Compare and Contrast “the Masque of the Red Death” and “because I Could Not Stop for Death”

Have you ever thought about death? Do you fear it or accept it? The short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe illustrates that no one can escape death no matter how rich or powerful they may be. Prince Prospero locks his palace with the remaining healthy knights and dames of his court inside, ignoring the “Red Death” ravaging the land. The theme in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson is also the inevitability of death. The difference is that the speaker embraces death rather than fears it. In this poem, death is described as a gentleman suitor who takes the speaker on a journey with immortality. Being written in the 1800’s, this poem personifies immortality as a chaperone for gentleman suitor and the speaker. In Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” Prince Prospero's attempts to cheat death, however, Dickinson’s speaker accepts death. Excluding this difference, the theme of death is shared between both pieces of literature in opposing ways.

The Masque of the Red Death emphasizes the idea of cheating death. Poe starts off the story portraying the Red Death; “The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous” (Poe, 3). Despite the plague happening around him, Prince Prospero does not let it stop him from being happy and dauntless. He locks himself, as well as, the knights and dames not affected by the plague in one of his abbeys in an attempt to cheat the inevitable. “All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death" (Poe, 3). Within Prospero’s abbey there is safety, but outside death surrounds them. They were effectively trapped by death, unable to escape its grasp. “Prince Prospero maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers…” (Poe, 9). Finally, he arrives at the black and scarlet apartment. Another reminder of their inevitable fate stood there in the seventh apartment. “It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang…” (Poe, 5). The constant clang of the clock represents the continuous passing of time. This passing of time brought them closer and closer to death. This continuous passing of time leading to eventual death is a natural part of life.

Death is a natural part of life, not something to be feared. This is portrayed in the quote “We slowly drove- He knew no haste” (Dickinson, 5).