Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

Tessa Dillinger

Mrs. Dose

English 9

March 9, 2023

The Masque of the Red Death

Being able to put on a mask and pretend that the outside world does not exist is so easily done by people in their everyday lives. People put on a mask and ignore their problems. This is portrayed in Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death.” The prince owns a castle that has 7 different rooms. Each different room symbolizes a different stage in a person's life. He throws a Masquerade ball for people while a deadly disease goes around killing thousands of people. In the middle of the ball, a stranger shows up and gets chased by the prince throughout the different rooms until they get to the seventh dark room represented by death. At that moment the

Many different people attended this party; most were from Prince Prospero's royal court. Others were “buffoons, there were improvisators, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red Death.” (Poe 1) The Prince had invited everyone in his court to the masquerade ball. It says that all but the red death were invited. This is because all of the people were trying to escape and hide away from the red death. All of the people who were at the party were extremely arrogant and thought that they were above all of the people who were not at the masquerade. “The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within.” (Poe 1) All the people including the prince were arrogant and rude, because of this they believe that they are above others and cannot possibly be touched by the red death. Even though they might be wealthier than many others, death can get to anyone and doesn’t hold back. So when the courtiers were at the ball and people outside were dying they all believed that if they stayed inside they couldn’t be harmed by the red death. The courtiers had thought that they could hide away from death and thought that

Every room has a significant meaning that shows the steps in which one takes throughout their life. “There were seven—an imperial suite. [...] The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. [...] That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue—and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange—the fifth with white—the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue.” (Poe 2) Each of the rooms shows a different stage of a person's life. Blue is when you were born up to the black velvet room representing death. Shades of blue can show life and peacefulness showing the very first stages of life. Black evokes sadness and anger and the harsh feelings that the end of one's life can have. Even though the people attempted to hide away in these seven rooms, the red death still managed to end their lives because they were trying to cheat their way out of it. “The apartments were so irregularly disposed of that the vision was embraced but little more than one at a time.