Edgar Allen Poe: The Theme of Death - Essay Example

Edgar Allen Poe: The Theme of Death. “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” are two short stories which unarguably demonstrate Edgar Allen Poe’s mastery over the genre of terror, and justify his reputation as one of the foremost writers of horror stories. The first is an allegory, and is almost like a fairytale in its shades of fantasy and imagery. It is totally cut off from the real world. It is entirely descriptive, and the action is stylized. Except for the protagonist, Prince Prospero, the other revelers are more in the nature of caricatures, with no separate identities. In contrast, the second story is a more prosaic tale of revenge and murder, with no overt allusions to the supernatural. The two protagonists, Montresor and Fortunato, are very human in character, and are portrayed in detail. There is ample dialogue and clear action. However, both the narratives share a common thread: the theme of death. “The Masque of the Red Death” ends with the death of Prince Prospero and his entire band of revelers, while the murder of Fortunato marks the climax of “The Cask of Amontillado.” Poe explores and heightens the theme of death in the two stories through the skilful use of atmosphere, emphasizing deaths’ various guises, and stressing its inevitability. The atmosphere created by the author is one of the main factors which heighten the horror of the narratives. “The Masque of the Red Death” takes place in a dream-like ambience. The author steadily builds up an effect of dread right from the start of the tale, by beginning with the gory description of the plague - the “Red Death,” which devastates the country. Poe continues to use dark language, with words like “horror” (1), “despair” (2), “ghastly,” “dark,” “wild” (4), “bizarre,” “terrible,” (7), and “terror” (8), liberally sprinkled over the narrative. The scene of the story is a secluded abbey. The masque is held at night. The darkness is further emphasized by the fact that there is “no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers” (Poe, 4). There is a preponderance of the colour black. The seventh apartment, which is the scene of the story’s climax, is shrouded in black tapestries and carpets. Its “black hangings,” and “blood-tinted panes” (Poe, 4) are evocative of a horror that is waiting to happen. The somber mood is again emphasized by the “gigantic clock of ebony” (Poe, 5). The clock’s obvious monitoring of the passage of time, quickens the dread of the reader and heightens the suspense, as it approaches “the sounding of midnight” (Poe, 7). “The Cask of Amontillado” is no less sinister in its atmosphere. Here also, Poe begins on a note of impending doom, as Montresor declares in the very first paragraph, “I vowed revenge.” It is evident that ill fate awaits Fortunato. Unlike in “The Masque of the Red Death,” the language here is very casual. However, this very lightness of tone employed by Montresor, who is evidently bent on murder, gives an underlying note of deep morbidity to the narrative. In this story too, the action takes place in seclusion. The servants are missing, and Montresor and Fortunato are the only inhabitants of the scene. The setting is the underground vault of Montresor’s deserted palazzo: “the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors” (Poe, 25). There can be no more sinister scene of action than a crypt! Poe’s description encompasses “walls of piled bones” (51), the niter dripping from moist walls and a suffocating atmosphere. As the two men make their way to the scene of the murder, the description of their passage fans the rising dread: “We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt” (Poe, 67). As in “The Masque of the Red Death,” the time is dusk, and darkness pervades. The only source of illumination is the flambeaux carried by the two men, which can hardly penetrate the gloom of deep recesses and confining walls. After establishing the dreadful atmosphere in the two narratives, Poe goes on to expound on the various guises death can assume. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the direct instrument of death is a virulent pestilence. The contagion results in “sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores.” (Poe, 1) leading to an agonizing death. Prince Prospero flees from this instrument of death to his secluded abbey. In the midst of the masked ball, death makes its appearance in the guise of a reveler. The masked figure indicates that death can assume any guise. It is ironic that the figure is clothed in the very accoutrements of death which the company is determined to avoid: “The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave” (Poe, 8). The figure obviously represents the contagion: “the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death” (Poe, 8). However, when the revelers summon the courage to grapple with the masked figure, they find “the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness untenanted by any tangible form” (Poe, 12). The author thus conclusively demonstrates that death has no particular guise and can arrive in any form. This is substantiated by Prince Prospero’s death, not from the symptoms of the plague, but a sudden collapse. This only increases the readers’ horror and suspense. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” the instrument of death is more clearly delineated: Montresor is unquestionably the murderer. However, here too, Poe emphasizes the unexpected guise of death. Death comes to Fortunato in the guise of friendship. Just as the masked figure in the first narrative, Montresor hides his true face by “putting on a mask of black silk” (Poe, 23). This is symbolic of Montresor concealing his sinister motives under the facade of camaraderie. Montresor continues “to smile in his face,” (Poe, 2) and lets his victim lean on his arms. He wrings Fortunato’s hand in happiness on meeting him, and continues to address the doomed man as “my friend” (Poe, 19). In accordance with this despicable hypocrisy, Montresor offers his toast, telling Fortunato that he drinks “to your long life” (Poe, 42). So unexpected is the guise in which death approaches Fortunato, that he “stood stupidly bewildered” (Poe, 71) when he is chained within the dark recess. The reader is never clearly given Montresor’s motive for the murder: “the thousand injuries of Fortunato” (Poe, 1) being only a very general, subjective claim. Poe makes it clear that the instrument of death cannot be predicted, and makes the specter of death even more horrible in the inability of the victim to gain prior knowledge of its guise. The absolute inevitability of death is etched by Poe in the two narratives. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” it can be said that death is everywhere. The tentacles of the plague reach every corner of Prince Prospero’s realm. The Prince retires to a secluded abbey, and barricades himself and his entourage behind a “strong and lofty wall, (and) gates of iron” (Poe, 2). He is determined that there is “means neither of ingress or egress” (Poe, 2) to his refuge. In spite of all these precautions, death enters the castle, making a mockery of the fortifications. Prospero is a Prince of the realm. His courage and wisdom are not to be doubted: he is “happy, and dauntless and sagacious” (Poe, 2). After his initial hesitation, the Prince boldly confronts the masked figure with his drawn dagger. However, neither Prospero’s wealth nor personality can deflect the blow of death. The author evokes a sense of inevitability in the reader. It is significant that the Prince actually “rushed hurriedly through the six chambers,” and approaches death “in rapid impetuosity” (Poe, 12). Death cannot be avoided by anyone. Likewise, the inexorable march of death does not halt. Death makes its progress successively through the rooms of the masque. The masked figure moves uninterruptedly with “deliberate and stately step” (Poe, 12) towards the scene of Prospero’s demise in the ultimate seventh chamber. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” death is equally unavoidable by Fortunato. Here again, Fortunato is “a man to be respected and even feared” (Poe, 3).  Montresor admits that his intended victim is “rich, respected, admired, beloved” (Poe, 35). None of this can deflect Montresor’s fatal act. As in the case of Prince Prospero, Fortunato hurries to his own doom. He is easily persuaded by the offer of ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ and flattery, to follow Montresor, and even urges his to-be murderer forward. He enthusiastically declares, “Come let us go --- To your vaults” (Poe, 16). Again, Poe conveys to the reader the inexorable march of death, as Fortunato follows Montresor “through several suites of rooms ----down a long and winding staircase” (Poe, 25) to the scene of the murder. “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” are narratives that focus on death. Although the two short stories differ in many aspects, the underlying theme of death links them effectively. Through his writing, Edgar Allen Poe succeeds in making the reader accept his unequivocal assertion that “Death held illimitable dominion over all” (13). The author creates an ambience of horror which heightens the readers’ sense of suspense and horror. The heavy, dark words and the sinister settings, give a macabre tone to the narratives. Right from the beginning of the tales, there is a palpable feeling of being hurried towards some waiting catastrophe. Poe demonstrates that the instrument of death cannot be predicted. Death can arrive as a plague, as a phantasm, as a friend. There need not be any justification for death. Death is inevitable. It is a natural part of life for every individual to instinctively move towards death. Similarly, death makes its inexorable march towards the victim. “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” are masterpieces of horror. Works Cited. Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” Literature.org. The Online Literature Library. Accessed on 21 April, 2012 from http://www.literature.org/authors/poe-edgar-allan/amontillado.html Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Masque of the Red Death.” Name of Book. Name of Editor. Name of Publisher. Date of publication. Place of publication. Page numbers of the story. Read More