There was a great deal of death throughout Poe’s life. So much that a lot of his writing is based off of these deaths surrounding him. His mom, brother, and foster mom all died of tuberculosis (Poe’s Life). This impacted the writings of multiple stories. One in specific is “The Masque of the Red Death”. The story is about Prince Prospero trying to escape death (in particular, the red death) but it eventually catches up to him, and kills him. This parallels him trying to escape the ‘red death’ but people continue to die around him of the same disease: tuberculosis. Many critics speculate that the red death symbolizes tuberculosis, as they have similar symptoms: profuse bleeding, pain, and dizziness. “Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness …show more content…
Many young women die in Poe’s stories, one of the most famous being “Annabel Lee”. The similarities between the two include Annabel marrying young, being struck with illness, and the man not only loving her, but worshipping her. Another story being “The Black Cat”, where the beloved wife died due to the husband himself killing her. “Uplifting an axe, forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed in my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demonical, I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and I buried the axe in her brain.” There are so many parallels between the deaths around him and his stories, that they can’t be coincidental, they must’ve influenced …show more content…
One example is “The Fall of the House of Usher” where a twin brother entombed his twin sister alive. Some speculate that these twins were James Campbell Usher and Agnes Pye Usher, who were children of Poe’s friend, who also grew up as neurotics (Sucur). Inspiration for “The Masque of the Red Death” has been speculated to come from not only tuberculosis, but the Cholera Epidemic of 1832 as well. The epidemic killed thousands across Europe and North America (McNamara). There were cases reported in Baltimore, where Poe would’ve been (McNamara). It is speculated that Poe used this particular disease as inspiration because it broke out during a masquerade in Paris. “On March 29th, the night of mi-careme, a masked ball was in progress, the chabut in full swing. Suddenly, the gayest of the harlequins collapsed, cold in the limbs, and, underneath his mask, ‘violet-blue’ in the face. Laughter died out, dancing ceased, and in a short while carriage-loads of people were hurried from the redoute to the Hotel Dieu to die, and to prevent a panic among the patients, were thrust into rude graves in their dominoes. Soon the public halls were filled with dead bodies, sewed in sacks for want of coffins. Long lines of hearses stood en queue outside Pere Lachaise. Everybody wore flannel bandages. The rich gathered up their belongings and fled the town. Over 120,000 passports were issued at the Hotel de Ville.” (Beardslee). The