Aim of the Lesson: What conditions of life does the dénouement of “The Masque of the Red Death” reveal?
Link to the lesson: Here
The lesson began with a do now, which was a team discussion leading into a class discussion about what an apocalyptic event such as for example in the Masque of the red death, the red death, do to Mankind’s nature and its society.
With a quick reminder that tomorrow is the day where we begin work on our mask projects. We began talking, my group talked about how during such an apocalypse, mankind tends to become more selfish. They resort to more tribal and base tendencies. Civility and being polite seems to fade in the face of death. Moving on, the rest of the class found that such events divide people and cause a mindset of “Every Man for Himself”. The next discussion after this slide was one about why we tend to try and figure things out when watching a show. I stated that it’s because we always try to figure out everything, to get all the information. Rory claimed that some people don’t do that, some just take the information. Overall we came to the conclusion that curiosity is what drives us to be such investigative people.
(As they often say, curiosity killed the cat.)
Next came the group activity, where we were given 3 “endings” of the masque of the red death, and using our investigative skills, try to figure out which was the true ending of the story. These endings varied greatly in their tone, from one of laughter and joy, one of revenge and one of death. Our group decided that ending 3, the ending where death comes and slaughters the guest was the true ending. That it fits more to Poe’s style of writing and that the others simply made no sense considering the flow of the story.
The Endings : Here
After the activity was over, it became clear that ending 3 was the ending chosen as the true one. The class found that the others did not share the same tone as the rest of the story. The diction and word choice of the 3rd ending was also much in line with Poe’s writing.
The next activity was about fate, we were told to discuss three questions in regard to “The Masque of the Red Death”. First, what is your understanding / concept of fate? Secondly, is the idea of “Man vs Fate” a true conflict within the story? Third, provide examples of mankind’s fear of death being a theme in the story. Our answers were that fate was something that's bound to happen, something set in stone that will happen no matter what. We found that Man vs Fate was a viable conflict in the story, because the whole story point of Prospero locking everybody inside is symbolic of trying to escape death, not knowing that doing that would seal their fate. Examples found of “Man’s fear of death” were the abbey they were locked into to escape the red death, along with everybody’s fear of the man dressed as death itself.
After all this, Ms Peterson wrapped it up by talking about how all the details of the rooms or the clock are all connected to symbolism. That there are different types of symbolism, projected and intended. Along with a swift review of symbolism found within the story. That Prospero’s actions symbolize someone trying to escape death and reality. The masquerade as a fantasy to escape reality.
The lesson ended with this discussion of symbolism as the bell ran and that was the lesson of 10/20/21.
Definitions:
Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
Allegory: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
What did I learn?
What I learned today was the myriad of symbolism across the story of “The Masque of the Red Death” and how the story is a direct allegory for the stages of life and death, that death is always coming. I also learned much about symbolism itself, what types exist and how it is used for themes in stories. The differences between allegory and symbolism, and when each one is being used. This lesson also concluded with the reading of “The Masque of the Red Death”, giving me knowledge of this famous story by Edgar Allen Poe. Lastly, my investigative skills were tested by today’s group activity, helping solve things by piecing together clues.
Why did I learn it?
I learned what I did today because allegories and symbolism are an important part of literature along with everyday life. Many stories use symbolism to support their themes and to better get their point across to the audience, it also makes reading more enjoyable as it would be rather boring if every book just told you what it was trying to support. Symbolism is also very prevalent in everyday life, with symbols meaning any variety of things appearing all over in the modern day. Lastly, “The Masque of the Red Death” is a very famous story by Edgar Allen Poe, a equally famous poet, learning about these increases our own understanding of both literature and the history of literature. This lesson’s activity was also to improve our investigative skills, beyond just simply taking information, this is a skill useful beyond just literature but for real life as well.
How will I use what I learned?
I will use what I learned during this lesson in order to deepen my understanding of symbolism and allegories within stories, keeping it in mind the next time I read stories. It will also make me more aware of examples of symbolism and allegory in everyday life such as logos or simple things like traffic lights. This lesson will be very helpful in future ENG classes as we go over other stories and come across even more examples of symbolism. Or books that are one big allegory.
That concludes today’s blog, hopefully you got a comprehensive review of this lesson and are able to understand what was taught, no matter if you were there on that day!
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