It is a very difficult challenge to convey the hopeless bleak world in which we live in a mere few pages, but in the short ghost story "Masque of the Red Death," Poe expertly portrays an entire symbolic replica of human life. For every detail no matter how insignificant, important pieces of symbolism are expressed. .
Two of the most essential pieces of the story are the abbey and its inhabitants. In the literal form, the abbey plays the role of a hiding place, where the prince and his courtiers enjoy life and ignore the suffering of their own countrymen. They seem to represent the self-centered, self-righteous, section of our society. Their mockery of the dead and dying, or masque, is used to enlighten us to our own inborn greed and selfishness, not to say all people exhibit the traits at the level of the courtiers. Their leader, Prince Prospero seems to represent the kind of person that corrupts people and leads them along evil paths. .
The rooms in the abbeys represent stages of human life; the colors are the main symbolic factors. Beginning the story in the farthest room and ending it in the room opposite also help symbolize the transition from birth to death. The colors are the most important aspects to consider in the rooms of the abbey. Beginning with blue, representing birth, the trail continues on with stages of life, growth, the sowing and reaping of ones work, old age setting in, and finally, death. The last room is horrifying to say the least, the light gives the room a blood red look, grotesque shadows dance across the walls, this view brings out feelings similar to those humans feel towards death. Prince Prospero attempts to fight and save himself from death as other members of the party. Of course the end is inevitable no matter what mortal attempts are made. There is another object in the story that plays along with the room's symbolic passing of life. .
The clock plays a vital role in symbolic pieces of literature.
There is something wrong with his appearance something downright detestable" (Stevenson 5). ... Enfield accounts, "Well, sir, the two ran into one another naturally enough at the corner; and then came the horrible part of the thing; for the man trampled calmly over the child's body". ... Enfield describes, "Something downright detestable. ...
How else can we truly see how man exists naturally? ... Marlow originally says "you know I hate, detest, and can"t bear a lie, not because I"m straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appals me. ... I"m not sure if Conrad meant to say anything in particular about human nature, or just to show the possibilities of becoming the thing you most detest without realizing it. ...
Although a simpler lower class life is not "so cramped up and smothery", (113) the ignorance possessed by many lower class figures such as Pap is detested. ... (26) speeches, where Pap denounces black people as naturally inferior and ridicules the government for not feverishly enforcing his racist ideas. ...
In fact, to prove to the French that the Tupinamba are not as barbaric as they may believe, Lery posits that good Christians are capable of "chewing and devouring human flesh" as well: For since there are some here in our midst even worse and more detestable than those who, as we have seen, attack only enemy nations, while the ones over here [in Europe] have phanged into the blood of their kinsman, neighbors, and compatriots, one need not go beyond one's own country, nor as far as America, to see such monstrous and prodigious things (Lery, p. 133). ... Though her family was murdered ...
Hsun-Tzu believed that man had to calculate things that are desirable and must decide whether they involve anything that is detestable, so that in this way he can avoid damages and consequences that may result from it. ... While Hsun-Tzu believed that man was naturally evil, I believe that people are actually born with both the seed of good and evil. ...
In a pure ironic fashion, he waits until the middle of chapter 2 to let you know that this detestable animal most resembles a human being. ... He is showing that when man doesn't exercise reason, he will naturally take an object with little usefulness, place great value on it, causing him to lust after it; many times culminating with the use of violence, like going to war. ...
Soon after, the creature discovers Victor's journal, and after learning that his creator detests him, he becomes an isolated, miserable and "wretched outcast," worse off than Satan, because even "Satan had his companions" (Frankenstein 90-91). ... The monster's actions clearly demonstrate that Shelley agrees with Rousseau that men are naturally good, but the moment they begin to become civilized they lose their natural goodness and become morally corrupted. ...
