Many scholars consider this
tale as Poe's masterpiece, for it illustrates his supreme artistry as one
of the literary giants of American literature in the 19th century. In this
tale, the plot revolves around the supernatural, but the main events are
based on historical truth. His "Red Death" as it appears in the title is
not related to the "Black Death," a form of plague that killed millions of
people during the 13th and 14th centuries in Europe, but is a metaphor for
consumption, also known as tuberculosis, a disease of the lungs that killed
Poe's wife Virginia at the age of twenty-seven in 1846.
As compared to "The Black Cat," Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"
concerns Prince Prospero and his devotion to the black arts, namely, that
he is a devil worshipper. As Poe relates, the "Red Death" "had long
devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so
hideous" (267). But Prospero and his friends, unlike the villagers that
live far below the walls of his spacious castle, are well-protected from
the "Red Death" which if contracted results in a horrible death. To
celebrate this, Prospero holds a masked ball or a masquerade "of the most
unusual magnificence" (267). Poe then describes the rooms in which this
masked ball takes place, all of which are of various colors, such as blue,
purple, green, orange,...
There is also a "gigantic clock of
ebony" with a pendulum that swings "with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang"
(268). With these descriptions, Poe is attempting to recreate the style of
writing known as Gothic which flourished in England and Germany during the
late 18th and early to mid 19th century and is best exemplified by poets
like Coleridge, Shelley and Lord Byron. As the celebrations continue,
Prospero suddenly sees "a spectral image," a symbol of the "Red Death"
which now has managed to infiltrate Prospero's castle. Poe then reveals
that this strange being is indeed the "Red Death" in human form which
proceeds to kill all of the revelers and even Prince Prospero-"And one by
one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls. . . and died each. . .
and Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over
all" (269). These two tales clearly represent the genius of Edgar Allan Poe
as a writer and master of the supernatural, the strange and the bizarre and
truly demonstrate that Poe was far ahead of his time when it comes to
expressing terror as it exists in the human mind.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Poe, Edgar Allan. 50 Tales by Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Random House,
1998.
