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

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).

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