Go into the story
Tina
Grade11 composition
Mr. deGroof
2014/1/3
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Morose aura covers Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Mask of The Red Death” and
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil.” The gloomy and ghastly
atmosphere is expressed in the story “The Mask of The Red Death,” which is
about the death. In comparison, “The Minister’s Black Veil” expresses a
sorrowful and woeful depression from the minister. Although both stories are
portrayed with a low-spirited mood, the author expresses this mood in different
manners. Both stories of “The Mask of The Red Death” and “The Minister’s
Black Veil” express the individual dark moods through the use of symbols,
settings and character traits; while one is eerie, the other is depressing, lonely
and depressed.
The authors use symbols to indirectly express the gothic mood of the
stories. The story “The Mask of The Red Death” is inspired by the Black Death.
In the story, the chambers symbolize the life cycle, and are arranged from the
east to the west, just like the sun which rises from the east and sets in the west.
Each chamber is a different color. The last chamber in the west is black which
symbolizes death. The symbol of chambers also signifies that people cannot
escape death. In the story, the prince tries to escape the Red Death by hosting
a Masquerade; however, people still have to face the Red Death in the end.
The gigantic clock which is in the black chamber symbolizes the life. When the
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clock stops moving, it means the end of the life. At the end of the story, all the
people die because a figure which is later revealed as the Red Death leads
everyone to the black chamber which symbolizes death. Compared to Poe’s
story, Hawthorne uses fewer symbols in his story. In the story “The Minister’s
Black Veil,” the color of black symbolizes sorrow or sin and the eyes which are
covered by the veil symbolize the soul because the eyes are windows into the
soul.
The descriptions of the setting in the stories make people experience
the gothic mood. The ghastly mood in “The Mask of The Red Death” is
displayed throughout in the whole palace, but especially in the black chamber
where
The effect of the firelight that streamed upon the dark through the
blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild
a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were
few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.
The color black in the chamber makes people so afraid that no one has the
courage to go inside. It is decorated with the black walls and the window is the
color of blood. Also, the gigantic clock in the black chamber makes people feel
gloomy. It will disseminate a clear, loud, and deep sound at each hour. When
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people hear the sound, they stop their actions. At the same time, they are
reminded of the Red Death by the sound. Everyone wants to forget the plague,
which is the most horrible thing to them because many people are killed.
Everyone wants to stay away from it, so the sound creates a gloomy
atmosphere when people are reminded about the plague. In the story “The
Minister’s Black Veil” Hawthorne creates a different mood, which is more
morose and woeful.
He could not walk the streets with any peace of mind, so conscious
was he that the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him, and
that others would make it a point of hardihood to throw themselves in
his way.
Because of the black veil, people avoid the minister while he walks on the
street; therefore, the minister feels lonely and depressed. Form this point, the
setting of the story is in a simple, religious and traditional town. When the
people first see the black veil, their first thought is the minister tries to cover
something sinful; however, they will not think of it as a simple black veil. In the
traditional town, the black veil is too strange for the people to accept
immediately.
Different character traits help to portray the gothic mood. The people’s
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feelings in “The Mask of The Red Death” are expressed the same as the
readers’ feeling. Because of the detailed description of the black chamber and
the loud sounding of the clock, the reader can experience the situation in the
story. The mood in the story is ghastly, gloomy and eerie; people feel joyful
during the masquerade and awful when they hear the sound or are close to the
black chamber. Different from the horrible mood, “The Minister’s Black Veil”
creates a lonely and dismal mood on the minister. Because of the black veil,
people isolate him. To them, the minister is not a peaceful person, making the
minister very disappointed.
In both stories, the authors are trying to express the gothic mood in the
stories. Both the authors describe in detail, so we feel like we are in the story.
In the story “The Mask of The Red Death,” Poe, the author, described the
setting in great detail. For example, he described the color of each chamber,
especially when he described the black chamber. The light in the room and the
color of the window are described in very detail. The sound of the clock is
described very vivid. In the story “The Minister’s Black Veil,” the author
transmitted the different aspects of the black veil in the story to express the
character’s mood. Compare these two stories, I think “The Mask of The Red
Death” use the setting to create the gothic mood than “The Minister’s Black
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Veil;” while the latter centers on symbolism more than the former.