The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short-story about Prince Prospero, “the prince of prosperity”, and the antagonist of our story. Prince Prospero lives in a castle where the most extravagant parties were held for the beautiful, high society people of England. This castle held seven suites where the parties were hosted. These rooms were filled with stained glass windows all bursting with a specific color. One blue, one purple, one green, one orange, another white, one violet, and the last one black. These colors and the seven rooms where they were contained, symbolizes one of the seven deadly sins. While attending the party, you can enter the room of your choice and participate in the sin of your choice free of judgement. …show more content…
They show the reader the deeper meaning behind the story, and help them to understand Poe’s purpose for writing this story. These elements benefit the reader by allowing them to connect with the story and see the bigger picture. Symbolism and personification contribute to our story having achieved its purpose of stating that death was and is inevitable, and the socialites and Prince Prospero could not avoid it, despite their best efforts. Symbolism allows us to look at how the Prince and his party people tried to live out the end of their days by participating in the seven deadly sins as often as possible, and party until their time had come. It allows us to see that they tried to avoid death, but that didn’t work. Death is inevitable and no one could escape it. Personification allows us to look at how the Masked Figure came to the party to make the people see that what they were doing was wrong, and that their fate was unavoidable. He was their wake-up call, even though they didn’t wake up. They didn’t stop their wrong-doings before their time had come. When they realized that what they were doing was wrong, it was already too late. The Masked Figure, the Black Plague, was a new beginning for