What Does The Room Symbolize In The Masque Of The Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death Essay
Symbolism, as used in many of Edgar Allen Poe’s allegories (a short story or poem that has hidden meaning), means to represent something. Throughout Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death the color of the rooms and the ebony clock were key types of symbolism that were used to help develop the theme that death is inevitable. For example, no matter how much money or protection from the plague Prospero had, he and his friends inevitably died.
The colors of each room represent a different stage of life starting in the east and ending in the west. The room farthest to the east is the blue room which represents birth. This is the room that Prospero begins chasing the masked man in. The second room is purple which represents the beginning of growth. The third room is green, which means adolescence or youth. The next room is orange, which represents adulthood. The fifth room, which is white, represents age. The sixth room, violet, means imminent death. Finally the last room, being black, represents actual death. In addition, the black room had a deep red stained window. This deep red represents blood, which, when put together represent a bloody death. This is accurate because in the end Prosper was stabbed while standing

in the black room which was a bloody death.
In the beginning of the story, all of Prospero’s friends were exploring the “castellated abbey” and looking at all the different rooms.

As they made their way to the black room they all avoided entering it. This implies that they all feared death. In addition, when the man in the mask first appears Prospero chases him, starting in the blue room and ending inevitabley in the black room. This chase symbolizes prospero’s life starting at birth in the blue room, and running through all the rooms making his way to his inevitable death. After that, as Prospero chases the masked man through the rooms into the black one, the people hesitated to enter which backs up the idea that they were afraid of

death.
Another important use of symbolism was the ebony clock. This clock as described in the story represents a timer until death comes. Every hour the clock rang and reminded the people that death was near. In addition, Every time the clock rang, it “killed” the life of the party, as stated in paragraph 4 of The Masque of the Red Death, “And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as the stand. But the echoes of the chime die away -- they have endured but an instant -- and a light, half subdued laughter floats after them as the depart.” This section describes how as the clock strikes, the life of the party dissipates for a single moment. The Orchestra stops playing, the people stop dancing, and it becomes silent as people realize that death is coming near, but as the ringing comes to a stop, the people become happy again, and forget that the end is near. In addition to the clock representing the death of everyone, at the end of the story, directly following the death of the people, the ebony clock goes out. This symbolizes the end in many ways; the end of life, the end of the story, and the end of time.