The Bubonic Plague In The Masque Of The Red Death

Many would agree that humanity will always try to find a way to escape death. In the chilling short story “The Masque of the Red Death,” Edgar Allen Poe exposes this truth and brings it to light. When the Red Death plague was near its end, Prince Prospero gathered his closest friends and family for a celebration of life. All in the castle were having fun until a mysterious figure costumed as a mummer, appeared at the party. Prince Prospero ordered everyone that attended, to seize the masked man but no one moved, causing Prospero to do it himself. The mummer moved throughout all the rooms finally stopping in Room 7, the place where Prospero and his friends are infected by the red death. To enhance his allegory of the bubonic plague in “The Masque

Poe uses Room 7 in the story to enhance the feeling that death will occur, but a lot of unknowingness and fear come along with it. Poe writes, “The seventh apartment as 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…The panes were scarlet–a deep blood color” (Poe 84). This depicts Poe’s view and fear of death. All the rooms in the castle are decorated and inspired by the color of the rainbow, and all the decorations in that room fit according to the color. However, the seventh room does not. It is decorated in black tapestries but has a red paned window, instead of a black or grey window. The one that decorated the room wanted a meaning far beyond that of just a color, they wanted it to symbolize death. Because of the window, it sent a sight that, “was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot in its precincts at all (Poe 84). The symbol that is being portrayed in the seventh room is the symbol of death. Not many people were to enter Room 7 because of its appearance and the resemblance to the thing that most are scared of, death. Prince Prospero decided to have the party with all of his friends because they had escaped the

Through Prince Prospero, Poe illustrates madness and lack of reality. Poe states that when the red death was nearing its end, Prince Prospero brought together “a thousand hale and lighthearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court,” (Poe 82) showing that Prospero only wanted the best in his presence. With only the higher class in the castle, Prospero felt at ease and could enjoy himself. However, when the mummer entered the castle, no one was willing to stop him and this antagonized the Prince. At the sight of someone of a lower social class “he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage” (Poe 87). Prospero was in a state outside of reality and could not deal with one of a different