Art and Nature in "The Masque of the Red Death"

Abstract

HE INTENDED EFFECT and meaning of of the Red Death have challenged and eluded Poe critics over the years. Readings of the tale have advanced Poe studies by offering valuable glimpses into Poe's fictional world; but none has achieved a satisfactory account of the story in all of its significant parts.' An approach to Poe's meaning overlooked up to now has been a study of Masque in the immediate context of Poe's esthetic ideas in 1842. Interpreted in the light of Poe's developing esthetic theory in this crucial year, the story, which appeared in the May issue of Graham's Magazine, becomes somewhat more than a tale of horror on the coming of Death. The hero Prospero, who bears an interesting resemblance to his namesake in Shakespeare's The Tempest, appears to be not a fear-crazed ruler but instead an exact portrait of Poe's artist-hero, and of the Red Death becomes a fable of nature and art. Placed in a larger context, the tale allowed Poe to dramatize the tensions of the Romantic artist in America, and helped him to discover the way which led through Domain of Arnheim into the cosmic regions of Eureka.