Romance in "The Masque of the Red Death".
After the age of reasoning, forms of literature in America adapted the European style of romance and altered it to their liking. With romanticism came great writers, which today, are still widely known. As romanticism rotated itself, Gothic Romance became popular as well. Edgar Allan Poe, often called the "father of short stories" incorporated both forms into his style of writing. His short story, "The Masque of the Red Death" was specifically written to both horrify and disgust the reader while using the elements of Romance and Gothic Romance. By creating an expansive setting in a castle, its features incorporate forms of romance. Along with setting, Poe's strange characters tell a romantic tale by their bizarre and weird qualities. Symbolism, an example of Romance, is used to elaborate in the story, "The Masque of the Red Death". Poe's short stories, meant to horrify and disgust people, are done so by the Elements of Romance. In the case of "The Masque of the Red Death", he combines the elements of romance into his story with setting, characters, and symbolism.
The Setting of the story itself is one of the forms of Romanticism. A castle is where most of the story takes place. The element of romance, a frontier or vast expanse, is an example from the castle in "The masque of the Red Death". The castle is located by itself. It is huge and seems endless to the reader as Poe travels from room to room describing each of its bizarre contents. "This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste". The example of Gothic Romance, the macabre place, is that during a time where the "Red Death" was haunting the castle, Prince Prospero decided to throw a party. The idea of throwing a party during a time where it is depressing and fearful is very macabre and unusual. These are just two of the examples of Romance that Poe uses to create his story.
