Conclusions CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
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The death figures that appear in those stories are the Red Death plague and the masked figure in The Mask of the Red Death, the dead body of Ligeia and
Rowena in Ligeia, and Fortunato’s corpse in the vault in The Cask of Amontillado. The second element discussed is the cause of the death. In The Mask
of the Red Death, the death of Prince Prospero and his guests is caused by the Red Death plague and somehow we can see that there is a supernatural power from the
mysterious masked figure that makes them die in sudden. In Ligeia, death is caused by two different things. The first one is the death of Lady Ligeia which is
caused by a mysterious disease and the second one is Lady Rowena’s death which is caused by the poison given by the narrator who is her husband himself, or in
other words, she dies because of murder. The same thing happens in The Cask of Amontillado. Montressor wants to take revenge to Fortunato. He chains Fortunato
on the wall and seals the vault. He leaves Fortunato in the vault until he finally dies. Hence, it can be seen that the cause of death in The Cask of Amontillado is
murder. Considering those facts above, it can be concluded that Edgar Allan Poe,
through his three short stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado perceives death as something that creates terror and sadness,
something fearful, horrifying, not the peaceful one. He employs the presence of death figures, various causes of death, and characters’ view of death to present his
perception of death in his stories. Through his stories, Poe works hard at structuring his tales of aristocratic madman, self-tormented murderers, and other
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deviant types. He also combines such events and discusses in such a tone to produce the greatest possible horrifying effects on the readers Baym 1356-1357.
It becomes the nature of Edgar Allan Poe to create tales of terror that represent his perception of death. The way Poe perceives death is affected by his
real life. In the discussion part, it is clearly seen that several incidents in his life triggered him to create his three stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and
The Cask of Amontillado. Those incidents affect the way he perceives death and indirectly affect his stories.
It can be seen in The Mask of the Red Death which is influenced by Virginia’s sickness and the way Poe responds to that situation. Referring to the
biography of Edgar Allan Poe, the fact that Virginia got tuberculosis at that time really saddened Poe. He was so terrified and tremendously afraid of losing his
beloved wife. Moreover, realizing the truth that tuberculosis was a deathly disease with terrible symptoms at that time; the disease that killed some members of his
family previously, The Mask of the Red Death is very much influenced from this incident of his life.
Whereas in Ligeia, Poe describes the beauty of Ligeia as her beloved wife, Virginia, and he refers to Mrs. Stannard’s death in creating the death of Ligeia.
Poe was so desperate and felt terribly sorrowful to the death of Mrs. Stannard. He recalls this sad memory as his inspiration to create the atmosphere due to the
death of Ligeia. The male character in this story is deluded by the beauty of Ligeia and he is intended to revive Ligeia through his second wife’s body, Rowena. This
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fact describes Poe feeling when he lost Mr. Stannard and his fear of losing Virginia.
The last story, The Cask of Amontillado, is about revenge and murder. Self-tormented Montressor makes revenge to Fortunato by chaining him on the
wall and sealing him in the vault. The theme revenge is inspired and triggered by his personal intention in taking a revenge to his foster father and the quarrel due to
a protest to his criticism. He combines the theme, revenge, with the story he heard with the same theme when he was still joining the army.
In conclusion, it is obvious that the nature of death in Edgar Allan Poe’s stories: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado is
affected by his own perception about death. He perceives death as something that creates terror and sadness, something fearful, horrifying, not the peaceful one.
This perception is illustrated in those stories. It is also obvious that his perception of death is influenced by incidents and more often tragedy in his real life. He
happened to see and experience the coming of death to the people he loved. He happened to feel deep sorrow, great pain, and anger during his life. However,
these experiences enrich his creation in this case as shown in his short stories The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.