Edgar Allen Poe
In The Masque of the Red Death and in The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allen Poe uses the setting to help create a singular effect in each story by showing irony and showing the mood. In The Masque of the Red Death, Poe creates such a wonderful description that it makes the reader almost believe that it is real. He adds irony to the story and creates the atmosphere to resemble the ‘Red Death’. In The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe tries to give the reader the sense of horror. He uses imagery and dreary circumstances to give the reader the dark feelings that he had once experienced (Edgar1). In both of these stories the setting is the most important part to understanding each story.
When Edgar Allen Poe describes the seventh room, it is explained to have a ghastly appearance because of the black room with the ‘blood-colored window’ (Edgar1). This portrays that this room is that of death. “But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations (Poe457).” This is saying that in this particular room the color of the window does not match the color of the room unlike the other rooms. This is important because it shows that this room is different than the rest, which should show the reader that something is going to happen in this particular room. This helps Poe show that the setting is full of irony and it sets the mood of the story.
When Poe explains the set up of the rooms, it shows the stages of life by using the direction of the sun rising then setting. The set up the rooms also shows the stages of life. “It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the same of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all (Poe 460-461). ” This says that the prince was mad because he was scared, but then he ran through the six rooms and no one followed him because they were scared. When...