Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death Essay

Edgar Allan Poes short horror humbug entitled The Masque of the Red Death A conjuring trick was published in Grahams Magazine in 1838, and talks about a crime that the main character, Prince Prospero, attempts to evade (Laurent 2003). He holds a fancy dress ball, each in different color, inside seven rooms in his abbey. On the other hand, Irvin Laytons horror (or suspense) poem entitled Rhine Boat unhorse was written in 1977 and talks about murdered rabbis and the ghosts of children in the events in Nazi Germany, especially those that occurred during the Holocaust (Rhine Boat detonate, n.d. ). These two texts are both horrific, tho aside from being different in terms of the format and the length, both display contrasting perspectives in their artistic, textual frames. Poes short story and Laytons short poem display a suspense story in time, as a whole, they display different styles and time frames. While Poes style displays something that is soon blow overing and distinctiv ely get wordd, Layton displays peerless that had already happened in the past and is directly described. Main Body The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan PoeThis short story attempts to describe how a abuse called the Red Death enters Prince Prosperos dominion, a prince who is being described as happy and dauntless and sagacious (Poe par. 2). The plague that has sweep over the land is horrifying. As described, Blood was its Avatar and its seal the redness and the horrors of blood. on that point were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The vermilion stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. (Poe par. 1) From this paragraph, Poe specifies how horrifying the plague is. The victim loses most of the blood within the body, which is the cause of sudden dizziness and dissolution. Poes use of blood is enough to make the story appalling to the reader. use pictures that signify awfulness and terror, Poe makes the story superstar that makes the reader horror-struck.However, the plague is utter to claim stricken provided his dominions and not Prince Prospero and his hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court (Poe par. 2). Poe makes it appear that the plague only strikes those that are not hale and light-hearted or only those that are wicked, depraved, or poor. When his dominions were cut in half and the depraved dominions were already cast out, Prince Prospero is said to summon his friends, and using a masquerade ball inside seven rooms, each in different color, of his castellated abbey, he entertains his friends amid the plague.Poe describes the abbey This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the establishment of the princes own eccentric yet august t aste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. (Poe par. 2) The exact description of the castellated abbeys indicates that Prince Prospero and the one super C light-hearted friends are being protected from the killing plague that has stricken over the land.Then Poe begins to describe extensively the seven colored rooms It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of dye glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened.(Poe par. 4) Poe mentions that, having to describe the decorations of the castellated abbey, Prince Prospero is actually ecce ntric, august, voluptuous, and bizarre. Poe likewise mentions that the tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a bewitching eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery (par. 6). A mystifying figure suddenly appears, one that is described as a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before (par. 9).When Prince confronts the mystifying image, he suddenly go dead, as specified in these occupancys There was a sharp cry and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell pro relegate in death the Prince Prospero (par. 12). The Red Death has entered the ball, and as the prince falls dead in the carpet, the great deal surges to the figure to remove the mask, only to find it empty. Each one falls to the ground, as the plague enters each of the one thousand guests in the ball. The Red Death surges upon all of the dominion.The Masque of the Red Death is one horror story in which Poe exemplifies great and immense description in every detail and part of the story. Poe uses symbols, much(prenominal) as colors and lines, in order to describe each detail magnificently and make the reader come upon distinctively. Rhine Boat Trip by Irvin Layton This 16-lined poem attempts to describe how the castles of the Rhine are haunted by ghosts of Jewish mothers and children in the lines The castles on the Rhine / are all haunted / by ghosts of Jewish mothers / looking for their ghostly children (Rhine Boat Trip, L1-4).In contrast to Poes distinctive description, Laytons style is simple and easy to read and understand. It does not describe each detail individually but rather, puts the picture and leaves the reader free to describe each picture. It allows the reader to put in detail what the castle looked ilk at Rhine. Having to put the exact name of the castle in the line is enough to picture the detail distinctively. Unlike Poes style, which provid es the exact picture by describing immensely the detail in the story, Laytons style is one that uses words in order to describe immensely what the picture or detail appears to be.However, alternatively of describing the castle as something that is enormous, fantastic, or incredible as Poe has done, Layton pictures the castle in a horrifying manner And the clusters of grapes / in the sloping vineyards / are myriads of blinded look / staring at the blind sun (Rhine Boat Trip, L5-8). Layton instantly pictures the castle as horrifying, which is different from Poes style, wherein the latter pictures the castle as magnificently ornament before interpreting it as horrifying in the latter portion of the story. Each word that Layton uses carries a specific meaning.This is different from the manner in which Poe writes, wherein he describes in detail only to prove that the place is magnificent and is owned by a splendid duke living in the castle. In lines 5-8 of Laytons poem, for example, th e clusters of grapes of line 5 does not just depict the Jewish families but may depict families or communities that include everyone, including the reader. However, because Layton uses sloping when he describes the vineyards, it may conclude to something that is negative, since it goes downhill, which is symbolic.Something negative, such as negative customs or culture that are found in the family or community, might have been included in the clusters of people. The use of grapes also depicts meaning, since grapes are used by the Jewish during the Passover and Holocaust. Having depicted too, that the clusters of grapes are actually myriads of blinded eyes (Rhine L7), it appears that the Jewish families (or German families) are blinded to what is about to happen to them and the surrounding community.They are staring at the blind sun because there is no hope for them in the end, since graven image is about to punish them, it is like God is nowhere in sight. In lines 9-10, wherein it s ays that the tireless Lorelei / can never comb from their hair (Layton L9-10), it appears that Lorelei is praying and doing sacrifices to God and because she can never comb from their hair (Rhine L10), it symbolizes that important people in the community, such as Lorelei, pray and do sacrifices to God, so that the latter may show mercy to them and then remember His covenant with them.Lastly, lines 11-16 depict the rabbis that have been murdered and are howl The crimson beards / of murdered rabbis / however sweetly they sing / one hears only / the low wail of the cattle cars / moving invisibly across the land (Rhine L11-16). Crimson is used to signify blood or death. The word one is being used to mean both the person that hears only the wailing rabbis, as well as, the One God that appears to have turned His back on the Jewish people despite their prayers and offerings.Cattle cars are wailing in line 15, meaning that these cattle cars that are moving invisibly across the land (Rhine L16) are not with cattle but with people, which signifies a state that is inhumane and atrocious. The cattle cars are invisible because, first, no one had paid attention to them during their crisis and, second, what the author has been describing is something that had already happened in the past. This poem also depicts strong aflame response because of distinctive images that were used by the writer. Like Poes story, this poem uses images, such as castles, grapes, vineyards, sun, rabbis, and cattle cars.However, unlike Poes story, Laytons style is one that is simple yet direct one that is more symbolic than that of Poes. Conclusion Poes short story entitled The Masque of the Red Death, as well as, Laytons short poem entitled Rhine Boat Trip are both horrific, symbolic, and descriptive. However, Poes story is distinctively descriptive in detail, with an enormous, fantastic castle. Laytons poem on the other hand, is simpler and direct, easier to read and understand, more distinctiv e in word, more symbolic in style, with a horrifying castle. Layton and Poe are alike yet diverse.Works Cited Laurent, Sabrina. Metaphor and Symbolism in The Masque of the Red Death. July 2003. United Nuke. 14 March 2009 . Poe, Edgar Allan. The Masque of the Red Death. 2009. Jalic Incorporated. 14 March 2009 . Rhine Boat Trip (1977). N. d. Gonzaga University. 14 March 2009 . Other Sources Roberts, Edgar. Writing About Literature Brief (11the ed. ). White Plains, NY Pearson Longman, 2005.