Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “Masque of the Red Death”, is filled with multiple symbols that all take part in expanding the story’s message as an extended metaphor. The story focuses on the inevitability of death and how even wealth is unable to defy its strong hold on us. With his use of the masked figure, different colors, and the ebony clock, each representing something different, Poe uses this story as an allegory.
The masked figure showing up uninvited is a direct symbol of Death itself, which is what the citizens are trying to escape in the first place. By his unexpected visit, it is understood that it portrays how death is ultimately unavoidable and can be unpredictable. No matter how hard Prince Prospero tries running away from his unfortunate fate, it “chases” him down until he is caught. “...Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all” (Poe 434). Using this as an allegory, gives the reader a look into something dark and unpleasant that people try so hard to overlook and disregard.
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Poe also adds the ebony clock, a major and symbolic part to his story.
This magnifies the idea that death is always creeping around and cannot be stopped. This seems to be a major theme running in the story. This is why many of these symbols are so important to the tale and run together to create this idea. The obnoxious noise that overpowered their evening could not be put to rest no matter how hard they try blocking it out; The “..pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang” (432). The sound always seems to discourage their mood. “...The giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation” (432). It is a constant interruption to their normal party routine, relating how death and hardships hinder people’s daily lives when they are struck with this kind of tragedy and cannot move
forward. Another important symbol of this allegory is the color imagery Poe uses. The color red is used in a majority of this story, with the masked figure and the velvet red curtains in the final room. “The panes here were scarlet- a deep blood color” (432). It represents blood and death. The ebony black color seen on the clock and the last room represents darkness and creates an eerie feeling for the reader. It can also create a sense that something bad is about to happen. All of the colors in each room cover a different stage of life, progressing up the final stage, death. For example, blue represents birth, adulthood is orange, and death itself is black and red. Not to mention, the seven rooms are an allusion to Shakespeare’s poem “7 Stages of Man”. As an allegory, the purpose of the "Masque of the Red Death" is to tell a story through symbols and concepts. They come together as a representation of a moral or political message to relay to the reader using characters and events. With all the symbols and deeper meanings behind the story, like the masked figure, the color imagery, and the clock, Poe creates this thrilling, eerie tale to have a meaning far beyond what the words can say.
Edgar Allan Poe's writing style is based on the supernatural and the unknown. In The Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero invites the revelers to come to the castle to party until the danger of pestilence is gone. The party was interrupted by an intruder who was dressed in all black (like the Grim Reaper) and was associated with the plague of the "red death." The reaper killed everyone one by one in the end. The Masque of the Red Death is an allegory. An allegory is symbols that are presented in the story that have two levels of meaning. An example can be the clock in the story. The clock told time and represented the time they had left before they died. There were seven chambers that were different colors, and the last chamber was black, which was the last chamber that represented death. I think the seven rooms symbolized the days until you die and the clock symbolized the time until you died.
All people wish to avoid suffering, and those with wealth usually take too long to realize that they cannot avert it. In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe tells the readers of death, and how the upper class deals with it. In this story, Prince Prospero and his wealthy friends hide away in a castle to evade death. This obviously does not work, as death is inevitable, but of course, they attempt to save themselves anyways. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, Poe uses the courtiers, Prince Prospero, and the stranger to symbolize the members of the influential upper class and their habit of using their power to postpone their own impending doom.
the countenances of those who enter it that there are few…bold enough to set foot within it".
In many stories, authors use symbolism, which is using symbols to represent something, to show a moral. “The Masque of the Red Death,” is a fictionalized story about a deadly disease that pervades through a country, killing many people. A young prince, in an effort to save himself and his elite friends and family, he withholds them all in his grand castle. The castle is unique in that it has seven very distinct rooms, that all seem to represent something important. In the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, the seven colored chambers symbolize the cycle of human life, from birth to death.
Firstly, The Masque of the Red Death is a short story that dwells on a wide variety of societal issues. On the other hand, The Raven adopts the form of a poem, which is especially notable for its dramatic and melodic properties. The poet uses the refrain of “Lenore” and “nevermore” in order to emphasize the narrators’ troubled interaction with death (Poe, The Works of Edgar Allen Poe). Furthermore, The Raven employs allusion in its attempt to explain the mysteries surrounding death. The poet seeks to know whether there is “balm in Gilead” in reference to the hope of life after death demonstrated in various religious faiths such as Christianity. In The Masque of the Red Death the author addresses death’s inevitability and its wider implication on the society (Poe). The short story addresses the ability of epidemics to wreck havoc on populations. Furthermore, the short story addresses the authority’s selfishness and incompetence when it comes to addressing pivotal issues affecting people. Instead of finding ways of protecting people from further infections, the prince selfishly runs away from the rest of the population. Whereas death finally catches up with everybody regardless of one’s social status, the short story plays a pivotal role in highlighting leadership discrepancies that plague many civilized
When Prince Prospero first sees mummer known as the Red Death “ he was seen to be convulsed in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror of of distaste…” This creates suspense by giving the reader a cold feeling of the presence of a new individual. When the prince realizes that the Red Death is up to no good he decides to take matters into his own hands. Prince Prospero takes a dagger and chases the mummer threw all of the rooms. Suddenly, “There was a sharp cry- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero.” The reader now realizes that the prince has been murdered by an unknown force which gives the individual an uneasy feeling. In conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe creates suspense throughout this short story using symbolism and imaginary, sensory
The characters in “The Mask of the Red Death” include Prince Prospero (who is the only person that speaks in the story), a multitude (a thousand) of the Prince’s wealthy friends, and the masked figure, which doesn’t appear until the end of the story. Prince Prospero’s name signifies happiness and good-fortune. Ironically, this is not the tone of the story. The prince is an unusual man with strange tastes. “His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric luster". After half of his dominions were killed by the disease is...
Edgar Allen Poe, in the short story “The Masque of the Red Death”, shows how people may try to outsmart death and surpass it, but in the end they will die since death is inevitable. He reveals this in the book by showing all the people closed up in the abbey that belongs to Prince Prospero. They are trying to escape the “Red Death” and think that they can escape the death by hiding away in the abbey. They manage to stay safe for six months but in the end they all die after the stroke of midnight during the masquerade ball Prince Prospero puts on from the Red Death itself which appears after midnight and leaves no survivors in the end. Poe develops the theme of how no one can escape death through the use of the point of view, the setting, and symbolism.
Towards the end of the story, the people encounter the masked man resembling the Red Death and Prospero chases him through the rooms. When the people follow Poe states “ Then summoning the wild courage of despair a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment.”(10). They avoided the black room all night but when all the chaos happened they threw themselves in the room to find out what happened. Just like they eventually went into the room they were avoiding, they eventually all died. The black room symbolizes death, the room was always they and unavoidable just like death
“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about the red death, terror, and death. Within the story, there are many ways symbolism is shown. One of the main ways this story shows symbolism is the ebony clock. The ebony clock is located in the black room, meaning that the clock could symbolize death, as well as life because of the chimes that happen every hour.
“The Masque of the Red Death” was written by Edgar Allen Poe in the 19th century. This story was written during the Gothic era. The stories that are written in the Gothic era is usually has to do with death, and lots of people were fascinated by the stories. There are many symbols in “The Masque of the Red Death”, yet I chose three, the first is all the colors of the room, second is the ebony clock and the last is the inside and outside of the abbey.
Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death is an elaborate allegory that combines
In “The Masque Of The Red Death” the princes pride and arrogance is shown in his actions when, the prince and his guest head into the heavily fortified abbey. The Prince thinks the abbey is the safest because,” A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts.”(Poe 3) By doing this Prospero thinks he has been able to stop the plague from spreading to him and his guest, and by extension his death. What the Prince does to his hideout shows how irrational people are thinking when pride gets to them such as going as far as to barricade themselves and anybody with him/her to isolation from society. During hiding the Prince entertains himself, “and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.”(4) While his subjects are being killed by the plague he is hiding from death. But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold
He was wearing very different from others. His mask looks like the face of a “corpse,” and his face has spots of blood suggesting that he is a victim of the Red Death. Nobody knows who this stranger is, but everyone is horrified, trying to see who invade the party. The mystery guest walks through the castle, and nobody stops him. He travels from east to west, from the blue room to the black. Prospero becomes angry that someone with so little humor would join his party. “who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him—that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements!” Prospero follows the unknown to see who invaded his party. This progression from east to west, performed by both Prospero and the mysterious guest, symbolizes the human journey from birth to death. Finally, in the black room, Prospero captures him, he tries to reveal the person but dies quickly. When the guests enter the room to attack him, they find that there is nobody beneath the costume. Everyone then dies, for the Red Death has infiltrated the castle; there is no way to run from
Edgar Allan Poe is known for his masterful writing on all aspects of mortality, but his famous short story “The Masque of the Red Death” proves to be more than a simple story about death. While it is about death, Poe’s short story can be read and applied as a cautionary tale whose purpose is to illustrate a worthy way to live and die by portraying the opposite of both. This interpretation comes about when the story is viewed through the lens of New Criticism. This viewpoint shows how the story uses its formal elements converge to create one complex theme. Poe’s short story develops its theme through the use of paradox, tension, irony and ambiguity, all of which come together to identify