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Symbolism In Masque Of The Red Death

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The Prosper of Death: Revealing the Theme in "Masque of the Red Death" In gothic horror short story "Masque of the Red Death," Edgar Allan Poe writes about how Prince Prospero’s fear and obsession lead him to an inevitable psychological death. Poe reveals the message that phobias can cause people to lose sanity, regardless of who you are. This idea is conveyed through setting, characters, and symbolism. The setting in "Masque of the Red Death" is a symbol for Prince Prospero's mind and his isolation from the phobias that haunt him. The story takes place in a palace that is completely walled off. Everyone in the castle is oddly cheerful even though there is a disease killing people outside the castle walls.... In actuality, the castle represents the Prince's mind and his mental isolation from the phobias that haunt him. Prince Prospero is goes insane due to obsession and barricades himself in a place he thinks will keep him safe, his …show more content…

Prince Prospero fears the Red Death. His qualms due to the fixation become so great that he locks himself in a castle where he designs with an odd arrangement of seven apartments. Each complex is entirely composed of a single color: "...the eastern extremity was...in blue...in the west [a] black chamber" (Poe 421). When the Prince sees the Red Death he chases the masked man from the blue to black room. It is in this western, black room that Prospero is killed by the ghastly figure. The east represents the beginning, and the color blue corresponds to sanity and serenity. On the other hand, black is an archetypal symbol for death and the west is the epitome for the end(e.g. the end of the day). Prospero’s run from the blue room to black room represents his journey chasing an obsession similar to a sane man to being overtaken by his phobia. When the Red Death stabbed Prince Prospero, his sanity was

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