Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” Gothic writing uses multiple elements to give it a scary feel. Poe does this by using a combination of these characteristics. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allan Poe includes gothic characteristics to prove no one can escape death. The inclusion dark castles was popular among romantic writers. In Poe’s story he describes the dark castle and the isolation of it. For example, only the people that aren’t sick with the plague can be at the castle. The castle was“ an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. 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 1) Gothic horror has dark castles and isolated settings. In the story they describe the castle and how it is isolated from everything and everyone else. In the masque they try to run from death by keeping all the healthy people in the castle

In Poe’s story he describes this mask figure that no one know who or why this person is at the castle. The figure “was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.” (Poe 5) In the quote it talks about the figure and the things he’s doing to be very secretive. In the Castle there is a figure going around that isn’t known by the people. In the story the people think they can escape death by isolating themselves. The masque figure ends up killing them with the plague. By living in the castle the people try to escape death but the masque figure proves that no one can escape