Writing Feedback / "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe Research Paper [3]

Hello everyone,

I have a research paper on "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. I am researching how Poe develops the theme that no one escapes death through the use of symbolism in the story. I was wondering if everyone could read it and possible edit it and do whatever. You don't have to read the book to be able to help, the way the essay flows is very important I am positive most of you here are better than me at this.

Thank you very much.

I have included the introduction, my first and second paragraph, and the intro. to my 3rd paragraph. I have not yet included the conclusion.

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Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts and is the author of "The Masque of the Red Death" (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). He had an agonizing life while growing up as his mother died due to tuberculosis when he was only two (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). After the death of his mother, Poe's father fled, leaving him as an orphan (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). In 1811, he was adopted by John Allan and Francis Allan and this is how he acquired his middle name (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). While growing up, he spent his life in and out of the army, engaging in an ongoing struggle over money with his foster father, and developing the notorious habits of alcoholism and debt (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). In 1829, his foster mother, Francis Allan, died of tuberculosis (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). He was engulfed with the same misery that he experienced as a young child when his mother died. By the age of twenty-six, he married his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia Clemm (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). Virginia, however, also died of tuberculosis in 1847 (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). This was the "third significant woman in his life to have died of the same disease" (Edgar Allan Poe Biography). All of these depressing events in Poe's life are the reason for his horrific writings, but more importantly are the motives for writing "The Masque of the Red Death". In "The Masque of the Red Death", Poe uses symbolism to develop the theme that no one escapes death.

In the beginning, Poe uses the seven coloured chambers of his fortress as well as Prince Prospero himself to develop the theme of the story. The seven chambers that Prospero creates in his fortress "[progress] from east to west - from blue to black - [symbolizing] the seven stages of man" (Roppolo 137). The specific order of the seven chambers is very interesting because the first blue coloured room begins in the east. The blue coloured chamber symbolizes the rising sun from the east as well as the beginning of a person's life. On the western end of the fortress, however, is a black coloured chamber. The colour black symbolizes death and is usually used in connection with death (Colour Psychology). The sun also sets in the west which symbolizes the end of a person's life. Furthermore, when Prince Prospero "first sees the masked figure in the blue, or most eastern chamber" (Roppolo 141), he charges at the masked figure in an attempt to seize him. However, the fact that Prince Prospero follows the masked figure from the eastern chamber to the western chamber symbolizes Prospero's life passing by and it is not until Prospero reaches the "ominous seventh chamber" (Wheat 52) that "the plague [kills him]" (Magill Book Reviews). This is ironic, though, considering it is Prospero himself who tries to cheat death by inviting all of his friends into his fortress in order to defeat the pestilence in the beginning. This situation clearly signifies that death follows everyone from the second that they are born and that Death is truly inescapable.

In addition to the seven coloured chambers, Poe's uses the ebony grandfather clock to develop the theme. In the seventh room, there is "gigantic clock of ebony" (Poe 4) which essentially connects "life and death together in this story" (Howard, par. 8). Its chimes "strike out the passage of life and can be heard in every other room of the entire fortress or allegorically every other stage of life" (Roppolo 84). As the party guests enjoy their festivities, they are forced to pause every time the clock chimes and are reminded "hour after hour that life, like the course of the 'Red Death' is short" (Roppolo 141). Still, it is only at midnight that "The clock, the most powerful reminder of death in the Prince's world, is at its most powerful moment ... since it has twelve long suggestive strokes to sound" (Wheat 54). In addition, the clock stops ticking once every guest dies. It is as if the clock represents a countdown to death. It is also at midnight that the Red Death enters Prospero's fortress and holds "illimitable dominion over all" (Poe 11). The fact that the Red Death enters only once the clock strikes midnight symbolises the end of life, just like the seven chambers which progressed from the east to the west. All in all, each tick of the clock that passes reminds people that no one can escape death.

Finally, Poe uses both Prospero's abbey and the personification of death as symbols to develop the theme that no one escapes death. Prince Prospero's abbey, which is where the masked ball is held, is represented as a giant barrier which is ultimately used as protection from the Red Death. However, it also represents the social barrier between those who are wealthy and those who are underprivileged. Only those that are "hale and light-hearted" (Poe 1) and are "from among the knights and dames of his court" (Poe 1) are privileged enough to attend enter Prospero's "castellated abbey" (Poe 1). Poe, on the other hand, shows that by the end of the story that no matter how prepared Prince Prospero is, no one, not even those that hold great wealth and power, can escape death.

After careful examination of these sources of evidence, it is clear that Poe's intention is to bring the reader to an understanding of the allegory in "The Masque of the Red Death". Many significant women in Poe's life died to tuberculosis, which can be represented as the 'Red Death". Perhaps Poe is representing himself as Prince Prospero and hiding from the "Red Death" so that he, as well as those who are close to him, do not encounter the same fate as those who have already died. All in all, Poe is showing the reader that no matter what position a person is in life, death is always going to be present and there is absolutely no escape from it.

Book Reports / "never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her" - Of Mice and Men Character Sketch Essay [6]

I was assigned to do a character sketch essay on one of the characters in the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I don't think you need to be knowledgeable of the book to help. If you can make my sentence better, that is absolutely great. Also, the reason the word "Curley's wife" is mentioned a lot is because she is not given a name in the novel and is only referenced as "Curley's wife". I am not sure how to indent in this forum, but each paragraph is indented in my word document.

When George, the protagonist of the story, first sets eyes on Curley's wife, his initial impression of her is that he has "never seen no piece of jail-bait worse than her" (Steinbeck 32). In the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Curley's wife is a beautiful woman who constantly shows off her beauty to the men on the ranch. She dresses inappropriately for a woman married to the boss's son. She also has full, rouged lips and wide spaced eyes. Her fingernails are red and her hair hangs in little rolled clusters, like sausages. Curley's wife always wanders around the ranch in search for someone to chat with. However, the ranch workers stay wary of her as they believe she will only give them trouble. Curley's wife is isolated, self absorbed, and a dreamer.

Ever since Curley's wife got married, she has felt isolated and depressed. She makes use of her beauty to get the ranch workers to talk to her. However, the other men dislike her because she is seen as trouble. If Curley were to find out that the ranch workers were speaking to his wife, he would fight them and then get them fired. She expresses her loneliness to Lennie when she says, "You can talk to people, but I can't talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How'd you like not to talk to anybody?" (Steinbeck 87). Curley's wife is frustrated because her husband denies her the freedom to go out and chat with the others on the ranch. This is because Curley treats her as more of a possession rather than a human being. Besides her husband's jealously, Curley's wife's social status also restricts her freedom. In the 1930's, during the Great Depression, the social status of women was quite low. Men did not take women seriously and the major role of women was to cook, clean, and raise the children. Curley's wife is a perfect example of how women were viewed in the early 20th century. To conclude, with women having such low social status during the Great Depression, Curley's jealously, and Curley's wife being portrayed as trouble, it becomes quite difficult for her to overcome her loneliness.

Steinbeck's initial portrayal of Curley's wife shows her to be a self absorbed woman who understands that her beauty is her power. George, Lennie, and Candy are one of the first to fall due to Curley's wife's actions. Candy says, "You an' me can get that little place, can't we, George? You an' me can go there an' live nice, can't we, George? Can't we?" (Steinbeck 94). Curley's wife is so egocentric that she did not heed Lennie's warnings to stay away. This eventually led to her death as well as the death of Lennie and the dream he shared with George and Candy. When she is in Crooks room, she reminds Crooks of his place in society and threatens to have him "strung upon a tree" (Steinbeck 81) if he doesn't show her the proper respect as the wife of the boss's son. In the end, Curley's wife self-centred characteristic brought destruction upon the ranch workers lives as well as her own.

On top of being isolated and selfish, Curley's wife is also a dreamer. In the barn, she tells Lennie that when she was a young girl, a man told her that "he was gonna put me in the movies. Says I was a natural. Soon's he got back to Hollywood he was gonna write to me about it" (Steinbeck 88). Unfortunately, she never receives a letter back from this stranger. When she tells Lennie about this opportunity, it shows a different side to her. She has a dream just like any other worker on the ranch. Her dream to become a movie star parallels George and Lennie's dream to own their own farm. This shows that these people want to get away from the migrant lifestyle and have a place in society. Unfortunately, by the end of the novel, neither character found fulfillment in his/her dream. To sum up, the denial of Curley's wife's dream tells people that there is no place for dreams in a world so cruel and difficult.

Curley's wife's self-absorbed personality foreshadows the fall of mans perfect dream. When she dies, all "the meanness and the plannings and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face" (Steinbeck 92). Steinbeck shows his audience that even though Curley's wife is seen a nuisance in the beginning, she is still similar to the others because she, too, has a dream.