In Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” everyone involved in Prince Prospero’s party is thinking solely of him or herself. There is a terrible plague going on outside of the gates of Prospero’s mansion, yet everyone inside is indulging in this party and completely overlooking the plight of the outside world. The only thing to remind them of what was happening was the chiming of the clock, which could possibly signify the passing of life. “...After the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embraced three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.” According to Poe and his portrayal of people in this story, people are single-minded and selfish. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the theme of madness is illustrated. By referring to the fissure in the literal house of Usher, and the fissure in the rational consciousness of Roderick Usher, Poe is stating that the nature of humanity is kind of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “ Young Goodman Brown” the theme of humanity’s reliance on others to determine their self worth and the fact that humanity as a whole hides a portion of themselves from everyone, either figuratively or literally is clearly shown. When the old Father Hooper is on his death bed and is asked why he chose to wear the veil over his face, he makes a very valid but disturbing point. “Tremble also at each other! …When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin, then deem me a monster… I look around me and lo! on every visage a Black Veil!” By basically saying everyone, in one way or another is hiding behind a veil, Father Hooper, as well as Hawthorne, is saying that the true nature of humanity is to shield a part of their past or present lives and not reveal it to anybody. Eventually it eats them up. After the Minister started wearing his black veil, he was not invited to share dinner with the people who had always made it a habit to eat with him. When someone around other people confesses to his or her “sin”, it can immediately change every person’s view of them. In the Ministers Black Veil and Young Goodman brown, the main characters both believe that human beings as a whole are wicked. “If it be as thou sayest… We are a people of prayer and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.” As Goodman Brown says this, he does not believe the words coming out of his mouth. He is afraid of himself and the people around him because their deeds are not faithful to his religion so much that he believes the devil is in his presence. It is plain to see through Hawthorne’s work that he, along with the characters he writes about, believes the nature of humanity to be wicked, and no good can come from them.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the theme of madness is illustrated. By referring to the fissure in the literal house of Usher, and the fissure in the rational consciousness of Roderick Usher, Poe is stating that the nature of humanity is kind of
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “ Young Goodman Brown” the theme of humanity’s reliance on others to determine their self worth and the fact that humanity as a whole hides a portion of themselves from everyone, either figuratively or literally is clearly shown. When the old Father Hooper is on his death bed and is asked why he chose to wear the veil over his face, he makes a very valid but disturbing point. “Tremble also at each other! …When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin, then deem me a monster… I look around me and lo! on every visage a Black Veil!” By basically saying everyone, in one way or another is hiding behind a veil, Father Hooper, as well as Hawthorne, is saying that the true nature of humanity is to shield a part of their past or present lives and not reveal it to anybody. Eventually it eats them up. After the Minister started wearing his black veil, he was not invited to share dinner with the people who had always made it a habit to eat with him. When someone around other people confesses to his or her “sin”, it can immediately change every person’s view of them. In the Ministers Black Veil and Young Goodman brown, the main characters both believe that human beings as a whole are wicked. “If it be as thou sayest… We are a people of prayer and good works to boot, and abide no such wickedness.” As Goodman Brown says this, he does not believe the words coming out of his mouth. He is afraid of himself and the people around him because their deeds are not faithful to his religion so much that he believes the devil is in his presence. It is plain to see through Hawthorne’s work that he, along with the characters he writes about, believes the nature of humanity to be wicked, and no good can come from them.
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