THE SYMBOLS AND ALLEGORY AS CRUCIAL KEYS TO REVEAL THE THEME IN EDGAR ALLAN POE’S “THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH” AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  

THE SYMBOLS AND ALLEGORY AS CRUCIAL KEYS

TO REVEAL THE THEME IN EDGAR ALLAN POE’S

“THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH”

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra

in English Letters

  

By

MARTHA DANI HESTIANAWATI

  Student Number: 044214003

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2010

  i ii

iii

iv

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN

AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Martha Dani Hestianawati Nomor Mahasiswa : 044214003

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

THE SYMBOLS AND ALLEGORY AS CRUCIAL KEYS

TO REVEAL THE THEME IN EDGAR ALLAN POE’S

“THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH”

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

  Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 31 Maret 2010 Yang menyatakan (Martha Dani Hestianawati) v

  

Gaily I lived as ease and nature taught,

And spent my little life without a thought,

And am amazed that Death, that tyrant grim,

Should think of me, who never thought of him.

  

~René Francois Regnier

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me.

The Carriage held but just ourselves

And Immortality

  

~Emily Dickinson

You can be a king or a street sweeper,

but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper.

  

~Robert Alton Harris

  vi vii

  

I dedicated this undergraduate thesis to:

My Father, My Mother, and My Sister

  

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I would like to thank my Lord, Mother Mary, and my Guardian Angel, who always gives me strength and blessing to finish this undergraduate thesis.

  Their love make me believe that I am not alone to finish my undergraduate thesis as my last duty in Sanata Dharma University.

  My big gratefulness is addressed to Maria Ananta, S.S., M.Ed., as my advisor, for her guidance, patience, suggestions and corrections in the process of writing this undergraduate thesis. Mostly by her guidance, I understand what to do in preparing and finishing my undergraduate thesis. My gratitude also goes to my co-advisor, Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S., M.Hum., for her critical correction, and all of the lectures and staff of English Letters Department for the betterment of it.

  I also would like to give my special gratitude to my beloved family: my father, Tarsisius Mulyadi who always gives me support to finish this undergraduate thesis, my mother, Bernadeta Monica Sudarwati who always prays for me and gives me courage in my life, my sister and brother, Veronica

  

Deni Ambarwati and Stephanus Wempi Gunarto who always give me spirit

  and advice to finish this thesis, my cuties nephew, Gerrard Pilar Arkana Gunarto, who always cheer me up with his attitude.

  My deepest thank is also addressed to my partner: Miss Hernawaty and Miss Ajeng, for the support, motivations, and tips.

  My sweet thanks are directed to all my friends, Rico for his computer and printer, my pretty ladies: Cacayank, Elin’kecil’, Amel, Dytha sista, Intan, the great viii of ‘04ers: Eka ‘brilliant’, Ririn, Astrid, Lisis, Novi, Siska ‘lengan ayam’, Sheila, Dede, Cory, Adisti, Lutfi, Tiny, Dita ‘ndut’, Indri, Rani, Jati, Sony, the Brotherhood family: Titatiut, Bang Ison, Peme, Hoping Nank, Rizki, Edward, Jojo, Siswanto, Patrick, Ucok ‘kribo’, and all my friends who have given me wonderful moments in my life. I thank them for accepting me just the way I am.

  They are the best I have ever had in my lifetime.

  I am also grateful to my starlight, Alexander Febi Arisandi who always be there for me. His love, spirit, guidance, motivated and patience make me know the beauty of life. I thank him for loving me just the way I am. I always believe that we still have a time to share in the future.

  I thank all my friends who belong to English Letters study program 2004, Sanata Dharma University whom I cannot mention one by one down here. May God give blessing to all of them.

  Martha Dani Hestianawati ix

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ......................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii

ACCEPTANCE PAGE ........................................................................................ iii

MOTTO PAGE .................................................................................................... vi

DEDICATION PAGE ......................................................................................... vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... x

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... xii

ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... xiii

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1

A. Background of the Study ..................................................................................... 1 B. Problem Formulation ........................................................................................... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ....................................................................................... 3 D. Definition of Terms ............................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ........................................................ 5

A. Review of Related Studies .................................................................................. 5 B. Review of Related Theories ................................................................................ 8

  1. Theory of Symbol .......................................................................................... 8

  2. Theory of Allegory ....................................................................................... 11

  3. Theory of Theme .......................................................................................... 13

  C. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................... 15

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 17

A. Object of the Study ............................................................................................ 17 B. Approach of the Study ....................................................................................... 18 C. Method of the Study .......................................................................................... 20

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ............................................................................... 22

A. Symbols in “The Masque of the Red Death” .................................................... 22

  1. Prince Prospero ............................................................................................ 22

  2. The Red Death ............................................................................................. 24

  3. The Revellers ............................................................................................... 26

  4. The Castle’s Chambers ................................................................................ 28

  5. The Clock ..................................................................................................... 30

  B. Allegory in “The Masque of the Red Death” .................................................... 32

  1. The Allegory of Human Life and Death ...................................................... 33

  2. The Allegory of Human’s Powerlessness in front of Death ........................ 36

  C. How the Symbols and Allegory Reveal the Theme of “The Masque of the Red Death” ............................................................................ 40 x

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ........................................................................... 46

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................... 52

APPENDICES ...................................................................................................... 54

Appendix 1: Summary of the Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” .......................................................................................... 54

Appendix 2: Information of the Edgar Allan Poe’s Life Background ............. 55

  xi

  

ABSTRACT

  MARTHA DANI HESTIANAWATI (2010). The Symbols and Allegory as Crucial

Keys to Reveal the Theme in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”.

Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  This study analyzes the symbols and allegory that reveal the theme in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story entitled “The Masque of the Red Death”. There are three problems discussed in this study, namely what symbols exist in the story, what allegory exists in the story, and how the symbols and allegory reveal the theme in the story.

  This study uses theories by, Harmon, Perrine, and Stanton to analyze the symbols in the story, theories by Carrez, Literary dictionary, and Jacobs to analyze the allegory in the story, and theories by Jaffe, Scott and Stanton to analyze how the theme is revealed.

  Library research method is used as the method of this study, because the data are obtained from written sources. Formalistic approach is used as the approach of this study because this approach focuses on recurring elements in many literary works, including symbols, allegory, theme, actions, and characters. This approach is suitable because the elements analyzed in this story, such as symbols and theme related to death, have recurred in other literary works.

  There are three findings in this study. Firstly, this story contains some symbols, namely Prince Prospero, the Red Death, the revellers, the chambers in the castle, and the clock. Prince Prospero symbolizes prosperity or wealth, The Red Death symbolizes death, the revellers symbolize human feelings, The chambers symbolize life progression, and the clock symbolizes human’s limited time. Secondly, the symbols in this story form some allegories, namely the allegory of human life and death and the allegory of humans’ powerlessness to evade death. These allegories are presented in two levels of meaning, the literal and allegorical. In the literal level, Prince Prospero and the revellers move from the eastern chamber to the western chamber in the end. They fear the last chamber, including the chimes from the clock in that chamber. They try to avoid or fight the Red Death, and believe they can avoid the Red Death with their advantaged position. In the allegorical level, humans with all their possessions and characteristics make a journey from birth, or the dawn of their life, to death, or the dusk of their life. They fear death, including thoughts or discussions about death. They try to avoid or fight against death and believe they can avoid death through wealth, technology, science, and so on.

  Thirdly, as the prominent literary devices, the symbols and allegory reveal the theme in the story in relation to the elements, such as characters, setting, plot, and conflict. The symbols are strongly related to the characters and setting, while the allegory is strongly related to the plot and conflict. The symbols provide the main concept of death, while the allegory assigns the nature or quality to the concept, namely the inevitable and indiscriminate nature of death. Together, the symbols and allegory reveal the theme of the story, namely that “Death is inevitable and indiscriminate”. xii

  ABSTRAK

  MARTHA DANI HESTIANAWATI (2010). The Symbols and Allegory as

  

Crucial Keys to Reveal the Theme in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the

Red Death”. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas

  Sanata Dharma.

  Studi ini menganalisa simbol dan alegori yang mengungkapkan tema dari cerita pendek karya Edgar Allan Poe berjudul “The Masque of the Red Death”. Tiga permasalahan dibahas dalam studi ini, yaitu simbol-simbol apa yang terdapat dalam cerita ini, alegori apa yang terdapat dalam cerita ini, dan bagaimana simbol dan alegori tersebut mengungkap tema cerita ini.

  Studi ini menggunakan teori dari Harmon, Perrine, dan Stanton untuk menganalisa simbol-simbol dalam cerita ini, teori dari Carrez, Literary dictionary, dan Jacobs untuk menganalisa alegori, serta teori dari Jaffe, Scott dan Stanton untuk menganalisa bagaimana terbentuknya tema cerita.

  Metode riset pustaka digunakan dalam studi ini, karena data diperoleh dari sumber-sumber tertulis. Pendekatan Formalistic digunakan dalam studi ini, mengingat pendekatan ini berpusat pada unsur-unsur yang kerap muncul dalam berbagai karya sastra, termasuk simbol, alegori, tema, tindakan, dan tokoh. Pendekatan ini sesuai karena unsur-unsur yang dianalisa dalam cerita ini, misalnya simbol dan tema yang berkaitan dengan kematian, telah sering muncul dalam karya-karya sastra sebelumnya.

  Studi ini menghasilkan tiga jawaban. Pertama, terdapat beberapa simbol dalam cerita ini, yaitu Prince Prospero, Red Death, para pengunjung pesta, ruang- ruang di kastil, dan jam besar. Prince Prospero melambangkan kemakmuran atau kekayaan, Red Death melambangkan kematian, pengunjung pesta melambangkan perasaan manusia, ruang-ruang di kastil melambangkan perjalanan hidup, dan jam melambangkan waktu manusia yang terbatas. Kedua, simbol-simbol dalam cerita ini membentuk alegori, yakni alegori tentang hidup-mati manusia dan alegori tentang ketidakberdayaan manusia dalam menghadapi kematian. Alegori-alegori tersebut ditampilkan dalam dua tingkatan makna, yakni tingkatan harafiah atau makna yang ditampilkan simbol-simbol di atas, dan tingkatan allegorical atau makna yang tercermin dari interaksi simbol-simbol tersebut. Ketiga, simbol dan alegori mengungkap tema cerita ini tak lepas dari unsur-unsur lain seperti tokoh, setting, plot, dan konflik yang terkandung dalam unsur simbol dan alegori. Simbol dalam cerita ini erat berhubungan dengan unsur tokoh dan setting, sedangkan alegori erat berhubungan dengan unsur plot dan konflik. Simbol tersebut memunculkan konsep utama yakni kematian, sedangkan alegori memberikan sifat pada konsep tersebut, yakni sifat kematian yang tidak pandang bulu dan tak dapat dihindari. Simbol dan alegori bekerja bersama dalam mengungkap tema cerita ini, yaitu “Kematian adalah tidak pandang bulu dan tak dapat dihindari.” xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Discussing what the story is about means discussing the theme of the story. If

  

the readers are able to get the theme of the story, they will discover the meaning of

the story. In order to achieve a deep understanding about the theme, it is important to

pay attention to the elements of fiction that build the story. As stated by Van de Laar

and Scoonderwoerd in An Approach to English Literature, the novel or short story is

made up of seven elements known as the intrinsic elements; they are story or plot,

characters, delineation of character, dialogue, time and place, style and the novelist’s

philosophy of life (1969:163).

  Among the seven elements which make up the short story, the writer finds

two important literary devices as crucial keys to reveal the theme in “The Masque of

the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe. They are symbols and allegory. Symbols and

allegory are closely related to one another. Furthermore, these devices help the writer

to find the details related to story. They help the writer to explore and understand the

story. The relation between the symbols and allegory may help the writer to formulate

the theme of a short story.

  

1

  2 The literary work that will be analyzed in this thesis is “The Masque of The Red Death”, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. This work is chosen because the author seems to want to say something about his work. Also, in the writer’s opinion, Poe creates a very interesting short story and offers something important to learn. An article describes that “The Masque of the Red Death” affirms the futility of man in his

elaborate attempts to deny and confront his own mortality

(http//www.bookrags.com/studyguide-masquereddeath/). Poe presents the symbols and allegory to the readers through the events occurring in the story and the situation as well. The clear symbols and the allegory in “The Masque of the Red Death” make the story enjoyable to read, and arouse the readers’ fear and curiosity until the end of the story. Those two elements enclose the whole story into an organized story which has a theme. The theme can be identified by paying attention to some literary devices of fiction, such as symbols and allegory that appeared in the story. Stanton in An Introduction to Fiction states that although these devices cannot carry the theme by themselves, they can help to define and emphasize the theme, and they can support a tentative interpretation (1965: 22). Thus, the writer sees that the symbols and allegory of this story may give some clues to find the theme of the story.

  This study aims to analyze the symbols and allegory in “The Masque of the Red Death”. In doing the analysis, the writer would like to focus the study on how the symbols and allegory convey the theme of the story. Therefore, the writer pays attention to the two literary devices, namely symbols and allegory, and then analyzes them, so those devices will lead to an understanding of the story’s theme.

  3 B. Problem Formulation Based on the background of the study, the writer tries to formulate the following problems to be discussed in this study.

1. What are the symbols existing in the story? 2.

  What is the allegory existing in the story? 3. How do the relationship of the symbols and allegory reveal the theme of the story?

  C. Objectives of the Study This study, in general is intended to analyze the do the symbols and allegory

in the revelation of the theme in “The Masque of the Red Death”. Specifically, it has

three objectives: first, the writer wants to find out the symbols the story; second, the

writer wants to analyze what the allegory in the story, and third, the writer wants to

analyze the relationship of symbols and allegory in revealing the theme in “The

Masque of the Red Death”.

  D. Definition of Terms In this study, it is important to know the terms used here because the terms are significant for the study. They are:

1. Symbol

  In her book, Literature Structure, Sound and Sense, Perrine says “a literary symbol is something that means more than what it is. It is an object, a person,

  4 a situation, an action, or some other item that has a literal meaning in the story but suggests or represents other meaning as well” (1974: 211).

  2. Allegory According to Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs, in An Introduction to Reading and Writing, allegory is a complete and self-sufficient narrative, but it also signifies another series or level of events or conditions of life as expressed in a habit of thought, a philosophy, or a religion (1987: 281).

  3. Theme Norton, in The Impact of Literature-Based Reading, states that “theme is the underlying idea that ties the plot, conflict, characters, and setting together into a meaningful whole. Consequently, the theme or themes should apply to all the major characters and events in the story. The theme is also a statement that the author wants to convey about life or society” (1992: 28).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies In order to understand Edgar Allan Poe’s work, “The Masque of the Red Death”, the writer needs to know what the other writers think about this literary work. Because “The Masque of the Red Death” is a quite a popular literary work, there have

  

been many studies, criticisms or research conducted about it. In this part, the writer

tries to paraphrase some of the studies and criticisms about Poe’s “The Masque of the

Red Death” by Liz Brent, Martha Womack, Phillip Van Doren Stern, Patrick Cheney,

G. R. Thompson, and other sources from the internet.

  According to Liz Brent, Poe is considered one of the early masters of Gothic

fiction. The term gothic was originally borrowed from architecture, but refers to a

style of literature that developed in the late eighteenth century and throughout the

nineteenth century, particularly in England. Gothic fiction is a genre of fiction which

is characterized by a dark, macabre atmosphere, and focuses on themes of death,

horror, madness and the supernatural (http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-

masquereddeath/). It is related to David R. Dudley’s statement below.

  Poe is known as a gothic writer. He created horror using gloom as his weapon. Hidden within the suspenseful story of “The Masque of the Red Death” is an

  

5

  6 allegorical tale of how individuals deal with the fear of death as time passes (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/html). Martha Womack in her article about “The Masque of the Red Death”

discusses about the influence of the historical as well as current condition around Poe

when he was writing the story, especially related to plague or epidemics, as shown in

this quotation: “In writing a story of this nature, Poe would have considered such

historical examples as the Black Death or the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages as

well as the cholera epidemics that ravaged Philadelphia in the 1790's and Baltimore

in his own lifetime. However, in this story, the plague takes the unusual form of a red

death rather than a black one so that blood, the very substance of life, now becomes

the mark of death” (www.poedecoder.com/Qrisse/poeref.html).

  Supporting Womack’s explanation, the story of “The Masque of the Red

Death” is considered related to Poe’s own experience. During Poe’s lifetime,

tuberculosis was a very common disease, characterized most notably by the symptom

of coughing up blood. As Poe’s mother, stepmother, and wife, who were three of the

most important women in Poe’s life, died of tuberculosis, it could be speculated that

the “Red Death” in the story was inspired by his own experience of losing his loved

ones who suffered from tuberculosis. “The Masque of the Red Death” displays his

mastery of the short story form, exhibits his ability to convey mood through concrete

detail, and expresses his psychological deterioration during the final years of his life,

observing the historical and personal tragedies he was experiencing at that time

(http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-masquereddeath/)

  7 Phillip Van Doren Stern in The Portable Edgar Allan Poe states that Poe

argued that allegory was an inferior literary form because it is designed to evoke

interest in both the narrative and the abstract ideas for which the narrative stands,

which distracts the reader from the singleness of effect that Poe most valued in

literature (1977: 245).

  As the critic Patrick Cheney has pointed out in his article, “Poe’s Use of the

Tempest and The Bible in The Masque of the Red Death”, the final paragraph of the

story take on a biblical tone, as “the language, rhythm and allusion are unmistakably

Biblical” (1983:34). Most notably, the closing sentence of the story evokes

apocalyptic images of complete devastation: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red

Death held illimitable dominion over all” (1983:34). However, Cheney argues that

unlike the Bible, where God always ultimately triumphs, in Poe’s story it is the forces

of evil, namely “Darkness and Decay and the Red Death” that ultimately triumph,

which suggest an unholy trinity winning out over light and goodness and life

(1983:34).

G. R. Thompson, in The Dictionary of Literary Biography, has pointed out that Poe was “the master of interior monologue of a profoundly disturbed mind”.

  

“The Masque of the Red Death” may certainly be read on a psychological level as just

such an “interior monologue,” the delusional nightmare of a madman. He states,

Poe’s ideal for the short story “aimed at an almost subliminal effect through a

carefully pre-designed and unified pattern.” Poe’s own stories certainly achieved this

ideal in that, as Thompson explains, they “exhibit an architectural symmetry and

  8

proportion and careful integration of details of setting, plot, and character into an

indivisible whole.” According to Thompson, “The vogue of Poe in France continues today with

Poe’s works holding special fascination for the structuralist, post-structuralist, and

deconstructionist cliques of avant-garde criticism.” Interestingly, however, Poe,

although a favorite among readers, is not necessarily considered to be a central figure

in the tradition of English and American writers (1979: 249-97).

  There are some criticisms concerning the symbols and allegory or theme of

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”. However, those criticisms do not

give further analysis; they only state comment or opinion about Poe’s work in “The

Masque of the Red Death”. The writer wants to develop the analysis about the

symbols and the allegory that are found in the short story and how the relationship

between the symbols and allegory reveal the theme of the story. It is different from

the previous analysis because the writer does not want to analyze each of them but

tend to analyze the contribution of the symbols and the allegory to reveal the theme.

  

This thesis would be a further discussion about the contribution of the symbols and

allegory toward the revelation of the theme in “The Masque of the Red Death”.

B. Review of Related Theories

1. Theory of Symbol

  Stanton, Abrams, Roberts and Jacobs, Holman and Harmon, and Stanton give

some definitions about symbols in literary works. According to Stanton in An

  9 Introduction to Fiction, “the symbols may be anything from an egg to the story’s

setting, a single object, a repeated type of object, a physical substance, a shape, a

gesture, a color, a sound, a fragrance. They may represent a facet of a human

personality, the indifference of nature to man’s suffering, futility, ambition, human

responsibility, the romanticism of youth” (1965:31). Stanton classifies symbols as

one of the literary devices, along with style, tone, and irony. Literary devices are “the

author’s methods of selecting and arranging the details of a story so as to create

meaningful patterns”, with the purpose “to enable the reader to see the facts through

the author’s eyes, to see what the facts mean, and thus to share the imagined

experience” (1965: 23).

  Stanton’s theory is supported by Abrams’ statement about symbols, that “they

are an irreplaceable literary device” (1985: 207), as well as Abrams’ definition about

symbol, which is shown in the quotation below.

  In the broadest sense a symbol is anything which signifies something; in this sense all words are symbols. In discussing literature, however, the term "symbol" is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something, or has a range of reference, beyond itself (1985: 207). According to Roberts and Jacobs in An Introduction to Reading and Writing,

symbol in literature pulls or draws together a specific thing with ideas, values,

persons, or ways of life. A symbol might also be regarded as a substitute for the

elements being signifies. In short stories and other types of literature, a symbol is

usually a person, thing, place, action, situation, or even thought. The symbol points

beyond itself to greater and more complex meaning. When a symbol is introduced,

  10

like a key opening lock, it signifies a specific combination of attitudes, a sustained

constancy of meaning, and the potential for wide-ranging application (1987: 279).

While Stanton classifies symbol as one of the “literary devices”, Roberts and Jacobs

classifies symbol and allegory as one of the “writer’s tools”, along with narration,

style, point of view, description, dialogue, commentary, tone, and irony (1987: 65-

69). Roberts and Jacobs define “writer’s tools” as the “modes of presentation”, with

which the authors may create their stories (1987: 65).

  According to Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature, symbol is a

word or objects that stands for another word or object. The object or word may or

may not be visible or easily seen by the eye (1983:151). Laurence Perrine in

Literature Structure, Sound and Sense also support the theory of symbol. It is said

that “a literary symbol is something that means more than what it is. It is an object, a

person, a situation, an action, or some other item that has a literal meaning in the

story but suggests or represents other meaning as well” (1974:211). Perrine gives a

very simple illustration of symbol that can be found in the name of symbolism. In a

story, the author may choose names for the characters that serve not only to label

them but also to suggest something about them.

  In An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton further explains that symbolism in

fiction has three usual effects, depending upon how it is used. First, a symbol that

appears during an important moment of the story underlines the significance of that

moment. Second, a symbol repeated several times reminds us of some constant

element in the story’s world. And third, a symbol that recurs in varying contexts helps

  11

to define or clarify the theme. The same symbol may function in three ways. The

method of interpreting symbols, which are noting the symbol’s connotations,

comparing it to its context, comparing its context to another can be useful, but no

“method” can replace close attention and thought (1965:32-33). In addition, the

meaning of a symbolic character is complex, multiple, and ambiguous. In both

allegory and symbolism the characters, setting, and plot represent something larger

than themselves (Stanton, 1965:62).

2. Theory of Allegory

  Abrams defines allegory as “a narrative fiction in which the agents and

actions, and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived to make coherent sense on

the ‘literal,’ or primary, level of signification, and at the same time to signify a

second, correlated order of agents, concepts, and events” (1985: 4). Meanwhile, Dr.

  

Stephanie Carrez gives the following definition about allegory in her paper delivered

at the conference of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society.

  An allegory only aims at indicating a second level of meaning; it provides a link between an object and an abstract meaning. The two elements remain distinct and the object's sole function is to suggest the secondary meaning. An allegory therefore represents an idea that could be expressed in abstract words, which the interpretation of allegory is finite. As a consequence, an allegory addresses the intellection of the reader and has one clear meaning (http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/page/12218/). According to the Literary Dictionary, allegory is a story or visual image with

a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning, it

involves a continuous parallel between two (or more) levels of meaning in a story, so

  12

that its persons and events correspond to their equivalents in a system of ideas or a

chain of events external to the tale (http://www.literarydictionary.com/allegory/).

  According to Stanton in An Introduction to Fiction, an allegory is a

dramatization of an implied complex statement about politics, religion, morality, or

another organized subject. According to one common distinction, in allegory there is

a “one-to-one” correspondence between each character and his significance, an

allegorical character represents a conventional abstraction, a principle or group or

state of mind whose name and qualities we already know. Stanton also states that the

purpose of allegory is to cause us to act, by reminding us of a truth we know but are

unwilling or unable to recognize. Allegory conveys its meaning chiefly through such

externals as names, physical appearances, and physical relationship (1965:61-62).

  According to Roberts and Jacobs in An Introduction to Reading and Writing,

allegory is a complete and self-sufficient narrative, but it also signifies another series

or level of events or conditions of life as expressed in a habit of thought, a

philosophy, or a religion (1987:281). Roberts and Jacobs classifies symbol and

allegory as one of the “writer’s tools”, along with narration, style, point of view,

description, dialogue, commentary, tone, and irony (1987: 65-69). Roberts and Jacobs

define “writer’s tools” as the “modes of presentation”, with which the authors may

create their stories (1987: 65).

  According to Holman and Harmon’s A Handbook to Literature, allegory is a

narrative that serves as an extended metaphor. Allegories are written in the form of

fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or genre. The main

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purpose of an allegory is to tell a story that has characters, a setting, as well as other

types of symbols that have both literal and figurative meanings. The difference

between an allegory and a symbol is that an allegory is a complete narrative that

conveys abstract ideas to get a point across, while a symbol is a representation of an

idea or concept that can have a different meaning throughout a literary work

(1983:145).

3. Theory of Theme

  Stanton, Norton, Jaffe, and Scott give some definitions about theme in literary

works. Stanton in An Introduction to Fiction defines theme as the “meaning of a story

which specifically accounts for the largest number of its elements in the simplest

way” (1965: 21). Meanwhile, Norton in The Impact of Literature-Based Reading

defines theme as “the underlying idea that ties the plot, conflict, characters, and

setting together into a meaningful whole”, and “a statement that the author wants to

convey about life or society” (1992: 28). Adrian Jaffe and Virgil Scott in The Studies

in the Short Story, states that theme can be defined as “the generalization, stated or

implied, that lies behind the narration at a specific situation involving specific

individuals” (1968:8).

  According to Jaffe and Scott, it sounds not so easy to find a theme in a piece

of fiction. They state that the theme has several characteristics and principles. As the

first principle, the idea of theme should not be equated with that of moral. They say

that sometimes a reader thinks that a theme is a kind of an object lesson that has

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something to do with behavior. The fact is that although sometimes fiction deals with

it, many other stories do not deal with moral. As the second principle, the theme

cannot be stated into a principle or general truth like “honestly is the best policy”

because human experience is more complex than that (1968:9).

  Jaffe and Scott also give an approach to discover theme in a story. The role of

the reader is very great in determining the theme of a work, but general subject, tone

and other elements in the work sets limits to the reader’s freedom to interpret. For

instance, they suggest the reader to pay attention at the characters. Then the readers

should think about the situation where the characters live and how the characters

respond to the situation. At last, the reader should see what happens to the characters

as a result. A theme may be stated from the result. These factors are not absolute to

all thematic stories, but it will work for many stories and should be considered

(1968:10). It means that theme is created on purpose since the character in fiction is

treated like human beings that live in the same world, share similar emotions, react in

similar ways to similar situation, and face common problem. They state that

everything in a literary work can be called as the theme, but the theme is the most

important thing that takes toward something in the literary work.

  In addition, according to Stanton, since everything in the story should help to

convey the theme, we must look closely at any events, characters, or objects that

seem irrelevant to the main line of action. Finally, we look for literary devices, such

as symbolism, irony, and so on. Although these devices cannot carry the theme by

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themselves, they can help to define and emphasize the theme, and they can support a

tentative interpretation (1965:21-22).

  In this study, the allegory and the symbol that represents the other meaning, as well as the literal meaning, reveals or conveys the theme of this short story.

C. Theoretical Framework

  There are three theories that are applied in order to answer the problem

formulated in this study. First, the writer applies the theory of symbol by Carrez,

Harmon, Perrine, Jacobs, and Stanton to answer the first question in the problem

formulation. The theory of symbol is used to analyze the symbols in “The Masque of

the Red Death” and their meanings.

  Then, the writer applies the theory of allegory by Carrez, The Literary

Dictionary, Stanton, Jacobs, and Harmon to identify the element of allegory in the