And the Truth Is, You Can't Escape the Truth

In "The Masque of Red Death" a wealthy crowd has held themselves up in a castle as a mysterious plague ravages the rest of the country. Eventually though "The Red Death" catches up to them, because being human they cannot excape what is reality. And death is reality. If we want to examine this tale from the standpoint of human innocence vs. irrepressible depravity, we can see the quest for innocence in the way the people hide from the Red Death in a castle. While a sickness (and for our purpose of demonstrating the depravity of humans, a sickness of the mind) is consuming everyone in the land, the nobles are trying to flee it. So here we have the best of the best in the country, not just any joe blow, trying to escape this disease. To distract themselves, the protagonist hosts a party within the walls of the castle. It is not just any party however, it is a masquerade. If we want to be extremely literal we could say that the party is a maquerade because subconciously the people know they are trying to escape the depravity that they know is a part of human nature. The masks allow inner demons to come out while protecting the identity and therefore the faked innocence of the person. Ultimately however, it is allegorically proven that as the people at the party cannot escape death, so cannot any human escape their base nature. For at the end of the party, a figured dressed as the Red Death appears at the party. Where he came from is not revealed but despite their efforts, he is there. When the host, Prince Prospero, attempts to confront the figure he is immediately stricken down. After, all of the other guests at the party contract the Red Death and die shortly thereafter. So we see, despite their best efforts, reality caught up with everyone, even the nobles. In the story the reality is death, but allegorically speaking it is depravity. The moral we can conclude is despite the efforts of the most "noble" humans, what is human nature is reality, and what is reality cannot be escaped.

With "The Birthmark" the moral is about the same, but approached from a slightly different direction. Here we have a model of human perfection, or as close as the protagonist thinks there can be, in Alymer's wife, Georgiana. Except for one thing. The only thing that mars his bride is a birthmark on her cheek. Other men in the past had found it endearing or attractive even, but her husband is utterly horrified by it. It eats at him (guilt, anyone?) until finally he suggests removing it, and upon seeing how disturbed her husband is by her birthmark, Georgiana finally agrees. There is a catch however, upon trying to remove the blemish, he discovers that it is so much a part of her it goes all the way to her heart and total removal of it also means the death of her. So obsessed with human perfection (which we see is impossible) he kills his wife trying to do away with a single flaw. Given the view of Puritanism at the time it was written, one could realize that this single flaw only begins to eat away at Alymer after they marry is because of the act of consumating the marriage. The blemish is a symbol for sex, which is a depraved act of man. And try as hard as one might (he kills his wife for goodness sake) one cannot escape the base act, because it is part of human nature, much like the blemish is such a part of Georgiana that its removal means her death.

And so you have the truth, the reality of human nature that cannot be fled, humans are depraved creatures despite anything they may do to be otherwise. Sweet Dreams.