Death and Justice in Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and "The Black Cat"

Edgar Allan Poe: A Brief Biography

Edgar Allan Poe is considered one of the lesser-known great artists of the 19th century. Orphaned at the very young age of three, he nevertheless lived a happy and contented childhood with a kind-hearted and wealthy merchant, John Allan, from whom he derived his middle name. He was sent to a good school and excelled in languages and athletics. Upon entering college, however, he spent most of his time in carnal pursuits, provoking the ire of his adoptive father. To escape his wrath, Poe joined the army under the name Edgar A. Perry. A few years later, Mrs. Allan, his stepmother, on her deathbed, begged her husband to search for their prodigal son and bring him home. Poe did come home, but her death caused an even greater rift between stepfather and son. Allan eventually remarried, and his new wife despised Poe.

By 1831, Poe was a destitute author of three meager volumes of poetry, barely eating one square meal a day. Then he happened upon a long-lost relative, Aunt Marie Clemm, who became his surrogate mother. He eventually married her daughter, Virginia — his cousin. Poe took odd jobs to support his family and occasionally published a story or two, but whatever he earned was insufficient to support himself, much less his household. Virginia eventually fell ill and died in 1847.

During that period, Poe was a chronic alcoholic; he believed he wrote best when inebriated. Upon the death of his wife, he drank more and more, also wooing widows and becoming engaged more than a few times. His writing grew progressively tortured and horrific — a keen reflection of the internal demons he faced every day. He died in pain and squalor, a victim of his own private horrors and self-destructive choices.

The Masque of the Red Death: No Escape from Death

One of Edgar Allan Poe's most celebrated stories, The Masque of the Red Death, tells of a plague that has swept the world and killed everything in its path — striking without qualm or pity, making no distinction between race, age, gender, or social status. The Red Death is a terrible affliction. It kills from within; once infected, a person bleeds to death while experiencing extreme pain and agony until the last dying breath.

Some characters opt to escape the reality of death, and the main character, Prince Prospero, raises the bar in escapism. Prospero retreats into his familiar wealth and luxury, bringing with him a select number of friends. Locked away from the dying world and surrounded by opulence, they spend their days and nights in endless banquets and gatherings. After six months, Prospero decides to hold a lavish masquerade ball, set across seven luxuriant halls. Each hall features a tall Gothic window of a different color facing a narrow corridor that connects each suite. The first chamber is of a pale blue hue, the second deep purple, the third green throughout, the fourth orange, the fifth white, and the sixth violet. In each of these rooms, all the furnishings, draperies, and carpets match the color of the chamber's window, creating a vivid visual spectacle for all who enter.

The seventh chamber, however, deviates from the design. The room is dressed in the blackest black, but the Gothic window is a deep crimson red — a bloody scarlet. Each chamber is lit from outside by a heavy tripod bearing a flaming brazier stationed in the corridor. This creates a brilliant effect, and the guests wander from suite to suite, basking in the changing glows of each room. All the rooms, that is, except the last. Guests suffer a loss of appetite upon entering the seventh suite and find themselves appearing as if bathed in blood by the light coursing through the crimson window.

The festivities remain intact despite the dread of the seventh suite, for Prince Prospero spares no resource in creating the event. The music, wine, food, and all the wanton pleasures are served in abundance. The revelry, however, is marred by the hourly chiming of a great ebony clock set against the western wall of the seventh room. The sound signaling the end of each hour is described as "clear and loud and deep and musical, but also so peculiar" that it causes everyone — from the musicians to the dancers and attendants — to pause and catch their breath, for the chime carries a passing dread, as if momentarily reminding those who had gathered to forget their pending death and fragile mortality.

Upon the witching hour — the final stroke of midnight — which once again causes everyone to pause from their revelries, Prince Prospero notices a solitary figure garbed in the manner of those struck by the Red Death. Outraged, Prospero confronts the figure, who proceeds to move from suite to suite, from one chamber to the next, until he reaches the last room. There, dressed in death and washed in blood-red light, he finally reveals himself as the Red Death itself, proving once and for all that none can escape Death. None is exempted from its hand.