Symbols In The Masque Of The Red Death

Everyone fears their own death, thus why some people will do anything to escape it. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, this fear is experienced by all. In the story, a prince named Prospero and his people try to elude the Red Death through seclusion and isolation in the prince's abbey. However, no walls can stop death since it is unavoidable and inescapable. Throughout the story, Poe uses symbols such as the rooms, the masked figure, and the clock to convey the theme that no one can escape death.

inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape death. The prince's name, Prospero,

Edgar Allen Poe's, "Masque of the Red Death" also has many gothic themes. A bloody disease called the Red Death has ravaged a country. Prince Prospero thinks he can hide from this plague and throws a ball to celebrate his victory over it. First, Poe uses several words in this play conveying horror such as fatal, bleeding, blood, redness, and chambers, which are all clue to death.

Prince Prospero decorates lavishly for the masquerade ball. Each room has a different color as a theme, and the windows contain glass stained to match the respective colors of the rooms. Fair colors paint the faces of everyone. At first they wear masks for the ball, but at the story's conclusion, they all bear the bloody mark that signifies the Red Death. The Red Death, which is characterized by ‘scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim,’ has entered the palace unrecognized (“Explanation”

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most well-known authors from the dark romantic age. His story “The Masque of the Red Death” is a short fable about Prince Prospero and the Red Death, better known today as the bubonic plague. The prince is a very rapacious man so when he sees that his kingdom is dying, he chooses to save himself and his companions by bringing them to one of his many castles and simply closing the door on the plague. They continued to live their lavish lives, acting as if nothing was wrong behind the sturdy door of the castle. Then, when Prospero throws a big masquerade, he discovers that an intruder has crashed his party. Out of rage, he goes to stab the man, but, upon reaching the doorway of the room, he drops dead. After a mob of very upset partygoers tears apart the grotesque mask of the intruder, they discover that the “man” underneath is a personified version of the Red Death. Through a psychological lens, one would be able to see the different emotions portrayed through the characters. From beginning to end, “The Masque of the Red Death” brings forth a range of emotions through the characters and their uncontrollable and many times thoughtless actions.

Ben Franklin once said, “Death takes no bribes.” Death is the only thing guaranteed by life, yet the mortal man continues to attempt to elude it and always fails. This theme is prominent in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death.” In this short story, a fictitious disease called the Red Death plagues the world; however, the wealthy endeavor to escape the epidemic plague. Poe uses gothic diction, foreshadowing, and symbolizes a large ebony clock to convey his overall message that death is inevitable despite futile attempts to escape it.

In the story it illustrated examples of how Prince Prospero attempted to avoid death and failed. For example in the beginning of the story there was a quote that said, “All these and security were within, without was Red Death”. What Edgar Allan Poe meant in this quote was that the Red Death was a horrible way to die. The people inside the abbey had assumed they were protected because the disease was on the outside. They were wrong because death was surrounding them, it was just getting closer and closer to the inside of the abbey.

Use of symbolism and imagery have been more than enough for an individual to comprehend this story just by imagining the descriptions. His Gothic style of writing puts you on the edge of your seat. You never know what is going to happen next. The scenery is eye catching and that’s what makes readers look into this story. The setting and situation is far more attractive than the plot or characters. Poe takes his use of literary devices to the next level. Allegory is applied to help the reader understand the true purpose behind Poe’s work. The seven different colored rooms have a stage of life in each room to exemplify life. It shows their progress of reaching death while each hour passing brings them closer to their end. The emphasis that symbolism leaves is far too great for anyone not to interpret them. Poe has significantly positioned clues for the reader to identify the madness that unfolds in this horror

Edgar Allan Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”, is a short story that takes place in the heart of a terrible time where a deadly pestilence takes the lives of those who face it. The main symptom of the Red Death is blood. The other symptoms include “sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution” (Poe 4). What makes this plague so deadly is that the duration of the disease is no longer than half an hour, leaving the victim’s face and body covered with blood. Prince Prospero has grown scared, so he recruits some of his closest friends and goes to a secluded castle in order to rebel against the plague (Poe 4).

Poe’s use of symbolism is very evident throughout the story of “The Masque of the Red Death”. Much has been made about the meaning of the rooms that fill Prince Prospero’s lavish getaway. One such critique, Brett Zimmerman writes, “It is difficult to believe that a symbolist such as Poe would refuse to assign significance to the hues in a tale otherwise loaded with symbolic and allegorical suggestiveness” (Zimmerman 60). Many agree that the seven rooms represent the seven stages of human existence. The first, blue, signifying the beginnings of life. Keeping in mind Poe’s Neo-Platonism and Transcendentalism stance, the significance of blue is taken a step further. Not only does blue symbolize the beginning of life, but the idea of immortality is apparent when considering these ideas. “Perhaps ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ then, is not quite the bleak existential vision we have long thought it to be”, expounds Zimmerman (Zimmerman 70). Poe’s use of each color is significant to the seven stages

In Edgar Allen Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Prospero turns his palace into an eerie venue for his party. The party is thrown in the midst of a plague that has spread rapidly within several months, but Prospero locked his palace to keep the illness out.

Each room has two large windows that correspond in color to their respective rooms, excluding the black apartment in which the windows are stained a blood red color. The last room causes the reader to have rather dreary, dismal feelings of the room, feelings of uneasiness and death. This is in direct contrast with all of the other rooms, as they tend to leave the impression of gaiety and bliss with the reader. The sharp differentiation and vivid description of the last room as compared to all the others gives the reader the feeling that this room is to be of importance later in the story and thereby helps create the atmosphere for the story.

Have you ever read a story where fantasy is the reality and things do not quite make sense? This is true for “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. In it is a version of the black plague, which is called the “Red Death”. Prince Prospero secludes a thousand friends and himself from the death around them, but finds that he cannot avoid the inevitable. The author uses many literary devices to create an interesting and meaningful story. One of the devices used is imagery, which evokes the events of the story clearly in the reader’s mind. Another is allegory, which is used by Poe to create another story within his, as it is filled with double meanings. Lastly, Poe utilizes symbolism to give the story meaning. Edgar Allan Poe uses

As a gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe created horror using gloom as his weapon. Hidden within the suspenseful story of “The Masque of Red Death” is an allegorical tale of how individuals deal with the fear of death as time passes. Frantic activities and pleasures (as represented by Prince Prospero and his guests) seek to wall out the threat of death. However, the story reminds the reader that death comes “like a thief in the night”(Poe 3), and even those who seek peace and safety shall not escape. Poe uses symbolism to illustrate that man cannot hide from his own mortality.

A summary of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. No other disease was comparable to the Red Death, it was unlike any other. People who contracted this horrible disease quickly died from it. Living at the time of this epidemic, was a very powerful man, Prince Prospero. Prince Prospero was staying in a large castle like building, which was quite secluded. Prince Prospero had invited many on his friends to join him there for a masquerade party. Inside, there were seven suite-style rooms. Each room, except the seventh, was associated with a unique color for the windows and decorations. The seventh room had the colors black and red tied to it. A large ebony clock was also located in the seventh room. Throughout the evening,