Suggestion of Narrator in Edgar Allan Poes The Masque of the Red Death :: essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Masque of the Red Death? provides many another(prenominal) each(prenominal)usions as to who, if anyone, narrates the tale. The narrator witnesses all the events within the sealed abbey and lives to tell the tale. However, it is certain that everyone in the abbey dies at the end, after exposure to the Red Death. This seems to clearly advert that it is not possible for any guest to be the narrator, unless someone rotter tiptopnaturally foresee the future. This also rules out the contingency of the narrator cosmos Prince Prospero, despite the emphasis in the story placed on wealthiness and beauty, indicating a more pragmatic perspective from whoever is narrating. There is also the possibility that the tale is written by a dying guest who makes an astonishingly accurate assumption of the end result of events.This leaves one to ponder whether in that location is, in fact, no intended narrator, or rather, an abstract narrator, such as the Red Death itself . Can one consider that Poe was merely offhanded and that the inclusion of three first-person pronouns1 is meaningless, indicating there is no narrator? This would, however, be sort of an aberration of Poe?s tendency to pay such close care to the usage of language in his works. Relating to recurring concepts in Poe?s writing, his awe-inspiring fear of death could be the reason why the narrator may be the Red Death itself. The strongest evidence is that the narrator is aware of all the events within the story, while at the same time reporting it, and is equal to(p) to tell what happens at the very end-the point at which everyone within the abbey is dead. to a fault apparent is the language used to describe the guests? reaction to the masked figure, which is passably indicative of a personal opinion. The narrator never blatantly appears in a scene, but is always there and knows of all happenings. Even then, the narrator is only ever revealed as the one who tells of events2. He h ighlights and describes events as if he were an outside party, when, in actuality, he is within. Could the narrator be omniscient, perhaps the super ego of Poe himself?