How Does Edgar Allan Poe Use Symbols In The Masque Of The Red Death

Imagine dancing through the colorful stages of life, birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and such. However, as you progress through life, you can never shake a sense of foreboding lurking behind you. Suddenly, deep, dark, death devours you. Death, everyone faces it eventually. In the story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the theme is, “You cannot avoid death.” Poe develops the theme by using many different symbols throughout the story.

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.

Poe often gives memory the power to keep the dead alive. Which in the short story Poe distorts the aspect of death. By creating a memory as the trigger that reawakens death Poe reveals the theme of the story; that no matter the person's social class death comes for us all. In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” he uses literary elements such as allusion, symbolism, and allegory to convey that death is inevitable.

The image of the rooms used in the story has a main contribution to the theme being conveyed. Prince Prospero's abbey consists of seven different and symbolic rooms. The fact that there were seven rooms is symbolic

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.

One of the most apparent symbols in the text are the bizarre colored rooms. The rooms represent the cycle of life, blue is birth, purple childhood, green adolescence, orange adulthood, white is the elderly years, violet is dying, and finally black is death. The rooms are arranged like the sun rise and set with the blue room all the way in the east and the black at the west end. Furthermore, the rooms have similar styles, all one color with the decor and windows matching said color. However, the black room is different with black velvet curtains, and the windows a blood red color. The light from the hall isn’t able to enter the room so a candelabra was placed behind each window so that it “projected its rays through the tinted glass… And produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered” (2) The

The Masque of the Red Death is a short story written by acclaimed literary author, Edgar Allen Poe. The story is an emphasis on the fact that there is no avoiding death, no matter how hard you try, which is the overall theme. The text tells the story of Prince Prospero whose town is being plagued by the dreaded Red Death. He attempts to avoid the plague by inviting 1,000 of his closest friends, all of which are variably different, to isolate themselves in his palace. Throughout the story, Poe frequently uses symbolism to depict the theme of the Red Death.

The Masque Of The Red Death written by Edgar Allan Poe is a story that incorporates many symbols that is trying to convey a message to the readers. There are humans that are avoiding death because they don’t want to lose their families and friends because of a tragic disease. In the story, there is a terrible disease called “Red Death” which kills millions of people in a masquerade ball that was thrown by Prince Prospero. The symptoms of the “Red Death” are sharp pains, sudden dizziness, profuse bleeding at the pores, and blood stains upon the body and the face of the victims. This lethal disease spread quickly because it happens in just a matter of seconds. People would spot other people with a stain and automatically assumes they have the

In Prince Prospero’s castle, he had a hallway of seven rooms. The rooms went from one direction to another, starting in the east, changing by color as they went. Poe mentioned, “That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue- and vividly blue were its windows” (84). The symbol of the rooms one and seven represents new life and death. With this, Poe shows how the room started in the eastern extremity, just as the sun rises from the east, and is blue just as blue symbolizes life. Poe also writes, “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung down the walls” (84). In this quote, he shows how the last room was black, which symbolizes death. This last room was in the far western extremity. This shows that this was the last room, and everything must end there. Consequently, many people did not notice the two different colors in the room. The first color of that room was black, which was death. The other color was red which can symbolize blood. Also, the colors of these rooms showed how the death could not be kept out. Above all, these colors the stages of life. Therefore, the colors of the rooms showed what was

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.

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

“The Masque of the Red Death” is about a Prince who does not care about his citizens, who are poor and suffering severely. Instead of trying to take care of his people he decides to throw a huge masquerade ball to distract everyone from what is really going on. Everything goes downhill when an unexpected guess shows up. The two most opposing rooms were colored blue and black. Some guests were too terrified to enter the black room because it made them think about death.

the Red Death shows the futile attempts by a prince and his guests of a party,

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.