Death is lifes greatest mystery. We know not what lies behind the veil, if intact there is anything to see. All cultures marvel at the idea of death. The ancient Greeks knew exactly how the process worked and where one went where they died, when the fates cut your thread your time was up. Poe uses similar tactics in his stories, he is clearly an author obsessed with the idea of death and uses the concept in intriguing, and terrifying ways. Poe expresses his opinions on death and the clock that is counting down on all. Edgar Allen Poe recognizes that we all must answer deaths call, and when our time is deemed up there is nothing one can do.
An author plays the act of God and when Poe sentences someone to the grave they are succumb to the power of the fates. One cannot outrun death and one cannot hide from it Poe tells us. In "The Masque of Red Death" the infamous Prince Prospero attempts such a feat. The prince incited his friends to stay at his abode, they would lock the doors, celebrate, and the plague would not penetrate the castles defenses. "With such precautions the couriers might bid defiance to contagion." Pestilence, however was not so easily deterred, "He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revealers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel..." The Red death is not one easily outrun however and the partygoers met their fate. (Poe, Edgar Allan. Masque of Red Death) No matter how we may try to outrun death it finds us in the end. Even when the Prince took precautions specific to the fate he feared would become him, he still eventually succumbed and was taken by death. Even walls of stone cannot keep the reaper grim from onesr doorstep when onesr time is come.
In relation, whence ones counter up, and onesr name called one cannot thwart death. In the “Masque of Red Death” the prince knew of the danger, yet, he did not have a handed down sentence, In Poe’s story “The Pit and the Pendulum” the narrator has been sentenced to his fate. A fate worse than death. “And then there stole into my fancy, like a rich musical note the thought of what sweet rest there must be in the grave.” The narrator at the mercy of a swinging pendulum, razor sharp, and each swing brings the blade closer to the heart of the narrator. To Poe this is the real torture, not death, but the understanding of it, being consumed with the knowledge that he will die and there is nothing the man can do as he watches each passing second bring the merciless pendulum forward. Miraculously, in time of great desperation the man escapes from the ties that bind him to the floor, believing he has escaped death. “the Inquisitorial vengeance had been hurried by my two fold escape… I shrank back—but the closing walls pressed me resistlessly onward. At length for my seared and writhing body there was no longer an inch…” (Poe, Edgar Allan. The Pit and The Pendulum) Even when the narrator knew death was upon him he was not able to throw the cloaked man. The man manages to escape one prison, only to survive to see an one even more vindictive than the last. The character still was taken by death, for when one looks death in the face one cannot escape, no matter how elaborate the plan, death will reap one in the end.
In conjuncture, if one is not destined by the fates to die, Poe tells us, it shall not come to pass. In Poe’s short story “The Premature Burial” the narrator is consumed with the fear of being buried alive. At the time this was a well founded fear, especially for one, such as the narrator, with catalepsy, a condition where one occasionally falls into a death like trance. The horror intruded its way upon his every thought, “I was lost in reveries of death, and the idea of premature burial held continual possession of my brain.” The author at one point believes himself to be in fact, buried alive. When he discovers the contrary he embarks to change his ways, to live, without this fear that plagues him so. “I took vigorous exercise. I breathed the free air of heaven. I thought upon other subjects than death…I became a new man…” (Poe, Edgar Allan. The Premature Burial) the narrator realized that death would come for him and whence it did he could not avoid the skeletal hands of the reaper. The man took it upon himself to live whilst he still did. Poe expresses, again, through this character that we cannot prevent our passing once one is called to the veil, so one should live till their fullest for when the reaper comes we must abide.
In the story “Bernice” Poe uses many Greek references and analogies. He refers to Halcyon days, a reference to a Greek tale of love and loss, and he mentions Gods of Rome and Greece as well in this horrific tale. “For as Jove during the winter season…” This references to one of Zeus’ roman names, he refers to the Greek Underworld agriculture as well, “…trembled only to the touch of the flower called Asphodel.” These instances in Poe suggest to us that he was highly literate, as well as his high level of diction. Poe was indeed fascinated by death and notes that so were other cultures, and among the Greeks especially; a peaceful passing was tantamount to peace after life. Poe’s feelings on fate and the call of death match that of the ancient Greeks. They believed that once Atropos, one of the three fates, cut your thread your time was up and Thantos appeared before you. (The Greek god of death) Poe’s views are of similar sentiment and one can see his connections and annotations to the Greek belief and those of his own through his writings.
Among recurrent references Poe often used heavy symbolism in his works, and his most symbolic work was “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Symbolism provides insight into the authors mind and gives deeper meaning to the authors’ words. In the Fall of The House of Usher there are heavy symbolic ties between the House itself and the family that calls it home. “I looked upon the scene before me…upon the few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation… there was an iciness, a sinking sickening of the heart…” Poe describes the family in direct correlation to the descriptions of the houses occupants, “…lips somewhat thin and pallid…the now ghastly pallor of the skin...” The descriptions go hand in hand for as the shadow of death encompasses and rots away at the souls inside it rots the house and its surrounding area. “… my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder..” Death snatches the house’s occupants and as it sneaks away with their souls the house itself collapses. Poe is showing us through his symbolism and ties of the house to it family that when death comes creeping our even our foundation shall soon rot and falter. When death calls upon one even mortar and wood bend and break under deaths crushing command.
When our time is up, our thread cut, the last bit of sand fallen, we must succumb to death. We all follow to this call in the end. It is the one common road we all share and Edgar Allan Poe expressed this to entrap readers and scare them into realizing that when death comes for them there is nothing you can do. Poe used this tactic seemingly effortlessly and quite eloquently weaving stories of terror and demise that chill our blood and send shivers down ones spine. We are all subject to this fear and Poe seized this knowledge and exploited it. Using his creative prowess with the written word Poe weaves stories that terrorize and enthrall effortlessly and with much skill. Edgar Allan Poe, in his stories expresses the view that we all answer to death, and our fate and day to die is out of ones hands, to all but death himself.
Bibliography
- Wikipedia- search engine
- Summaries of The Pit and the Pendulum and The Premature Burial
- Poestories.com
- The Fall of the house of Usher
- Bernice
- The Pit and the Pendulum
- The Red Masque of Death
- The Premature Burial
- Google.com- search engine
- Dictionary.com
- For definitions of words in the Poe novels
No comments:
Post a Comment