The Masque Of The Red Death Symbolism Essay

The author, Edgar Allan Poe, using illusion or misdirection keeps the reader is suspense throughout this story called "The Masque of the Red Death". Symbolism such as the colored rooms, the impressive clock, the feeling of celebration being at a party all makes this story feel like a fairytale. Poe used this fairytale style and converts it into a nightmare in disguise.

Throughout the gothic horror short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the struggle of an egotistical prince who refuses to face the inevitable reality of death. Through the downfall of the protagonist, Poe establishes the idea that the inability to face reality often leads to the destruction of the mind. The downfall of the Prince is emphasized by Poe’s use of characterization, setting, and symbolism.

Edgar Allen Poe’s chilling short story Mask of the Red Death begins with people dropping like flies, as the king of the land decides to take his close friends with him to live in one of his palaces. leaving his subjects to survive on their own. A puzzling creature known as the Red Death has been terrorizing and killing off people one by one, and no one has a way to stop it. Through characterization of both Prospero and the Red Death, Poe foreshadows Prospero’s eventual death in the end of the story.

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.

Liz Brent states, ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s short story ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ may be interpreted variously as a parable for man’s fear of death.’ This specific quote gives great description on the feelings of the main character in this story. The conflicts overall play a major part in the story. As Kenneth Graham says, “If time is the destroyer of all things material, so, too, is the pendulum the destroyer in the pit, and the ebony lock in.” The critic is explaining the overall conflict of this story, and displays how the ebony clock is the symbol for death. In all, conflict is important to the story, as it ties back to the themes and describes the problems occurred.

The fires in each of the suite rooms serve as a representation of death. Poe depicts

Edgar Allen Poe's “The Masque of the Red Death” is an extravagant allegory of the futility of trying to escape death. In the story, a prince named Prospero tries to avoid the Red Death through isolation and seclusion. He hides behind the impenetrable walls of his castle and turns his back on the rest of the world. But no walls can stop death because it is unavoidable and inevitable. Through the use of character, setting, point of view, and symbol, Poe reveals the theme that no one, regardless of status, wealth or power can stay the passing of time and the inevitable conclusion of life itself, death.

“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are best shadowly and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” (Poe). There is no such thing as having the ability to predict or tame the wrath of death, for all we can do is learn to accept it. In the story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, the main character, Prospero, shows through his arrogant actions that death will forever overpower the human instinct to stay alive. Poe uses symbolism to convey the battle between man and nature through the idea of the masquerade that serves as a fortress against the wrath of the disease, an excuse to disguise the true colors of man, and the honest truth that man will never become immortal.

The standard perception concerning human limitations has it that the potential of humankind knows no bounds. Yet, the cycle of life disproves this recurrent opinion of human potential. Based upon the realistic scope of their own abilities, the phrase, “the sky’s the limit”, are well within the bounds of the timeless concepts of life and death. These ideas are common points amongst works of literature from the American Romantic Period. Moreover, one of the most prominent Romantics is Edgar Allan Poe, who utilizes seemingly natural attributes of human interactions, and expands them out of proportion in order to reveal the gloominess of those said attributes. Poe’s literary works encompass many aspects that are reflective of the Romantic Period; his works include the acknowledgement of nature or setting, emphasis on individuals and groups of people, and elements of the supernatural; such use of Romantic attributes also leads to a plausible interpretation of an indirect rejection of the establishment of religion. The utilization of these qualities appears frequently in Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, which is a fictional account of a burgeoned plague and its multitude of effects on the wealthy survivors. Furthermore, a key point in the short story is the particular choice of setting: a gothic quarantine, which intertwines many Romantic elements. In particular, the quarantine of “The Masque of the Red Death”, is a symbol of human limitations and the

Edgar Allen Poe, completely transformed the horror genre with his tales reflecting the psychological depth and insight of the the human conditon not previously seen (Poe Museum, no date). Despite his alignment with the horror genre, he was initially taken in by the romantic ideals of consumption. This is portrayed in one of his early short stories, ‘Metzengerstein’, from 1832, where despite the majority of the story following many gothic conventions, the protaganist’s mother dies of consumption. The narrrator of the story asserts that ‘…it is a path I have prayed to follow…I would wish all I love to perish of that gentle disease’ when referring to the mother’s impending death. The narrator’s desperation to die from consumption is implied through the use of the verb ‘prayed’. This verb has connotations of wishing or hoping strongly for a particular outcome (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017): despite the horrific and drawn out process of the disease that we now understand in the 21st Century, this character still desires it thus reflecting the general insensitivty towards the disease. Although influenced early in his career by the romanticized stance on consumption, he changed his portrayal of the disease completely in his short story ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, published in 1842. Very little had advanced in the medical understanding of consumption, but between Poe writing the aforementioned text and ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, his own wife had contracted the disease

Death is a terrifying prospect for most people , imagine being face to face with it. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”, the revelers were in this very situation. Prince Pospero’s country was devastated by the Red Death. A plaque that resulted in a painful, gruesome, death. Prince Pospero being the selfish uncaring man he is, locked himself and a thousand of his lighthearted friends in his abbey to hide from the Red Death. After 6 months of seclusion Prince Pospero throws a masquerade to celebrate that they were still free of the Red Death. It was at this masquerade a gruesome mummer appeared shortly before Prince Pospero and all the revelers to died of the Read Death. In this story Poe personifies death through the mummer who

When it comes to reading literature the most challenging yet important task is to understand the purpose of the author's writing. In Romantic era literature understanding the emotions and thoughts that are created in the reader's mind are essential to gaining a clear message that the writer is trying to send. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” the narrator immediately introduces the “Red Death”; a disease that has been spreading throughout Prince Prospero’s country; killing his people within half an hour of contracting the disease. Throughout the story the author continuously uses diction and syntax to create suspense and evoke a grim tone to the reader. In the “Masque of The Red Death” Poe produces fearful imagery in the reader's mind through creating a supernatural presence in the setting.

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

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

Poe used the rooms of the fortress as a symbol of the progression of a human life. The fortresses design contains seven distinctly different rooms. H.H. Bell, Jr., an expert on Edgar Allan Poe, has suggested that Poe seems to represent these rooms as an “allegorical representation of Prince Prospero’s life span” (Bell 241). The greatest piece of evidence for this is the order in which Poe arranged the rooms. The first room is positioned in the far eastern side of the mansion and the last room’s placement resides in the far western side. Just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west each day, the arrangement of the rooms suggests the beginning and the end of life. Poe exemplifies this idea with the coloration of the last room. Black, a color connected with night and death, covers the walls in the last room. Also, the color of red seeps through the stained glass windows representing the bloodiness often incorporated with death, particularly the Red Death so feared at this party. Prospero’s guests avoid the last room out of fear, just as the living avoid reminders of death. Meanwhile, music and dancing