Poe Theme Essay

 Author's Note: This is a theme essay, about 2 of Poe's stories: The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Masque of the Red Death.

     All of Edgar Allen Poe's stories have a similar theme: Death, blood, killing. A lot seem to take place in a dark room at midnight, and have something to do with hiding. These include The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death.

      In The Tell-Tale Heart, the narrator kills a man who haunts him with his "evil eye" while the man is sleeping. The narrator does this at midnight, which is a common theme, and is careful to leave no evidence. The room is dark, as usual. He hides all the body parts, which is another common theme, and tells the police that he is innocent. But after the police have done a thorough inspection, he gets a weird sensation in his chest, and he fesses up to the crime.

     The Masque of the Red Death is about a prince who holds a masquerade ball, and he decorates the rooms of his palace with different colors. The last room is painted black, to represent death, just like in the Tell-Tale Heart, where the narrator kills a man. Also in the last room, there is an ebony clock, and when it rings at midnight, a victim of the Red Death appears. The prince chases him to the black room, and when he finally catches up to him, he dies. The other guests come to investigate, and they, too die.

     As indicated by the summaries of these two stories, murdering and things happening at midnight are common in Poe's stories. Most have similar themes, and the narrator is usually the one who is murdered or the one who murders.