Poe's Gothic Horror Fiction Novels - Research Paper Example

Poe's Gothic Horror Fiction Novels The works of Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), a 19th century poet, short story writer, novelist and critic, have influenced literature in America and Europe enormously. His short stories specially, are today considered to be the norm and short story writers who have come after him have followed this norm. In The Masque of the Red Death, which Poe wrote in 1842, he tells a macabre tale of Prince Prospero who shuts himself and a thousand of his friends in the abbey of a castle to protect himself and his friends from a deadly disease known as The Red Death, The disease was known as Red Death as one found blood stains on the body of the victims, especially on the face. According to Poe “The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or hideous." Prospero then uses “all appliances of pleasure” (Poe, 1842) so as to divert the minds of the guests from the suffering and death outside. He organizes a huge costume ball. However the Red Death comes into the castle disguised in a costume and claims the lives of all those who were present in the ball. The story is like a myth or a fairy tale and explores themes like man’s fear of death, madness, sin and the end of the world. Poe excelled in Gothic horror fiction and this story is a very good example of this genre. According to Dictionary.com, “Gothic” represents “noting or pertaining to a style of literature characterized by a gloomy setting, grotesque, mysterious, or violent events, and an atmosphere of degeneration and decay”. The Masque of the Red Death has the dark, gloomy and supernatural atmosphere required for a gothic story and it also has a mysterious sequence of events taking place. The Gothic style of literature was quite prominent in England in the first half of the nineteenth century. That Poe was exposed to Gothic literature during his school days in London is very evident. The main theme of the story is that no one escapes death. Even though we like, Prince Prospero, seek happiness all the time and try to ward off death, in the end, we cannot escape death. The Biblical reference at the end of the story makes us aware that death comes "like a thief in the night," and that even those who seek "peace and safety...shall not escape." (I Thessalonians) That Poe was a master of the short story is exemplified by The Masque of the Red Death. According to Poe, in a short story every word, from beginning to end should be tightly focussed contributing to the overall effect. In The Red Death, Poe does just this weaving a tale of horror in a narrative voice with powerful imagery giving us an insight into the inevitability of death. According to Mitzi M. Brunsdale, The Masque of the Red Death “displays his mastery of the short story form, exhibits his ability to convey mood through concrete detail, and expresses his psychological deterioration during the final years of his life, observing the historical and personal tragedies he was experiencing at that time”. Poe while unfolding this gripping story of terror uses symbolism extensively. The first symbol he uses is the name of the Prince. Prospero symbolizes happiness. The ebony clock is another symbol Poe uses to unfold the story. Poe's story takes place in seven separate rooms. The number seven has special significance in history. Earlier the world was thought to consist of seven ages and an individual's life, seven stages. Again the ancient world had seven wonders and there were seven deadly sins. In this story the seven rooms symbolise the seven stages of one's life, from birth to death. The prince pursues the Red Death through the seven rooms only to die in the last room. Prince Prospero's masked ball symbolises the "dance of death" which in old paintings has been sketched as a skeleton leading a group of people to the grave. Poe has shown the prince leading his guests to the Red Death. The "gigantic clock of ebony” in the last room is a symbol of time. The clock with its chimes reminds us of the control that time has over us. The clock symbolises the clock of life ticking away, so to say. The chime of the clock every hour breaks the spell the guests are under reminding them that time is ticking away and that they will not live forever. The clock with its rhythmic ticking is like the beating of a heart and finally when they all fall victim to the Red Death the clock also stops ticking. Again the layout of the castle itself symbolizes man’s journey from to death. The first, room is in the east and is blue in color and the last room in the west and is blood red in color Just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west Poe places his events progressively in the rooms from east to west with all the people participating in the ball dying in the last room which is there in the westernmost part of the castle thereby pointing out that life moves from a beginning to an end. The seven rooms with the various colors progressing from lighter colors like blue and finally ending in the color red symbolize the journey of man from birth to death. Martha Womack (1997) has aptly written that " the seven rooms represent the seven stages of one's life, from birth to death, through which the prince pursues a figure masked as a victim of the Red Death, only to die himself in the final chamber of eternal night.” Edgar Allan Poe in The Masque of the Red Death, has created an atmosphere that emphasizes and is specific to the action of the short story. The mood the story creates is eerie and dark and the personification of the Red Death adds a touch of the supernatural The setting of the story to a great extent has helped in creating an atmosphere and developing the mood of the story Poe in the story has described the masque as “a gay and magnificent revel” in which “the prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure” (Poe, 1842). This at first creates a mood of joy. However, Poe also describes how the gigantic ebony clock in the abbey makes “the giddiest to grow pale” when it strikes each hour with a peculiar sound. The sound of the clock creates an unpleasant mood that is opposite to the joyous mood created earlier. Also his descriptions of the seven rooms in the abbey help in evoking the atmosphere. The rooms are all of different colors with the first room being blue and the last room black. These descriptions of the masque and of the clock create the desired atmosphere all along the story. Another key element of how the setting affects the atmosphere is how it evokes feelings in the reader. There are seven rooms within the abbey, all a different color ranging from blue in the first room to black in the last room. The last room is shown as having windows that are blood red in color. It is this last room that evokes in the reader thoughts of uneasiness and death. All the other rooms evoke feelings of joy and gaiety in the reader. This sharp difference and the description of the last room give the reader an indication that this room is important in the later part of the story. Poe’s Red Death has very few characters. Prospero is the main character and in fact he is the only one who has a name. The other characters, mainly Prospero’s followers are all masked figures, nameless and faceless. Poe refers to them as "a multitude of dreams” and to the masks as “corpselike mask...untenanted by any tangible form" (Poe, 1842). The "Red Death" is referred to as a "figure" or a "mummer" who is described as, " tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask...was made...to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse....But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood-and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror" (Poe, 1842). Poe’s story is not a simple horror story but an allegory. The Masque of the Red Death can be considered as an allegory since an allegory is one in which the literal elements of the story are symbolic of some greater meaning. To be more specific the story can be considered as a parable, which is a sub-category of allegory. However Poe did not like allegory and considered it to be an inferior literary form because he felt that the abstract ideas present in this form distracted the reader from the singleness of effect on which Poe laid great emphasis. In his review of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Twice Told Tales,” he says “In defence of allegory, (however, or for whatever object, employed,) there is scarcely one respectable word to be said” (Poe 1847)). Yet he himself used allegory, in "The Haunted Palace", in the "The Fall of the House of Usher," as well as in "The Masque of the Red Death." In conclusion it can be said that Red Death is a tale that exposes man's fear of death and his mortality. One is inclined to agree with Julian Symons (1978) when she describes the book as “a macabre, jocular account of a madhouse, and a picture of universal doom”. Poe in his story shows us that royalty or any amount of money cannot save anyone from death or destiny. There is no distinction of class when it comes to death and this is proved by the fact that the Red Death consumes Prospero and the poor people outside the castle with equal ease. Prospero believed he could save his "chosen people" from the plague only to realize that they were destined to die like everyone else. The story is very humbling in that it makes you realize that death is inevitable and that one is quite helpless when one faces death. References 1. Brunsdale Mitzi, Quote retrieved from para 3, http://www.mayvillestate.edu/outbreak/masque_of_the_red_death.pdf on 10/4/09 2. “I Thessalonians." The Holy Bible, King James Version. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1957 3. Poe Edgar Allan (1842), The Masque of the Red Death, Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, 4th compact ed. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2008. pg 233 4. Poe Edgar Allan (1847), Para 9"Tale-Writing — Nathaniel Hawthorne” Retrieved from http://www.eapoe.org/works/CRITICSM/GLB47HN1.HTM 5. Symons Julian (1978), The Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Work of Edgar Allan Poe (New York: Harper and Row, 1978: 233)). 6. Womack Martha (1997), Quote retrieved from Para 11 http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/masque/ on 10/4/09 Read More