prospero's mansion, and what is inside. • You will need to spend some time reading about each room of the mansion: what it looks like, what is inside and how each room is connected to the others.

What should it look like? • Your blueprint will need to have the following things: • A compass • Seven “rooms”, in the proper direction, representing the seven rooms of Prospero's mansion • the colors of each room • what age range (ages and title) each room represents

What should each room include? • the colors of each room • what age range (ages and title) each room represents • examples of items found within the room (the "ornaments" and decor) • an explanation or visualization of how it connects to the next room

Details/Grading • Worth 100 pts • You will be graded on accuracy, creativity, neatness, completion and presentation. • You will be required to present your blueprint in a small group. Failure to present will result 25 points being deducted from your final grade. • No blueprints will be accepted late without an excused absence.

Example Blueprint:

The Masque of the Red Death