19
In addition, I analyzed Poe’s perception of death as revealed in his works: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. Hence,
I attempted to use the features in the text of his works which are the death figure, the cause of the character’s death, and the view or reaction of the characters
towards death in comparing his three works to reveal his perception of death.
C. Method of the Study
In this study, I carried out library study. It means that I tried to gather and compile data by doing researches from books. I also used electronic sources to
enhance the data as the secondary sources. First, I read the primary sources which were Edgar Allan Poe’s short
stories I have mentioned previously; they were The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. The aim of this action is to grasp and
understand each story so that I could get the idea of the stories. Second, as my secondary source, I used handbooks related to literary works and the biography of
Edgar Allan Poe such as Reading and Writing about Literature by Mary Rohrberger and Samuel Woods, A Short Guide to Writing about Literature by
Sylvian Barnet, Edgar Allan Poe by Irwin Porges, and American Literature The Makers and the Making by Cleanth Brooks, et.al. Those were used to find the
biographical background of Edgar Allan Poe to support the ideas of his perception of death. I also realized that it was necessary to refer to some electronic sources
such as http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiShort_story. These electronic sources were used to enrich the information about Edgar Allan Poe and to support the writer’s
20
ideas. The next step was conducting critical analysis using biographical approach. Hence, as the last step I made conclusion and suggestion for teaching
implementation.
21
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This section is devoted to answer the problems of the research. As stated before, the problems of this research are first, Poe’s perception of death as
revealed in his three stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado and second, how his perception of death as revealed in his stories
reflects his life. There are two parts of this section. First, Edgar Allan Poe’s perception of
death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. This part discusses Poe’s perception of death which I revealed from
his three stories. Second, how Poe’s perception of death as revealed in The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado reflects his life, which
exemplifies the relation between Poe’s perception of death and his life.
A. Edgar Allan Poe’s Perception of Death as Revealed in The Mask of the
Red Death , Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan Poe is a well known author who often uses death as the theme of his tales and poem. As quoted from American Literature The Makers
and the Making by Cleanth Brooks et.al, “Poe is not interested in anything that is alive. Everything in Poe is dead: the houses, the rooms, the furniture…” 361.
This study discusses Edgar Allan Poe’s perception of death by comparing the death figure ghost or the supernatural, the cause of death, and the characters’
22
view of death in three of his stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
1. Death Figure
In The Mask of the Red Death, Poe creates a horrible disease called the “red death” which attacks a country for a long time as the death figure. As quoted
from the story, “No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal -- the redness and the horror of blood.” The Mask of the Red
Death. He describes that no one can run or hide from the horrible power of
death even Prince Prospero who thinks that he can escape from it. Further in the story, Poe shows another death figure, the mysterious figure appearing in the
middle of the party. This figure represents the Red Death plague itself. Poe describes the figure as tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the
habiliments of the grave. The figure wears a scary mask. Unlike any other whom wears colorful mask, this mysterious figure wears black robe and scary mask with
blood-like spots over his body. Of course, this figure creates horror, terror and fear among the guests and Prince Prospero himself The Mask of the Red Death.
The death figure also appears in the story of Ligeia. In this story, the death figure is represented by the dead body of the narrator’s wives, Lady Ligeia
and Rowena. When the narrator sits next to the dead body of Rowena, he sees that it seems Rowena revives from death. She moves and walks, but the figure is not
