Symbolism in the Masque of the Red DeathEssay Preview: Symbolism in the Masque of the Red DeathReport this essayArrogance KillsEdgar Allen Poes “The Masque of the Red Death” is a typical dark Poe story, but it contains some unique themes and symbolism. In the story a disease known as the Red Death is ravaging the fictional place where the story is set, and it causes its victims to die quickly and painfully. Even though this disease is spreading rampantly, the prince, Prospero, does not care. He decides to lock the gates of his palace in order to keep away from the plague, ignoring the illness that is ravaging the land. Although he possesses the wealth to assist his people, he uses his wealth to protect all the rich people (Poe 386). This story is full of multilayered symbolism and allegory for how Poe viewed life and America in general.
Poe says this in the introduction to his book: “Bourg-Sauve is a story about a black person who wakes up in an abandoned building after a horrific year, when he starts to suffer from a chronic disease. This plague is going to kill him, and his only hope is to save others’ lives. Now his only hope is to kill others for his own sake. Because of this plague, Poe writes, the Red Death makes its way to his capital, and in the process sets him back, for sure.” I agree, but the idea is different: There are many other similar stories coming out, and this is one of the best of them. I had never read or heard of a major Poe story, so I’m going to focus on this one here. In the same volume, the master of the series and story, Arthur Conan Doyle, sets out to create a classic story, and his main goal is to do so with a very different take on the character of a human male human who has a painful and painful history, who does not feel that he has a cure from a disease, who feels that he has only died when he is wronged. While I find it very much an inspired way of expressing my own belief in what Poe portrays, the first step up into creating a major Poe story is to understand their character and his feelings. Here is a sample of Doyle’s passage, which you may have read while visiting a gallery when it comes to Poe’s works, though I think some of it may be too technical—he gives a bit more detail about how everything happens outside of the story line. However, the chapter about the plague really becomes a little more interesting, with the characters really coming to terms with their condition (pink and pink, yellow, brown, black, white, purple, etc.) and also seeing through the negative. It was a kind of dark moment, and the idea seemed to strike a chord with me. The story didn’t really focus on Poe’s past, but was instead really about his view on the nature of this disease and his beliefs and feelings about it. As the scene begins, the protagonist’s eyes (in these pictures) will open up and that’s it, the narrative unfolds. The story proceeds in a more natural and humane form. It doesn’t take much to read Poe’s writing, but I think it can draw your attention to the fact that even though it’s very dark in the story, it’s not so dark out there. It feels very much like an open novel written with no rules or laws…The second chapter of the book is about the person that comes to the protagonist’s death. The first thing that pops your mind in my head is how the plot shifts, the main character suddenly coming to grief for himself after a long time of feeling such a bad emotion. I believe when we first read his story, there’s not a single single paragraph in the author’s story that does not reflect the person’s mood, even when he’s thinking about it over and over. From this you can really figure out what is taking place. The main characters are very much alive and well; the main story focuses more and more on how this human makes peace with their fate, and just how painful life is
Poe says this in the introduction to his book: “Bourg-Sauve is a story about a black person who wakes up in an abandoned building after a horrific year, when he starts to suffer from a chronic disease. This plague is going to kill him, and his only hope is to save others’ lives. Now his only hope is to kill others for his own sake. Because of this plague, Poe writes, the Red Death makes its way to his capital, and in the process sets him back, for sure.” I agree, but the idea is different: There are many other similar stories coming out, and this is one of the best of them. I had never read or heard of a major Poe story, so I’m going to focus on this one here. In the same volume, the master of the series and story, Arthur Conan Doyle, sets out to create a classic story, and his main goal is to do so with a very different take on the character of a human male human who has a painful and painful history, who does not feel that he has a cure from a disease, who feels that he has only died when he is wronged. While I find it very much an inspired way of expressing my own belief in what Poe portrays, the first step up into creating a major Poe story is to understand their character and his feelings. Here is a sample of Doyle’s passage, which you may have read while visiting a gallery when it comes to Poe’s works, though I think some of it may be too technical—he gives a bit more detail about how everything happens outside of the story line. However, the chapter about the plague really becomes a little more interesting, with the characters really coming to terms with their condition (pink and pink, yellow, brown, black, white, purple, etc.) and also seeing through the negative. It was a kind of dark moment, and the idea seemed to strike a chord with me. The story didn’t really focus on Poe’s past, but was instead really about his view on the nature of this disease and his beliefs and feelings about it. As the scene begins, the protagonist’s eyes (in these pictures) will open up and that’s it, the narrative unfolds. The story proceeds in a more natural and humane form. It doesn’t take much to read Poe’s writing, but I think it can draw your attention to the fact that even though it’s very dark in the story, it’s not so dark out there. It feels very much like an open novel written with no rules or laws…The second chapter of the book is about the person that comes to the protagonist’s death. The first thing that pops your mind in my head is how the plot shifts, the main character suddenly coming to grief for himself after a long time of feeling such a bad emotion. I believe when we first read his story, there’s not a single single paragraph in the author’s story that does not reflect the person’s mood, even when he’s thinking about it over and over. From this you can really figure out what is taking place. The main characters are very much alive and well; the main story focuses more and more on how this human makes peace with their fate, and just how painful life is
After several months, he throws a fancy masquerade ball. For this celebration, he decorates the rooms of his house in single colors. The easternmost room is decorated in blue, with blue stained-glass windows. Purple walls and matching stained glass adorn the next room. Each room, continuing westward, follows in the same fashion in the colors: green, orange, white, and violet. The seventh room is black, with red windows. In this room is a huge ebony clock. When the clock rings each hour, its sound is so loud and distracting that everyone stops talking and the orchestra stops playing. When the clock is not sounding, the party is swinging. Most guests, however, fear and avoid the black room. His selfishness in throwing the masquerade ball unwittingly positions him as a caged animal, with no possible escape (Poe 388).
The colors of the rooms represent the stages of life. He also makes it a point to arrange the rooms running from east to west. This represents the cycle of a day, because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, with night representing death. Poe makes the last, black room, as the endpoint, the room the guests fear just as they fear death. The clock that is in there also reminds the guests that death is always a second, a minute, an hour closer. Also, the fact that it is a costume party allows their fear of the red death to be made into a party theme of sorts.
At midnight a new guest appears, dressed more eerily than the rest of the guests. His mask looks like the face of a corpse, he is wearing a funeral shroud, and his face has spots of blood like the victims of the Red Death. Prospero gets mad that someone would be so audacious as to mock him like that. The other guests are so scared that they dont stop the new guest and allow him to walk all the way to the black room. Prospero finally catches up to the new guest in the black room. As soon as he confronts the new guest, Prospero dies.