The Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

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.

describing the black décor of the room, the narrator says it is "shrouded" in velvet, shrouded

In the "Masque of the Red Death," the first sentence, "The Red Death had long devastated the country," sets the tone for the whole story. Poe describes the horrors of the disease, stressing the redness of the blood and the scarlet stains. The disease kills so quickly that one can die within thirty minutes of being infected with the disease. To create a frightening effect

Poe used the rooms of the fortress as a symbol of the progression of a human life. The fortresses design contains seven distinctly different rooms. H.H. Bell, Jr., an expert on Edgar Allan Poe, has suggested that Poe seems to represent these rooms as an “allegorical representation of Prince Prospero’s life span” (Bell 241). The greatest piece of evidence for this is the order in which Poe arranged the rooms. The first room is positioned in the far eastern side of the mansion and the last room’s placement resides in the far western side. Just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west each day, the arrangement of the rooms suggests the beginning and the end of life. Poe exemplifies this idea with the coloration of the last room. Black, a color connected with night and death, covers the walls in the last room. Also, the color of red seeps through the stained glass windows representing the bloodiness often incorporated with death, particularly the Red Death so feared at this party. Prospero’s guests avoid the last room out of fear, just as the living avoid reminders of death. Meanwhile, music and dancing

In the story there are seven rooms. The last room symbolises the last stage of life, death. In the story it says “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations .The panes here were scarlet a deep blood color” (Poe).

By using different colors and directional location for symbolism, Poe reinforces this theme. For example, our notes directly state that the Seven Colored Rooms are arranged from east to west. These directional locations propose that the furthest to the east room represents birth and beginnings, then as you make your way through the other rooms, (the other stages of life), you finish in the western most room which

Each one having its own unique design and finesse about it. All the rooms were beautiful colored with there own color theme for each. The window pains matched the decoration in all chambers, or did they. The chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture.”Having black curtains and blood red glass panes. Due to the fact that this chamber matched did not match any of the others, which can be matched with an emotion for each, it most likely has a different meaning. The meaning of pain and suffering is the vibe that this chamber gives. The meaning of each chamber can also be related by the feeling of a person. Each room, whether happy, sad, angry, then the last on of course

The color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood color” (Poe 18-21). These rooms are not just representing the colors of each room but the stages of life. Each room is a different color of life. While prince Prospero is going through each room talking to guests he sees a shade and tries to scare it away and even kill. “Solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple --through the purple to the green --through the green to the orange --through this again to the white --and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers” (Poe 74-77). As he tries to kill it though he goes into the black room where he dies. The black is representing death with its blood red windows and the black colors on the wall as if it was part of the underworld. The rooms in this story represent the stages of life and most importantly, the black room represents

Have you ever read a story where fantasy is the reality and things do not quite make sense? This is true for “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. In it is a version of the black plague, which is called the “Red Death”. Prince Prospero secludes a thousand friends and himself from the death around them, but finds that he cannot avoid the inevitable. The author uses many literary devices to create an interesting and meaningful story. One of the devices used is imagery, which evokes the events of the story clearly in the reader’s mind. Another is allegory, which is used by Poe to create another story within his, as it is filled with double meanings. Lastly, Poe utilizes symbolism to give the story meaning. Edgar Allan Poe uses

Liz Brent states, ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s short story ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ may be interpreted variously as a parable for man’s fear of death.’ This specific quote gives great description on the feelings of the main character in this story. The conflicts overall play a major part in the story. As Kenneth Graham says, “If time is the destroyer of all things material, so, too, is the pendulum the destroyer in the pit, and the ebony lock in.” The critic is explaining the overall conflict of this story, and displays how the ebony clock is the symbol for death. In all, conflict is important to the story, as it ties back to the themes and describes the problems occurred.

The Masque of Red Death doesn’t really have much in common with people, but one thing they do have in common is death. Death is the one thing that no one can stop. In the “Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe, the symbols in the story are the uninvited guest, the ebony clock, and the prince’s abbey. These symbols represent that man can never run away from death. Poe uses so many symbols so he can describe and tell how he feels about the disease.

The seven rooms in the house also conveyed stages in life ending with death. These rooms were set up from east to west. This meaning that the sun comes up in the east and goes down in the west, and death comes in the darkness. "In this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet--a deep blood color." The guest's avoided this room because it was a sign of death.

“In Masque of the Red Death” , Edgar Allan Poe uses Symbols to show that no matter who you are, how rich you are, and how much you try, death will end you.

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

Poe uses gothic diction to create a foreboding and ominous atmosphere. Poe is famous for his use of gothic diction and is known as the father of the modern horror genre. Prince Prospero's Abbey is the setting of the story. The abbey has seven rooms with all but one of them being vibrant and lively: “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls”(43). The divergence of the dark seventh room from the rest of the vivid abbey creates an ominous ambiance. The morbid room is also in direct contrast to the mood of the jubilant masque. After dusk, lights and fires in large bowls upon tripods illuminated all the rooms of the Abbey. As the night darkened, “the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme… there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts”(44).