Diction In The Masque Of The Red Death

Everyone will die; most likely not at this very moment but put trust in time that everyone will eventually. It is unfortunate to society that all that is born, will die. This theme is apparent in the short story titled The Masque of the Red Death written by the infamous Edgar Allan Poe who uses word diction as well as symbolism to create the theme that no matter how hard one tries, one cannot escape death. The underlying theme is interpreted in an anomalous fantasy about the surprising and gruesome departures of a Prince and his exclusively wealthy companions in a futile effort to escape the bloody disease that rids the outside world; The Red Death.
Poe elegantly hints at the gory theme in multiple occurrences with chilling word choice. In

the beginning, Poe states the Prince’s foolish attempts to evade the Red Death, metaphorically death, by narrating Prince Prospero’s actions’ purpose; “. . . might bid defiance to contagion”.

He has set the tone in which he illuminates humans’ desperate desire to escape death. However, to any reader who has completed reading the text, they know this attempt will be in pitiful vain. One cannot simply ‘bid defiance’ to the natural order of life. Furthermore, Poe begins to report their fear of death by making it clear that the guests tend to avoid the black room, which in actuality, represent death. Nevertheless, despite their dismay, towards the ending of the story, this quote shows that entering the room, or death, will be unavoidable whether they are willing to do it or not; “. . . none of the maskers who venture. . . threw themselves into the black apartment.” Specific parts of this much longer quotes have been singled out to reveal that even though the guests felt a fright towards that room at the start, they contradict their own unwillingness by subsequently throwing themselves into the room to attack the masked figure later on. This discloses that no matter one’s fear and undesire for their own demise, it will indubiously occur. Poe also uses great detail in describing these black rooms, pointing our distinct features of each room, especially the black room; “The panes here were scarlet-a deep blood color.”. The specific word of blood is commonly associated with inappropriate gore, injury and or death. It is seen in

TV and books in modern society, but specifically in the short story, blood most definitely represents certain death due to the disease The Red Death. Finally, by the closing of the The Masque of the Red Death, Poe affirms “Darkness and decay and The Red Death held illimitable dominion over all” to drive the main theme of inevitable and unstoppable death straight through the reader’s mind. This quote explains that the power of death has no limits and society has no power to stop it. Poe has masked the gloomy concept by disguising upcoming doom as the gory plague that slaughters all the mortal fools who thought they could simply hide from their execution.
Besides diction, Poe also elludes the audience of the unfortunate message by having it buried into the seemingly and somewhat ordinary characters, settings and object introduced in the story.

One of the only distinguishable characters of the short story was Prince Prospero. His name obviously represents prosperity in some way or the likes of it at least, however, due to his eventual passing despite being royalty surrounded by expensive accommodations and wealthy companions, the audience will know that his clever and comfortable attempt to evade death was for nothing. This denotes that everyone will die. Regardless his economic and social status, it means nothing in terms of dying. Those societal factors are irrelevant in one’s time of death. Another symbol Poe injects to emphasize the theme is the abbey/fortress the Prince builds. It was an attempt to shield away from the raging plague. The fortress represents an endeavored escape of death, as the extended metaphor. But despite the emphasis that was put into the excessive amount of external protection as well as the glorious amount of partying and riches possessed by the Prince and presumably the upper class, said aristocrats were inevitably killed by time. The failure in living despite the conditions, strategies, and protective location comes to show that in the time of one’s death, their specific location cannot protect them from their expiration. They could simply be at home or in a military base but this changes nothing

to their mortality. The final symbol presented is the masked figure. The uninvited guest is the undesired however indubious termination of the falsely hopeful humans but throughout the other symbols and diction, it has become clear this guest is death. The Prince commits all seven deadly sins in the story however a few particular ones are commited when confronted by death. Wrath and envy is evident when he displays his disgust and anguish when he realizes how powerless his compared to the Grim Reaper. People feared him and felt disgusted due to the morbid emotions death elicits as well as how unstoppable it is. Death is also very unexpected in a majority of circumstances, thus described as a ‘thief in the night’, striking randomly after six months of peace for the Prince and his guests. Nobody there wanted to die; making death ‘uninvited’, his presence a mixture of terror and despair with his bloody and decaying appearance. Death penetrated the supposed ‘fortress’ and slaughtered the ignorant beings with no reckon to social and economic statuses.
In conclusion, Poe uses word diction and plants symbolism into the fory short story to represent the concept of unstoppable death.