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What Is The Ebony Clock Symbolize In The Masque Of The Red Death
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Unnerving, spooky, disturbing, frightful… All common characteristics of a hauntingly terrific tale by the famous Edgar Allan Poe. His story “The Masque of the Red Death” brought a grotesque taste to the horror genre throughout the 19th century with the use of literary devices. To summarize, Poe’s story discussed, in detail, the horrifying inevitability of death, which reveal the value of a device known as symbolism used by Poe in this literary work. As people are familiar with, Poe’s psychological weaknesses spurred his creativity to which he poured his problems into Gothic Literature, and he produced these unforeseen symbols as pawns of his life. In this popular short story, subtle objects are manipulated to reflect Edgar Allan Poe’s misfortunes. Symbolism is used throughout his short years of living as a narrative device for his eerie publications. Within this composition, I will be justifying how Poe’s influence on the use of symbolism constructed a disturbed and almost misleading …show more content…
“There strikes the ebony clock… for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony…” (4) wrote Poe. Undoubtedly, enjoyment is stolen from the guests at the mere sound of a clock, or otherwise the sound of their slowing heartbeat. This ebony clock is the metronome to the extent of their lives. Furthermore, “But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened… (5) was written at the demise of the characters. This clock’s eerie chiming on the hour prepared a frequent reminder that time is flying that their lives are growing dimmer with the time, and finally, death has
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When first introduced, the clock already induces a sense of fear and discomfort. Every hour, the “dancers and musicians alternate between maintaining their pose of light laughter and gaiety and, when the doleful, deep-voiced clock chimes, becoming pale, uneasy, and thoughtful” (Wheat). The clock strikes fear into the hearts of the party-goers and serves as a brief but haunting “reminder of death, the enemy, and time, his companion” (Wheat). This omen of death comes with a reminder of the limited time before the plague kills everyone. As the clock strikes midnight, the guests “become aware of the presence of the stranger who has haunted the abbey from the beginning … [and] the unfeeling gaiety must give way to feelings ‘of terror, of horror, and of disgust’ ” (Wheat). By chiming at the exact moment the Red Death enters, the clock hints at approaching destruction, thus symbolizing the imminent death of every person at the masquerade. After chasing the Red Death through the suite, Prospero then dies in the seventh room, almost exactly next to the ebony clock. Therefore,
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Symbolism plays an important part in this story. The ebony clock is particularly significant “there stood against the Western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony.” Poe placed the clock against the western wall for a symbolic purpose. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. The clock is nearer to the setting sun. The placement of the clock indicates an association with an ending. A sunset indicates the ending of a day, while the ebony color of the clock suggests its relationship with darkness and death. The characters react to the sounding of the clock’s chimes in a nervous fashion. “…While the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale.” Poe uses this clock to remind the characters that they have lived through another hour to build up the time of revelation. At each strike of the clock the characters stop everything as if they are waiting for the "Red Death" to come for them at any minute. At twelve, the stranger dressed as the "Red Death" appears. This time everyone begins to fear death. The darkness of the rooms causes shadows to form by the fires' light to increase suspense.
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As a gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe created horror using gloom as his weapon. Hidden within the suspenseful story of “The Masque of Red Death” is an allegorical tale of how individuals deal with the fear of death as time passes. Frantic activities and pleasures (as represented by Prince Prospero and his guests) seek to wall out the threat of death. However, the story reminds the reader that death comes “like a thief in the night”(Poe 3), and even those who seek peace and safety shall not escape. Poe uses symbolism to illustrate that man cannot hide from his own mortality.
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In the story “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe expresses the theme that death is inescapable or inevitable. He expresses this theme through rhetorical devices such as symbolism and allegory. For example, Prince Prospero’s chambers were allegorical because of the rooms’ arrangement which was from east to west. The east represents the beginning of life, while the west represents the end of life. The Darkroom, which was at the end of the hall, symbolized death. It was the room that the guests didn’t want to go in and eventually was the place that they were killed by the Black Death. Another example of symbolism is the clock which as a symbol of the time-lapse of life as a human being. It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall a gigantic clock of ebony...and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily (Poe 374). This sentence expresses how compelling the clock is and how it attracts the attention of the masqueraders. The author also uses imagery to build suspense upon the reader. An example would be how the author describes 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 378). This describes the dreadful
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