The Masque and the Veil
Edward Hsu
Mr. de Groof
Grade 11 Composition
1/3/14
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Romanticism influenced American literature a lot in the 19th century. From
fireside poets to transcendentalists, they created a golden age for romantic literature.
Among all romantic writing styles, Gothic is often mentioned by historians because of
its unique mood. Gothic literature often talks about dark topics such as death and the
devil in people’s soul. For example, “Moby Dick” written by Herman Melville
discusses the bad soul of the Pequot captain, Ahab. To attract readers with the boring
topic and create a dark mood at the same time, most Gothic writers write their stories
in a suspicious mood. Among many Gothic writers, Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel
Hawthorne are two of the most famous gothic writers in the entire American history.
Their works, “The Masque of Red Death” and “The Minister’s Black Veil”, both
create a great mood of suspense. Although Poe and Hawthorne both create suspense
well in these two stories, the method that they use have a great difference. Edgar
Allen Poe creates anxiety with contrast between many settings and plots, while
Hawthorne uses many surreptitious events in his stories to grab reader’s curiosity. In
my opinion, both stories create an elite mood of suspense; “The Masque of Red
Death” creates mood through contrasts of settings and surroundings while “The
Minister’s Black Veil” creates mood through secretive plots.
“The Masque of the Red Death” uses a great contrast of settings and character
traits to attract the readers. In the story, Poe describes a plague that is similar to the
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Black Death. It uses great contrasts throughout the story. In the first paragraph, the
narrator describes the havoc caused by the Red Death, but in the second paragraph,
the narrator describes the happiness in Prince Prospero’s abbeys. The great difference
between the first two paragraphs created a great foil. The big unlikeness between the
inside and outside of the abbeys made the readers want to know what will happen
next to the nobles who are playing inside the abbeys. Also, the color of the chambers
created a great variance. The first six chambers are all decorated with bright, please
colors and decorations while the seventh chamber, where Prospero is killed, is
decorated with dark, scary objects. The big dissimilarity of the decoration made the
readers suspicious about what would happen in the darkest chamber. And when the
bell rings, the whole abbeys become silent. The silence makes an inverse with the
previous happiness and noises. The noises and silence also make readers foresee and
expect Red Death’s appearance. In addition, when Red Death shows in front of
Prospero, its silence and Prospero’s shout creates incongruousness. The prince’s
noisiness shows his nervousness and fear while Red Death’s silence makes it seems
scary and secretive. The extreme reactions between Prospero and the Red Death make
readers have interest to read the story. Also, the special outfit of Red Death makes a
great effort. Throughout all kind of stories, characters with unusual appearance always
grab reader’s attention. Red Death’s corpselike mask and blood-dabbled vesture make
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him look unique among the well-dressed nobles. It makes readers curious about Red
Death’s next reaction. At last, the trepidation of Prospero implies that people are
afraid and always avoiding death, while the calmness of Red Death implies that death
is impossible to be avoided by people. Poe uses fine contrasts throughout this short
story and creates a great suspense. And the contrast is not only used for catching
attention but also for implying the thought that Poe tries to tell us.
In Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”, Hawthorne uses a lot of
surreptitious events to catch people’s attention. At the beginning, Mr. Hooper shows
up with his black veil. The unreasonable behavior makes the readers wants to know
why he wears the black veil or what his behavior means. Also, the overreaction of the
citizens make readers want to know why they are so fearful. And their feeling toward
Mr. Hooper pulls readers’ interest, too. They thought that Hooper looks through their
body and watches their soul. In addition, his insistent of wearing the black veil makes
people confused by his purpose and motivation. In most people’s mind, one’s fiancée
should be the person that one obeys. But, when his fiancée expresses her
dissatisfaction, Hooper still insists on wearing his black veil even when his fiancée is
leaving. And in common people’s mind, a new outfit won’t change a person or his or
her efficiency. Strangely, after Hooper wears his black veil, he became an efficient
minister. Also, before his death, he does another unreasonable behavior. He still insists
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on wearing his black veil. It makes the readers want to know why he refuses to take
the veil off. At last, his smile when he dies creates even more confused. Death is a
sorrowful and morbid end of life in commonsense, so Hooper’s smile makes readers
think about the reason of his smile. After thinking, the readers will find the moral hid
in the story. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses surreptitious events to grab audiences’
attention successfully and implies his moral to the audiences. “The Minister’s Black
Veil” creates suspense for not only grabbing attention but also implying the moral
behind the story.
In comparison, “The Masque of the Red Death” creates a mood of suspense with
contrasts and anxiety while “The Minister’s Black Veil” creates a same mood with
secretive plots and curiosity. Contrasts are mostly created by narrators; serendipitous
events are created by plot elements such as dialogue. The omniscient narrator in “The
Masque of the Red Death” uses an intensive tone to create suspense with anxiety; the
third person narrator in “The Minister’s Black Veil” narrates with an alleviative tone
to describe the secretive events so that it can create suspense with curiosity. The
different tones of narrators and methods create a great difference between the
suspense in those two stories.
In gothic literature, mood is always important. “The Masque of the Red Death”
and “The Minister’s Black Veil” are two of the most representative pieces among
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those gothic works. Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne both create a great
mood in their short stories. Also, they both imply their own thought in their stories.
Although Hawthorne and Poe use different methods, they both reach the same goal in
their stories. Their skillful writings make their short stories classic gothic writing
works. For other subsequent gothic writers, the two stories are the greatest barriers but
also the best model to learn from. In conclusion, although Nathaniel Hawthorne and
Edgar Allen Poe use different writing skills in their stories, they still achieve the same
goal successfully-creating suspense.
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Bibliography
1. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil." Holt McDougal Literature: Grade
11. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
2. Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Masque of Red Death." Holt McDougal Literature: Grade 11.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.
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