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How Is The Seventh Room Reflected In The Masque Of The Red Death

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The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe is a rather graphic short story that portrays man’s fear of death. Throughout time man has always at one time or another had a fear of being mortal. Throughout this story Poe utilizes many symbols to portray this fear of the death that man has. The symbols that are the most predominant in The Masque of the Red Death are the different rooms, the color black, and the clock. Throughout The Masque of the Red Death color plays an important part in the author’s portrayal of death. Poe described the seventh room as “shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls” (Poe 2) and the clock that stood in the room as ebony (Poe 2). The room itself represents the darkness and loneness of death. The narrator later states that “there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts” (Poe 2). …show more content…

Poe also assigns different colors with these rooms (Poe 2). These colors stand for life and the different phases that person goes through until they ultimately reach death or the black room. Poe also describes “sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards” (Poe 2). These sharp turns stand more the unexpected twists that happen in everyone’s life. Towards the end of the story when Prince Prospero chases the Red Death both of them go through all the rooms (Poe 3). This furthermore supports that the rooms are the phases of life because Prince Prospero starts out at the beginning and ends up dead in the last room. Man’s fear of the unknown of death is something that will continue for centuries. When Edgar Allen Poe was writing The Masque of the Red Death he was aware of this. Knowing this he included symbols in his work. The ones that stood out the most were the clock, the different rooms, and the color black. Throughout all of our lives we will come to consensus that will are mortal and this story portrays

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To begin, the seven rooms at the gathering were all a significant part of the story, but more so the blue and black room. Based on the text it states, “…in blue-and vividly blue were in its window” (Poe, 421). The text also states, “The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all

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The Masque of the Red Death has a lot of symbolism that has to do with the circle of life- such as the different colors of the seven rooms each meaning one stage of life. The stages of life obviously have relations to death, possibly even being centered around it. The thought is just so artistically

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An example of this imagery the Poe uses is the ebony clock chiming and making the people in the entertainment room go silent in fear. “…. while the chimes of the clock yet rung, it observed that the giddiest grew pale, and more aged and sedate passed their hands

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Poe is often known for his dark, sometimes twisted short stories and poems. “The Masque of the Red Death” is no exception. In this short story, Poe creates and eerie and ominous mood by using a wide variety of literary techniques including imagery, diction, and syntax. Poe’s use of imagery contributes to the dark and mysterious mood of the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death.” In the first paragraph, a sense of darkness is conveyed in the sentence, “There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers.”

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The author explained, “The Red Death had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous,” (Poe 1). You can basically feel and almost touch the suspense especially towards the end when the plot twists

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No matter how hard the guests try to avoid the seventh room, they eventually enter it, as that is their fate and all life must eventually end. Furthermore, the protagonist's impending doom is foreshadowed through the use of the title, “The Masque of the Red Death''. The title, a play on words, can be interpreted as death’s costume ball, foreshadowing that the Red Death will make an appearance at the masquerade. Phrases used throughout the story such as, “for the night is waning away” (Poe 2) reminds the Prince and the guests that the night is coming to an end, as is their inevitable death. Therefore, by warning the reader of the coming doom of the protagonist, Poe’s use of foreshadowing further’s the theme of the inevitability of death and that all life must eventually

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Poe tries to evoke suspense in the reader's mind by using several different

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To explain, Zapf writes, “In a parodistic reversal of the Biblical Act of Creation, the seven differently colored rooms, which are arranged from East to West, and in which the masque takes place, are composed in the form of a symbolic teleology of human life which leads from the color blue to the color black, from light to darkness, from creation to destruction.” Zapf realizes that the order and rooms represent human life itself. From rooms blue to black, light to dark, creation to death; this is the course of human life and the outcome of the people at the party. From carefree partiers to dead in the night, the perpetual tick of the clock to the stroke of the hour, rooms light to dark, blue to black, creation to death— each of these things are different yet one in the same. Poe puts the clock and the seven chambers in the story to disseminate piece by piece the overall purpose and theme.

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No one can defeat Death There once was a young woman, who strived to be immortal, this caused her to bind herself away from the world for years. She decided one day that she had conquered death by changing her fate and goes to venture the town where she met a strange man, who insults her, filled with anger she decides to go after him where she faces death. A very similar situation is portrayed in “The Masque of the Red Death” with the character Prince Prospero, who believes that he has changed his fate by locking himself in his palace for years but this doesn’t end well for him as he faces death in his own home. In “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, irony and symbolism to is used prove that death is inevitable.

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The narrator handles the situation logically and hopefully because of his fear of the unknown and what could be in the room. His careful acts served him right because they led to him overcoming the tortures and punishments. You see the use of symbolism in “The Tell-Tale Heart” used to show the representation of death in the eye. Irony in “The Masque of Red Death” showing Prince Prospero’s failure. And imagery showing how hope and logic leading to success in “The Pit and the Pendulum”.

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In “The Masque of Red Death”, the author includes 7 rooms, one being black, which is where the Prince locks himself in: “There were seven-an imperial suite… The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls…” (pg. 58). The seventh rooms shows how death is always there and always will be. The Prince fears that he’s going to be contaminated, so he does everything in his power to avoid death. The Prince creates an obsession over escaping death, what he doesn’t know is that death has always been there and always

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“As none of the guests, also described as “a multitude of dreams,” are given any specific character traits, they could be interpreted as mere “fantasms” of the Prince's imagination, or imaginary projections of the Prince's psyche”(Milne). Poe’s illustration of the guests projects the false image of humanity and society. Society is another world created by self deception and hypocrisy. The humans that create this community are false beings that try to belong into this world by conforming to society’s standards. Prospero’s society is a representation of his own character: full of ignorance, arrogance,

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Death can never be escaped no matter what. In “The Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allan Poe shows the theme of death, a suspenseful mood, and an ominous tone. Through Poe’s use of literary devices, the reader can discover tone, theme, and mood. Throughout Poe’s life he experienced death with two of his mother’s and his young wife. Death is shown how inevitable it is with Poe’s writing and experiences combined together.

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The overall allegory of these rooms symbolizes the individual stages of life a person goes through. The rooms were “so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time” (Poe 83). People live life not knowing what is behind the next door, leaving the inside unknown until one reaches that particular stage in their life. When “death” arrives at the prince's party, “he makes his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first,” (Poe 87) through every chamber. The details in life are unpredictable, but for the most part, everyone goes through the same general stages.

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As Prince Prospero and the masked guest go from room to room, they are symbolizing the progression of life from birth to death. This is an important symbol in the story because it emphasizes the theme of inescapable death. The next example is the Black Clock in the black room. This symbolizes the span of life. In the story, the clock struck midnight and the Prince’s time was up, symbolizing his life being over.

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