The Logistics of a Lesson

Parable: A short allegorical story designed to convey some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition). An author will often make a statement advising the audience to read in a manner suited for a parable to ensure the lesson is not overlooked. Hawthorne does this in The Minister’s Black Veil by deeming his story “A Parable” in the subtitle. Poe states in his Philosophy of Composition that he writes tales with an “under-current” (Poe, p.491) or lesson, one such story this applies to is The Masque of the Red Death. Without these reading instructions, the embedded parable is easily overlooked. Common archetypal symbols are found in parables that discuss the timeless biblical sins (greed, lust, murder, etc.).

The tales which follow reveal the consequences for those who immerse themselves in vanity and gluttony. He who wears the mask has become too aware of what his peers preach. To hide something means to be ashamed of it. These people must confront the reality they hide and realize what is true.

THE STRONGHOLD. The people of these stories not only have a mental façade but a physical one, too. In Masque of the Red Death, a prince and his healthy friends and famil

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

Maybe the group has too much faith in their source of happiness; this blind herd thinking only results in confusion.

And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. The veil may be the Minister’s warning to his people that they, too, will be in mourning if they do not recognize their faulted ways. This sole difference is the fulcrum in each parable.

An apprehensive feeling builds with every chime that brings the focus to the dark room on death, but the warning is soon forgotten and the party commences. In The Minister’s Black Veil, the minister heads a congregation that meets regularly in a holy building to shield itself from evil. They are too absorbed in their own masks of happiness to notice the truth. The congregation (often called spectators in the story) also acts as one in communal slander and disapproval of the demon which has possessed their former parson. Whatever the case, time will run out and everyone will be judged. Their delusions lead them to mimic the colorful cheer of each room and believe that they set the tempo. Similarly, the religious multitude was blinded by their own vanity and faith in appearances. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not” (Poe, p. Each of these environments ensures a sense of safety to the people within, who assume they are safe from those evils from which they hide. To and fro… there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams.

Approximate Word count = 1240
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.