Research Paper On The Masque Of The Red Death

The Unavoidable Realities of Life In society, most people try to avoid their issues or hardships in life. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” by Edgar Allen Poe, the characters learn that it is impossible to avoid the realities of life. This short story is about a time when a deadly disease spread throughout the country, killing many people. A prince, named Prince Prospero, decided to host a masquerade or party in his castle filled with high-class people and without the red death. Somewhere in this party, the red death entered the castle. In this castle, there are seven rooms of all colors. The last room was black, symbolizing the death of Prince Prospero as the disease had entered the seventh room killing Prince Prospero. To enhance the allegory of human life, in “The

gates of iron” (Poe 1). The castle was large and beautiful, yet it could not prevent the people at the party from the Red Death. The castle also had extensive measures taken to be cautious, like a large iron gate. Even after all of this, the Red Death still found its way into the castle. The castle was not enough to escape the realities of life, including death. The castle, representing the cautious measures and the high class of the people, was not enough to escape the harsh realities of life. In Poe’s story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” he reveals the allegory of human life by describing the layout of the rooms. The rooms were, “Built running from east to west,” (Poe 2). This layout symbolizes human life, as the east symbolizes birth and the west symbolizes death. As the red death enters each of these rooms, it symbolizes aging and the timeline of human life. As the disease reaches the last room, it symbolizes the end of a lifetime. In the last room, Prince Prospero dies. This represents the end of his life as there is nowhere to go after the last room. Poe reveals the allegory of human life, and the theme of the inescapable realities of life, through the layout of the