Edgar Allen Poe presents each theme of his stories through vivid description and suspenseful plots. In a number of stories by Poe, the prevalent image with which he communicates his theme is death. Poe uses the same image of death to produce five different themes in the following five stories: "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Sphinx," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar."
"The Masque of the Red Death" presents a familiar theme with an interesting twist. The main character's situation is as follows: the "Red Death," a disease similar to the plague but more hideous to see, has devastated a country. The prince, sensing imminent danger, arranges for himself and 1,000 of his "light-hearted friends" to be sealed in the "castellated abbeys . . . They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within."
At this point, near the beginning of the story, the fate of these select few becomes obvious. Poe sets the scene for the inevitable death of the 1,000 guests by creating a tomb-like atmosphere within one of the rooms: "But in the western or black chamber the effect of the firelight that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look on the countenances of those who entered that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all." Within this room the climax of the story takes place and the theme is revealed. Death is inevitable. Poe illustrates that, no matter what precautions or steps are taken, everybody must die at some point. He emphasizes his point through the use of horror.
Horror can be an effective tool in illustrating a theme. In "The Cask of Amontillado," Poe uses a classic revenge murder plot as the major theme. Montresor is out for revenge against Fortunado: "The thousand injuries o...