The Masque of the Red Death is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous works. Its a story full of grotesque and dark imagery. It is also a tale that parallels the Judgement in the book of Revelations and reveals God in a different light: God as Judge and Avenger. The story of a prince who escapes the horrors of a plague along with 1,000 friends and throws a lavish but grotesque masquerade which ends tragically, illustrates the warning found in Revelation and the inevitability of the Judgement. Like in the Red death, no one is able to hide from the plague, or sin. Everyone will be held accountable. The story warns that death comes in the “midnight hour” and like a “thief in the night.” It is chock-full of symbolism. Thus, the the Red Death represents