Edgar Poe "Masque of the Red Death" and other stories

The Masque of the Red Death

1. Full tittle

The original tittle was “The Mask of the Red Death”, but in 1845 it changed to “The Masque of the Red Death”.

2. Type of work

This story is written as a short narrative.

3. Genre

It belongs to the genre of mystery and horror.

4. Time and place written

It was written in 1842 in Philadelphia, where Poe lived during a short period of time.

5. Publisher (both the original and abridged stories)

The story was first published in 1842 in Graham’s Magazine¸ where he worked as editor. However, a few years later, in 1845, a revised version was published in the Broadway Journal. The abridged version was published in 1997 by Burlington books.

6. Narrator (who tells the story)

This story is narrated by an omniscient narrator, who tells the story but doesn’t belong to it.

7. Point of view (first-second, third point of view)

It was written in a third point of view.

8. Tone (How the story is told, i.e. formal, informal, serious, ironic)

Its tone is serious when it’s talking about the Red Death and the suffering that it causes, but also uses an ironical tone when describing the happy ignorance and carelessness of Prince Prospero and his friends.

9. Tense (Use of present, past or/and future tenses)

The tense used in the narrative is the past tense, as the narrator tells it like it happened a long time ago.

10. Protagonist or protagonists

As the tittle indicates, the main protagonist is the Red Death. The other could be Prince Prospero, because he is the reason why there is a party in his castle.

11. Themes

The main themes are the lack of concern of the rich people towards the suffering of the poor, and death itself.

12. Symbols

One symbol is the different colors of the rooms representing different types of personalities. Prince Prospero’s castle, at first it’s a building to protect the guests from the Red Death, but in the end it’s like a prison where no one can escape death. The moral of this story could be “you get what you deserve”, explaining the fatal end of Prospero and his friends, punished for being indifferent to others’ suffering.

The Pit and the Pendulum

1. Full tittle

The tittle is “The Pit and the Pendulum”.

2. Type of work

Like the masque of the red death, this is a short story.

3. Genre

The genres are horror and mystery.

4. Time and place written

It was written in 1842 in Philadelphia.

5. Publisher (both the original and abridged

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