the masque of the red death symbolism essay

The Masque of the Red Death Symbolism and Analysis

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The Masque of the Red Death Symbolism

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” should be studied at many levels: (1) the literal level - the literal level is a study of the events that actually take place in the story; (2) an allegorical level - an allegory is a story in which the objects, characters, and events are symbolic of something grander in scale. In order to understand the story allegorically, one needs a firm understanding of The Masque of the Red Death symbolism. You can find the full text of the short story here .

Symbols & Analysis

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The Red Death symbolizes the inevitability of death. Although there is no specific disease with the exact symptoms described in the story, critics believe the disease’s description has elements of tuberculosis, a disease which killed many of those close to Poe. It also brings forth memories of the Black Death which depopulated much of Europe during the Middle Ages. The Castle represents man’s efforts to prevent death. Regardless of wealth, social position, or popularity, death arrives as an uninvited guest. Prince Prospero symbolizes the end of feudalism. Prospero’s inviting only wealthy knights and ladies to his castle at the expense of peasants and commoners represents the socioeconomic divide between landowners and peasants that existed during the feudalistic period. It is not coincidental that the Black Death, which reduced the number of workers, led to a demand for labor and played an important role in ending feudalism in Europe. The Ebony Clock is a constant reminder of death and symbolizes the inevitability of it. The revelers could neither stop its pendulum from swinging nor could they prevent its ominous tones from dampening their enthusiasm. The Seven Rooms represent the stages of life. More on this later. The Masqueraders symbolize all humans and gives credence to the interpretation that the seven rooms represent the seven ages of man (covered further in the next section).

Color Symbolism

Colors play an important role in The Masque of the Red Death symbolism. Red - The most obvious color symbolism in “The Masque of the Red Death” is in its title. Red symbolizes death and blood. The gruesome description of the Red Death gives the color a ghastly connotation, especially in light of the red window panes contained in the death room at the far western end of the imperial suite. Black/Ebony - The seventh room 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” (146). This seventh room contains “no light of any kind” and represents the darkness of death. In this room stands the ebony clock. Upon hearing its chimes the guests were reminded of death: “the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation” (147). Blue/Purple/Green/Orange/White/Violet - These are the colors of the first six rooms in the imperial suite. I will address them together insomuch that they represent a prism and therefore reflect a progression, lending credence to the interpretation that the story is an allegory for life. This interpretation, however, is complicated by the fact that the color of Prospero’s room does not occur in the same sequence as they do in a prism, possibly reflective of Prospero’s twisted sense of fairness or an attempt by the author to associate particular colors with a specific period in life.

Why Seven Rooms in “The Masque of the Red Death”?

One interpretation is that the seven rooms represent Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Man” from As You Like It : (bolding is from me). “All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players: / They have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven ages. At first the infant , / Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. / And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel / And shining morning face, creeping like snail / Unwillingly to school. And then the lover , / Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad / Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier , / Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, / Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice , / In fair round belly with good capon lined, / With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, / Full of wise saws and modern instances; / And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts / Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon, / With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, / His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide / For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, / Turning again toward childish treble, pipes / And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, / That ends this strange eventful history, / Is second childishness and mere oblivion, / Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” (II, vii, 139-66). Many consider “The Masque of the Red Death” an allegory. The seven rooms, therefore, represent the life of all humans. It differs in respect to Shakespeare’s monologue insomuch that death (symbolized by the sounding of the ebony clock) oft intervenes in the six rooms preceding death. The physical arrangement of the seven rooms also lends itself to this allegorical interpretation:

(1) the first room lies furthest East, or where the sun rises;

(2) the last room lies furthest West, or where the sun sets;

(3) the rooms are arranged in such a manner “that vision embraced but little more than one at a time” in the same way life only provides short glimpse into the future.

Another Interpretation

Others interpret the 7 rooms in “The Masque of the Red Death” as a symbol of Prospero’s indulgence in the seven deadly sins:

• Pride/Vanity - Pride is the excessive belief in one’s own abilities, similar to vanity, which is setting one’s heart on things of little value. Prospero’s belief that he is more powerful than death is a vivid demonstration of pride.
• Envy - It is unclear who the Prince might envy, but he sure is trying hard to impress someone.
• Gluttony - Gluttony is the act of consuming more than one is required. Instead of using his means to protect more people, something he is obligated to do as prince, he lavishes his guests with “ample provisions” and “the appliances of pleasure.”
• Lust - Lust is an excessive craving for the pleasures of the body, usually associated with sex. The era in which Poe wrote prohibited the explicit or implicit description of sex, but what do you think was going on at an anything goes party?
• Anger - The Prince becomes angry with the uninvited guest and attacks it.
• Greed - Although it is apparent Prince Prospero shares his wealth with a thousand guests, he helps those who need it least and withholds his substance from those in need.
• Sloth - Sloth is the absence of work. The prince seems like a hard worker; his work, however, is on the physical realm not the spiritual realm.

What do you think they mean? If you have an alternate interpretation, let me know in the comments.

• Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of the Red Death.” The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales . New York: Penguin, 1998. 145-51.

This post is part of the series: Masque of the Red Death Study Guide

Avoid becoming a bloody mess on your next short story test. Use this study guide and keep the “Red F” away!

• Summary of “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Symbolism in “The Masque of the Red Death”
• “The Masque of the Red Death” Literary Analysis: A Look at Imagery
• Setting, Characters, Theme and Irony in “The Masque of the Red Death”
• An Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe Quotes

Analysis Pages

• Character Analysis
• Foreshadowing
• Historical Context
• Literary Devices

Symbols in The Masque of the Red Death

The Clock: The ebony clock represents time, specifically as it relates to death. As the masquerade goes on, the guests become increasingly aware of the passage of time, counting every second of each hour and halting their activities every time the clock chimes. Despite their attempts to escape the Red Death, the clock reminds Prospero and his friends that their revels must come to an end, as the clock counts down to the inevitable arrival of death.

Colors and the Rooms: The visual landscape of “The Masque of the Red Death” is full of color, with red being the most prominent. Red and black are common color schemes in Gothic horror: red is the color of blood, and black is connected with death and disease through its historical association with the Black Death. Combined, they establish an eerie atmosphere. By contrast, blue is the color of clear skies, an image associated with birth and renewal. The rooms in Prospero's castle are arranged from east to west, following the path the sun takes across the sky. The movement of the sun is a common metaphor for the stages of life. The black room is the westernmost point of the suite, symbolically linking it with night and, in the context of the metaphor, death.

Symbols Examples in The Masque of the Red Death:

The masque of the red death.

"And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay...."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

In Christian trinitarian doctrine, the spirit of God is split into three distinct but interconnected vessels: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the creator of the universe, the Son is embodied by Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwells in the faithful. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the clock, the masked figure, and blood serve as an unholy trinity, representative of death rather than salvation. The clock is time, the indomitable presence that establishes the confines of reality and the inevitability of death. The masked figure is the dark judge who brings death to Prospero and his friends. Blood, established as an enemy from the start, is the source of the pestilence that led to Prospero’s arrogance and eventual downfall. Once the last of the masqueraders has died, the trinity dissolves, with the masked figure's proving intangible, the clock's ceasing to tick, and the blood's splattering the walls.

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"whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock,..."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

The symbolic significance of the clock and the black room is made explicit as the black room becomes the site of death for Prospero and his friends. The clock heralded the arrival of the masked figure, and the black room became its destination. The masked figure—death—stands in the shadow of the clock, emphasizing that the clock is the driving force behind mortality.

"reddened with rage...."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

Up to this point, the color red has been associated with death and disease. If readers maintain this association, Prospero’s face “redden[ing] with rage” can be interpreted in multiple ways. Recall that one of the symptoms of the red death is “profuse bleeding at the pores.” Though possible that Prospero’s anger has caused his face to flush, there is still an echo of the description of facial bleeding from the introduction of the disease. By another reading, Prospero’s own murderous thoughts have led his face to take on the color of death. He calls for the hanging of the figure and later rushes him with a dagger, indicating Prospero’s own deadly nature.

"the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie..."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

A “reverie” is a daydream, typically a pleasant one removed from the stresses of reality. Prospero’s castle, with its willful ignorance of the outside world, is like a daydream. Prospero and his companions can pretend that death does not exist and instead enjoy the luxuries of their health and riches. The clock intrudes on their collective “reverie,” a physical testament to time’s passage and the encroachment of death. The “more aged and sedate” masqueraders likely feel the impact of the passage of time more strongly than the young and lively, thus their confusion as the reality of time’s passage collides with the daydream that Prospero has created.

"a gigantic clock of ebony...."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

In Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence, Sonnet 12 conflates Time with the grim reaper: “and nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence…” That the clock is located in the black room establishes a relationship between death and the passage of time, increasing the unease of Prospero and his friends. Every tick of the clock is a reminder that they are one step closer to death. As a result, the masquerade transforms into a tense and nervous scene as the looming presence of death intrudes on Prospero’s fabricated reality.

"But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet—a deep blood color...."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

The presence of the black room suggests the inevitability of death, but the inclusion of the “blood red” window panels serves as a reminder that death is not divorced from life, but rather a natural part of it. Blood, which is the “Avatar and seal” of the Red Death, is a vital component of life. No amount of walls or iron gates can protect people from their own bodies. Though “The Masque of the Red Death” casts death as gruesome and villainous, it also highlights the foolishness of those who try to escape it.

"That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue..."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

The rooms are ordered from east to west, matching the sun's path across the sky, beginning with blue and ending with black. The course of a day is a common metaphor for the transience of life. The color blue, associated with the sky, can represent vitality and the start of a new day. Black is commonly associated with death and night. The ordering of the rooms can be read as a metaphor for the stages of life, with blue representing birth and black representing death.

"gates of iron...."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

The most common element on Earth, iron is a frequent symbol of vitality and protection in folklore. When humans discovered that iron could be extracted from veins in the ground, it became a symbol for the lifeforce of the earth. It is considered the most human metal and is thought to be able to repel ghosts and other supernatural entities. Most graveyards are built with iron gates in order to prevent the spirits of the dead from getting out, providing a sense of separation between the living and the dead. Prospero and his friends built the gate to keep death out, but now they are the ones who are fenced in.

"redness..."   See in text   (The Masque of the Red Death)

On top of building the visual landscape of the “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe includes color for symbolic purposes. The title and introduction directly associate “redness” with death and disease. Historically speaking, red is either the color of power and vitality or the color of fear and danger. Its associations with blood are likely what leads to this conflict, since blood is associated with both life and death. Though the narrator primarily uses red to represent death, its associations with blood and vitality serve to remind readers that life and death are irrevocably connected.

“The Masque of the Red Death”: Figurative Language and Symbolism

How it works

Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of the best authors of all time. He is specifically known for his creative writings, which are gothic and sad in terms of style. He utilizes the style elements of symbolism, point of view, and similes frequently. With these elements, he creates his own line of work, which is very different from most authors. Poe generally uses his real-life experiences to get the true effect of his feelings into the story. Studies of Poe’s work conclude that he is an author that was way before his time, and his use of style elements was creatively used in a way that no other author has approached.

• 1.1 References

Figurative Language as a Tool in Poe’s Dark Narratives

Poe uses the style element of symbolism throughout most of his stories. This can be seen in “The Cask of Amontillado” as it states, “The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parts-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells.” In the story, Fortunato is dressed as a fool, which is a symbolic representation of what he really is. In “The Raven,” it says, “Quoth the Raven, Nevermore.” This line is repeated in the story as this plays a role in its symbol. Nevertheless, the Raven is indeed a symbol of the narrator’s never-ending remembrance of the loss of his love, Lenore.

The story “The Masque of the Red Death” quotes, “Whose tall figure stood erect and motionless… gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.” This quote mentions the masked visitor and the reveler’s feelings toward the masked visitor. The masked visitor is a symbol of death, and it shows that no one can escape death. However, Poe did not use just symbolism to create his unique style.

Poe utilizes point of view, another style element, to develop his style by letting the reader either get inside the mind of a character to understand where they’re coming from or to know the feelings of everyone. An example from “The Masque of the Red Death” is, “When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends…” The third-person point of view creates the tone of the party and allows the reader to understand how everyone feels. In addition to symbolism and point of view, Poe also used other style elements as well.

Poe uses irony to create his style by sometimes adding humor or creating a deeper meaning. Humor is found in “The Masque of the Red Death” as it states, “This was an extensive and magnificent structure… A strong lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron.” This quote is a description of the wall around the castellated abbey to make sure nothing can get in or out. Prince Prospero, thinking he’d escaped death (along with his 1,000 guests), had actually trapped themselves in with the Red Death. This is an example of situational irony.

Poe was a very skilled author who did not get the recognition he deserved while he was alive. He used so many different style elements, as studies have only touched on a few. Poe always had the same sad feeling in all of his stories, and not one of them was different. He always stuck to his style.

• Bloom, H. (1998). Edgar Allan Poe: Comprehensive Research and Study Guide. Chelsea House Publishers.
• Fisher, M. (2002). The World of Edgar Allan Poe: The Dark Romanticism and Gothic Style. University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Gargano, J. W. (1967). ‘The Question of Poe’s Narrators’, in Critical Essays on Edgar Allan Poe, pp. 57-64. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co.
• Levine, R. (2001). The Power of Blackness: Poe, Melville, and Hawthorne. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.

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A Short Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’

On Tuesday, we put together a brief plot summary of ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ , Edgar Allan Poe’s short but terrifying story about a prince who retreats to his castellated abbey with a thousand of his courtiers, to avoid the horrific and fast-acting plague known as the ‘Red Death’. You can read Poe’s story here . Now, it’s time for some words of analysis concerning this intriguing story which, like many of Poe’s best stories, seems to work on several levels.

First, there is the literary precedent for the basis of Poe’s story: the Italian writer Boccaccio’s fourteenth-century work The Decameron is about a group of noblemen and noblewomen who retreat to an abbey to flee the plague, or Black Death. All that’s changed in Poe’s basic setup is the colour of the plague, to the fictional ‘Red Death’. Interestingly, Poe originally titled the story ‘The Mask of the Red Death’, which places the emphasis on the masked figure who shows up at the end; in replacing ‘Mask’ with ‘Masque’, Poe shifts the focus onto the masquerade which Prospero stages for his courtiers. (A masque doesn’t have to involve wearing masks: it was a private ball popular in Italy for many centuries. Masks were optional.)

The fact that Prince Prospero and his wealthy entourage all believe they can avoid the Red Death – that they can, indeed, cheat death itself – is obviously naive hubris (although they were very far from being wealthy, it’s worth bearing in mind that when Poe wrote ‘The Mask of the Red Death’ in 1842, his wife Virginia had recently been diagnosed with tuberculosis – another then incurable disease involving blood, specifically when victims coughed up blood). Nobody, young or old, rich or poor, can escape the clutches of plague (or tuberculosis). And, indeed, nobody’s riches will prevent them from death – and this is clearly what the masked figure symbolises at the end of the story.

Prince Prospero, the only named character in the whole of ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, has a name which immediately has two related meanings. ‘Prospero’ suggests prosperous and prosperity , reminding us that the character is a prince, wealthy, and able to shut himself away with a thousand of his closest friends to sit out the plague that’s ravaging the city. But the most famous Prospero in literature is the magician in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest . Is there an intertextual allusion going on here? Might Poe have intended to summon (as it were) Shakespeare’s island-dwelling mage?

We can almost certainly respond with a firm ‘yes’. For Poe’s Prince Prospero, like the exiled duke and magician of Shakespeare’s play, becomes insulated or ‘islanded’ in the abbey where he walls himself and his followers up: both Prosperos are thus set apart from the rest of the world, and both are noblemen who use their power to control those around them, to create their own world, in a sense. But the ironic twist in Poe’s tale is that it is ‘rough magic’, or at least some supernatural force, which destroys his Prince Prospero, in the form of the intangible masked visitor who breaches the walls of the abbey and kills everyone there.

But the thing about the Red Death is that it can strike people down before they’ve had a chance to experience all seven stages of their threescore years and ten, so there’s something unsatisfying about this analysis. Instead, perhaps the colour symbolism is where Poe wants us to place significance: the first room is blue, and then, we learn,

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.

Although these colours don’t precisely correspond to the colours of the spectrum – the rainbow, if you will – the presence of violet, and the significance of the number seven, imply the idea of totality, of all colours being present. These colours are a reminder of the gaudiness of the Prince’s life: he has the money to be able to afford such rare colours as royal purple (and this cluster of rooms is called, remember, an imperial suite).

But it’s the presence of red in that seventh and final room which is the most significant detail:

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. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet – a deep blood color.

Black for death; red for the Red Death. And the black velvet of those tapestries adorning the walls – the walls of the room in which Prince Prospero and all of his friends will meet their doom – suggests the softness of death, the ease with which life slips away from those afflicted by the Red Death (death can occur in as little as half an hour, we’re told at the beginning of the story).

But all of this assumes that the events in the story really happened . Did they? Obviously on a literal level they didn’t, because Edgar Allan Poe made them up. But did Prince Prospero actually dream or hallucinate everything: the masquerade, the abbey with its coloured chambers, the ‘intangible’ visitant who kills everyone? Is it probable that a prince, even a ridiculously wealthy one, would really be able to hole himself up in one of his residences with a thousand companions? Perhaps.

But several details give us pause. First, we are told of Prince Prospero, ‘There are some who would have thought him mad.’ Second, there is the dreamlike aspect to everything in those colourful rooms:

To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these – the dreams – writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away – they have endured but an instant – and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many-tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods.

Poe was attracted to the idea of the palace as a symbol of the mind: he even wrote a poem, ‘The Haunted Palace’ , which uses this very metaphor as a way of exploring his own troubled mind. Could the final surprise in ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ be that the events which we are told never happened at all, except in the mind of the ‘mad’ Prince Prospero? Poe was a pioneer of the ambiguous supernatural tale, as ‘ The Tell-Tale Heart ’, ‘ William Wilson ’, and others testify. He often leaves a story open for doubt as to whether what we have been told is reliable, or whether the events of the story really were supernatural, or merely the product of a character’s unsound mind.

The story, then, is ambiguous: it invites both a supernatural and psychological interpretation. However, one final piece of evidence might be submitted in favour of a psychological analysis: Prospero’s name. If he does summon Shakespeare’s magician, he summons someone who is capable of dreaming up the world he inhabits, through magic. Does Prince Prospero dream up the abbey and its coloured rooms, through the power of his own troubled imagination? We’d be wise to remember Prospero’s own words from Shakespeare’s play:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air: And like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

If you found this analysis of ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ helpful, you might also enjoy our discussion of Poe’s classic story ‘The Cask of Amontillado’ .

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7 thoughts on “A Short Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’”

A pithy analysis of this fascinating story. I always enjoy the colour imagery, and your suggestion that the whole thing was a dream or hallucination is a new one for me.

Thank you, Audrey :) And I think Poe was a pioneer of that supernatural/psychological explanation for many of the phenomena in his tales. ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is a great example of that ambiguity – later to be used to great effect by Henry James in his The Turn of the Screw.

I hadn’t connected the rooms with Jacques poem, instead I thought of the the seven deadly sins list: https://www.britannica.com/topic/seven-deadly-sins I wonder which one influenced Poe.

That’s a much more attractive interpretation – as you’ll see, I found something unsatisfying in the Seven Ages interpretation, but couldn’t think of a more convincing reason. I think the Seven Deadly sins makes much more sense. I’ll have to add that to the post. Thanks!

Knowing Poe, I think the Seven Deadly Sins makes sense.

Well done and interesting. What goes through my practical mind is, how many servants would be required to tend to 1000 guests,? But if it is a dream or a supernatural occurrence, no problem.

Thanks, Marie! That’s a very good point. I don’t know whether the servants are numbered among the thousand (as part of that extensive retinue of hangers-on, entertainers, and fellow nobles). As you say, if the whole thing is an elaborate dream/delusion, such a practical concern is easily explained away!

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The Masque of the Red Death

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The Masque of the Red Death , allegorical short story by Edgar Allan Poe , first published in Graham’s Magazine in April 1842.

In a medieval land ravaged by the Red Death, a plague that causes swift, agonizing death, Prince Prospero retreats to his castle with 1,000 knights and ladies. There he welds the doors and windows shut, confident that he and his guests will escape death. Prospero gives a masquerade ball. At midnight, the grotesquely costumed courtiers find a fearful figure among them, costumed in shrouds and dried blood as the Red Death, which it proves in reality to be.

Masque Of The Red Death Symbolism Essay

The Black Death, also known as The Red Death, killed over sixty percent of Europe’s population. “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is about wealth and privilege, where the prince hides from the Red Death with his revelers. Poe uses symbols such as setting, objects, along with characters to reveal an allegorical theme. Thus being the theme, everyone will perish, even the wealthy and privileged. Each apartment in the abbey is a symbol that supports the theme. The apartments are in order, starting with blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. Starting with the blue apartment, blue symbolizes birth or the start of someone’s life. Next, the purple apartment represents growth in someone’s life through …show more content…

“Its pendulum swings to and fro with a dull, heavy, and monotonous clang, causing everyone to stop, including the music”(Poe 374). Although this quote may seem meaningless, it supports the idea that nobody wants to perish or want their life to be interrupted. The quote also supports the theme of “death is inevitable” by making the rings never fade away while the characters gossip about it. The entities from the black apartment, such as the scarlet windows, also give an ominous and dark addition to the story. These objects help develop the theme of the short story. The characters in the story are also symbols that add to the theme. The protagonist, Prince Prospero, symbolizes wealth and privilege. The word prosper means financially successful. This adds depth to his title and adds on to how his name is a symbol in the story. Prospero’s wealth allows him to gather his revelers to his abbey, where the revelers hide from the Red Death. His revelers, which are high-ranking people in the government, represent reliance and fear. These followers rely on Prospero for safety from the Red Death. “There were many individuals beginning to notice the ominous individual”(Poe 377). This quote explains to the reader that no one expected this death-like figure to come at the most secure location. The Red Death, who is the antagonist, “had a vesture dabbled in blood, and with all the features of the face besprinkled with the scarlet horror”(Poe 378). The

Essay on The Masque of the Red Death: Symbolism

In the "Masque of the Red Death," the first sentence, "The Red Death had long devastated the country," sets the tone for the whole story. Poe describes the horrors of the disease, stressing the redness of the blood and the scarlet stains. The disease kills so quickly that one can die within thirty minutes of being infected with the disease. To create a frightening effect

Avoiding Reality: “The Masque of the Red Death” Analysis

In the short story, “Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allen Poe uses characterization to illustrate the psychological destruction of the Prince. Throughout the story, Prince Prospero struggles with

The Masque Of The Red Death Analysis

But we will never know the real reason. It could be because of William Shakespeare’s “Seven Ages of Men”, or Christianity’s seven deadly sins. There are more speculations, but my personal perception would be one of these two. Although Poe was not very religious in his later years, he went to church a lot when he was a child which could have influenced his stories. The vivid colors used in each room would lead me to assume that the rooms actually represent the stages of life. On the most eastern side (where the sun rises) would be infant, then the colors in-between would be your years after infancy, then lastly on the furthest western side (where the sun sets) would be death since the room is black.

Essay On The Mask Of The Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe’s chilling short story Mask of the Red Death begins with people dropping like flies, as the king of the land decides to take his close friends with him to live in one of his palaces. leaving his subjects to survive on their own. A puzzling creature known as the Red Death has been terrorizing and killing off people one by one, and no one has a way to stop it. Through characterization of both Prospero and the Red Death, Poe foreshadows Prospero’s eventual death in the end of the story.

What Does The Seventh Room Symbolize In The Masque Of The Red Death

In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe the allegory of this story is death, symbolically and literally. The literal portion is about the Red Death and how no one can escape it.

The Use Of Symbols In "The Masque Of The Red Death" Essay

The image of the rooms used in the story has a main contribution to the theme being conveyed. Prince Prospero's abbey consists of seven different and symbolic rooms. The fact that there were seven rooms is symbolic

Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

“The Masque of the Red Death,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, tells the story of Prince Prospero and his futile attempts to prevent death. During his masquerade party, the prince notices an unusual figure, dressed as the Red Death, and, enraged at the sight of it, Prospero tries to kill it. Poe uses the seventh room, the ebony clock, and the Red Death itself as symbols of death throughout his story.

Essay on Symbolism in The Masque of the Red Death

inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape death. The prince's name, Prospero,

Gothic Literature by Poe Essay

The seven rooms in the house also conveyed stages in life ending with death. These rooms were set up from east to west. This meaning that the sun comes up in the east and goes down in the west, and death comes in the darkness. "In this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet--a deep blood color." The guest's avoided this room because it was a sign of death.

“The boundaries which divide Life from Death are best shadowly and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” (Poe). There is no such thing as having the ability to predict or tame the wrath of death, for all we can do is learn to accept it. In the story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, the main character, Prospero, shows through his arrogant actions that death will forever overpower the human instinct to stay alive. Poe uses symbolism to convey the battle between man and nature through the idea of the masquerade that serves as a fortress against the wrath of the disease, an excuse to disguise the true colors of man, and the honest truth that man will never become immortal.

Theme Of Gothic Elements In Masque Of The Red Death

Michael Ruiz once said, “Everyone dies. There’s no point in fighting it.” In Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, there is a disease that kills almost everyone in a country so the king brings all survivors into a castle to prevent it from killing anyone else, although it still ends up getting in from a ghost, and wipes everyone else out. In Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe uses gothic elements such as a gloom setting, supernatural beings, curses, and air of mystery and suspense.

The Masque Of The Red Death Literary Analysis

When it comes to reading literature the most challenging yet important task is to understand the purpose of the author's writing. In Romantic era literature understanding the emotions and thoughts that are created in the reader's mind are essential to gaining a clear message that the writer is trying to send. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death” the narrator immediately introduces the “Red Death”; a disease that has been spreading throughout Prince Prospero’s country; killing his people within half an hour of contracting the disease. Throughout the story the author continuously uses diction and syntax to create suspense and evoke a grim tone to the reader. In the “Masque of The Red Death” Poe produces fearful imagery in the reader's mind through creating a supernatural presence in the setting.

Death in Edgar Allan Poe's Life and The Masque of the Red Death

• 4 Works Cited

the Red Death shows the futile attempts by a prince and his guests of a party,

Use Of Allegory In The Masque Of The Red Death

Have you ever read a story where fantasy is the reality and things do not quite make sense? This is true for “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe. In it is a version of the black plague, which is called the “Red Death”. Prince Prospero secludes a thousand friends and himself from the death around them, but finds that he cannot avoid the inevitable. The author uses many literary devices to create an interesting and meaningful story. One of the devices used is imagery, which evokes the events of the story clearly in the reader’s mind. Another is allegory, which is used by Poe to create another story within his, as it is filled with double meanings. Lastly, Poe utilizes symbolism to give the story meaning. Edgar Allan Poe uses

Human Mortality in Masque of Red Death Essay

As a gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe created horror using gloom as his weapon. Hidden within the suspenseful story of “The Masque of Red Death” is an allegorical tale of how individuals deal with the fear of death as time passes. Frantic activities and pleasures (as represented by Prince Prospero and his guests) seek to wall out the threat of death. However, the story reminds the reader that death comes “like a thief in the night”(Poe 3), and even those who seek peace and safety shall not escape. Poe uses symbolism to illustrate that man cannot hide from his own mortality.

Related Topics

• Black Death
• Bubonic plague
• Yersinia pestis
• Medieval demography
• Middle Ages

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Symbols In Masque Of The Red Death By Edgar Allen Poe

In Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe, many symbols are used to justify the overall purpose and meaning of the story. These symbols include the ebony clock, the seven chambers, the scarlet and black room, and the Red Death itself. Each of these symbols help characterize the Prince and his guests, along with foreshadowing the overall outcome of the story. First of all, the seventh chamber and ebony clock not only provide a sense of eeriness, but reveal the underlying personalities and outcomes of the characters. For example, Zapf writes, “In the process of the story, of course, the seventh chamber more and more becomes the center of attention, and with it the clock of ebony which symbolizes the structure of temporality underlying and terminating all human …show more content…

To explain, Zapf writes, “In a parodistic reversal of the Biblical Act of Creation, the seven differently colored rooms, which are arranged from East to West, and in which the masque takes place, are composed in the form of a symbolic teleology of human life which leads from the color blue to the color black, from light to darkness, from creation to destruction.” Zapf realizes that the order and rooms represent human life itself. From rooms blue to black, light to dark, creation to death ; this is the course of human life and the outcome of the people at the party. From carefree partiers to dead in the night, the perpetual tick of the clock to the stroke of the hour, rooms light to dark, blue to black, creation to death— each of these things are different yet one in the same. Poe puts the clock and the seven chambers in the story to disseminate piece by piece the overall purpose and theme. Along with this, the symbols reveal how they reflect on the people themselves. Poe’s themes of humans cannot control death, creation to death, and anticipation are epitomized through the ebony clock and the seven

Gothic Diction In Poe's The Masque Of Red Death

The speaker describes this room as different by stating “But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet-a deep blood color.” (4.2) Many of the rooms are made to match, and pleasing to the eye. However in this room violence surrounds the walls.

Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Masque of the Red Death,” seems to be historically based on the pandemic of the black death, which its disease plagued and killed millions of people, in the 1800s. In the story, it seems that a royalty named, Prince Prospero has invited many lords and ladies to escape both the plague and death, by quarantining them in his mansion. To entertain his guests, he hosts a masquerade party, which is captured as the main setting of the story. An unexpected visitor shows up at Prospero’s party---his presence QUOTE deadly/he is the symbol of death and the plague. All of Prospero’s guests begin to become QUOTE, terrified, and uncomfortable in the proximity of this intruder.

Comparing Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart And Masque Of Red Death

Poe uses symbolism a lot in his stories to make his writing have a more eerie feeling. ”The Tell-Tale Heart” and “Masque of Red Death” both have symbols that induce fear into the main characters hearts. In The Tell-Tale Heart Poe writes “...for it was no the old man who vexed me but his evil eye “(75).The narrator kills an innocent old man for that hr thought the old man's eyes were judging. Although the old man just had cataracts ,the narrator could not stand the man for his eye he compared looked as vulture's eye. The narrator was afraid of this old man and his “evil eye”.

Use Of Irony In The Masque Of The Red Death

A great example of this would be, when “And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock,” (392). With each clock ring it symbolized that time is ending and death may be near. The silence is all around due to the guests scared and wondering if they are about to face death as the sound of the clock roars thorough the hallway. Furthermore, the apartments played a great part as well, “These panes here were scarlet – deep blood color” (391). The deep blood color showing the color related to death.

Examples Of Allegory In The Masque Of The Red Death

To enhance his allegory of the plague in “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe expresses that death is inevitable through his portrayal of the Clock, Room 7, and the Murmur. Edgar Allan Poe uses the clock to symbolize the reassurance that death is always close.

The Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

The Masque of the Red Death has a lot of symbolism that has to do with the circle of life- such as the different colors of the seven rooms each meaning one stage of life. The stages of life obviously have relations to death, possibly even being centered around it. The thought is just so artistically

Edgar Allan Poe Literary Devices

For example, in the text “The The-Tale Heart”, Poe’s use of the old man’s eye symbolized the obsessions and fears of the narrator like, “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood

Symbols In The Masque Of The Red Death

Edger Allen Poe is an incredible author of horror. His story, The Masque of the Red Death, was an amazing chiller about a party that was ended by a disease. Throughout the kingdom a disease is spreading from citizen to citizen, killing each one who possesses it so the king invites those closes to him to a party where no one can leave and will be safe from the disease but yet in hindsight they were locking themselves in with the disease. Throughout the course of this hair-raising story, several symbols are represented to array Poe’s theme of death. Symbols such as the seven colored rooms, the clock, and lastly the Red Death are all symbols that are displayed to help get Poe’s notion across.

Humanity In The Masque Of The Red Death

“He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall” (Poe). Edgar Allan Poe was an American author and poet during the 1800’s (anb). He is known for his gothic style of writing, and tragic tales. Poe has written famous pieces such as The Raven (1845), The Black Cat (1843), and The Tell Tale Heart(1843).

How Does Poe Use Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

This example of symbolism was the one that stands out the most. The 7 chambers of Edgar Allen Poe are similar to the 7 stages of life of William Shakespeare. While Prince Prospero is rushing through the

Compare And Contrast The Black Cat And The Fall Of The House Of Usher

Another theme is the power of the dead over the living. Even when the cat dies he still haunts the narrator after life. This help the madness drive within the characters mind. A barrier is broken between life and death in “The fall of house Usher” the sister rises back in bloodied clothes and “The Fall of the House of Usher” the dead actually comes back to life. “It was …the figure of lady Madeline of House Usher” (Poe 515).

How Does The Colored Room Symbolize In The Masque Of The Red Death

A masked person comes into the castle that isn’t supposed to be there. This masked character ends up killing Prince Prospero. Edgar Allen Poe uses the element of Symbolism in “The Masque of the Red Death” through description of the seven colored rooms, the clock, and the castle. The first example of symbolism in The Masque of the Red Death is the seven colored rooms.

Allegory In The Masque Of The Red Death

The first example of symbolism is the rooms in the abbey. Each room was a different color and line up from east to west. This is a symbol for the progression of life and death. The first room was blue, representing birth, then purple representing youth, green representing adolescence, orange representing adulthood, white symbolizing old age, violet symbolizing imminent death, and black and scarlet symbolizing death itself. This is also a metaphor as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; it can also be seen as symbolism for the progression of a day.

Irony In The Masque Of Red Death

In the end Poe’s writing represents fear and how it can distort your thoughts and make you take a turn for the worst. Or in some cases, usually more rarely, the better, as in “The Pit and the

Thesis For The Raven

Death. topic many find difficult to talk about, but its discussed at sparingly. In the poem, “The Raven” by Edgar Alan Poe, the author uses many different elements as symbols. A raven is usually the symbol of something dark and sinister. A raven is also a sign of death.

More about Symbols In Masque Of The Red Death By Edgar Allen Poe

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Essays on The Masque of The Red Death

Prompt examples for "the masque of the red death" essays, the symbolism of the red death.

Examine the symbolism of the Red Death in Edgar Allan Poe's story. What does it represent, and how does it contribute to the overall theme and atmosphere of the narrative?

Prince Prospero's Character Analysis

Analyze the character of Prince Prospero. What motivates him to host the masquerade and isolate himself from the outside world? Explore his actions and their consequences.

Allegory of the Seven Rooms

Discuss the significance of the seven colored rooms in Prince Prospero's abbey. What do these rooms symbolize, and how do they reflect the stages of life or other thematic elements?

The Theme of Death

Explore the theme of death in "The Masque of the Red Death." How does Poe use imagery and symbolism to convey the inevitability of death, even in the face of wealth and luxury?

The Role of the Clock

Analyze the role of the clock in the story, which strikes fear into the hearts of the revelers. What does the clock symbolize, and how does it contribute to the sense of impending doom?

The Masquerade as a Metaphor

Interpret the masquerade as a metaphor for the human condition or society. How does it reflect the characters' attempts to escape the realities of life and death?

The Gothic Elements in the Story

Discuss the Gothic elements present in "The Masque of the Red Death," including the eerie setting, mysterious atmosphere, and themes of morbidity. How do these elements contribute to the story's impact?

Poe's Use of Foreshadowing

Examine Edgar Allan Poe's use of foreshadowing in the story. How does he build suspense and anticipation leading up to the revelation of the Red Death?

Interpreting the Ending

Interpret the ending of the story, where Prince Prospero confronts the Red Death. What does this final encounter symbolize, and how does it conclude the narrative?

Comparative Analysis with Other Poe Works

Compare and contrast "The Masque of the Red Death" with other works by Edgar Allan Poe, such as "The Tell-Tale Heart" or "The Fall of the House of Usher." How do common themes and motifs emerge in his writings?

The Masque of The Red Death

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Allegory, Symbolism, and Climax in The Masque of The Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe

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The Theme of Death in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of The Red Death

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Comparison of The Use of Figurative Language in The Masque of The Red Death and The Haunted Palace

Mankind's dualistic nature in the masque of the red death, symbolism and allegory in "the masque of the red death", the clock in the masque of the red death.

Edgar Allan Poe

Gothic fiction, horror

May 1842, by Edgar Allan Poe

Gothic fiction

The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die in turn.

There are several themes in "The Masque of the Red Death". The central theme is that no man escapes death. Other main themes include time and madness.

Prince Prospero, The Red Death, Members of the Court

The disease called the Red Death is fictitious. Poe describes it as causing "sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores" leading to death within half an hour. The disease may have been inspired by tuberculosis, since Poe's wife Virginia was suffering from the disease at the time the story was written. Like the character Prince Prospero, Poe tried to ignore the terminal nature of the disease Poe's mother Eliza, brother William, and foster mother Frances had also died of tuberculosis.

The story was first published in May 1842 in Graham's Magazine and has since been adapted in many different forms, including a 1964 film starring Vincent Price. Poe's short story has also been alluded to by other works in many types of media.

“There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.” “Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.” “With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think.”

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Edgar Allan Poe

• Literature Notes
• "The Masque of the Red Death"
• Edgar Allan Poe Biography
• About Poe's Short Stories
• Summary and Analysis
• "The Fall of the House of Usher"
• "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
• "The Purloined Letter"
• "The Tell-Tale Heart"
• "The Black Cat"
• "The Cask of Amontillado"
• "William Wilson"
• "The Pit and the Pendulum"
• Critical Essays
• Edgar Allan Poe and Romanticism
• Poe's Critical Theories
• Cite this Literature Note

Summary and Analysis "The Masque of the Red Death"

In "The Masque of the Red Death," Poe presents an age-old theme, a theme as old as the medieval morality play Everyman. In this ancient play, the main character is named Everyman and early in the play while walking down the road, he meets another character called Death. Everyman cries out to him: "O Death, thy comest when I had thee least in mind." Similarly, Poe's story deals with the inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape death. This essential theme is presented directly and with extreme economy through the plot, or narrative element. This is the method that Poe chose to achieve his unity of effect (see section on Poe's "Critical Theories").

The story opens with a recounting of a plague, the "Red Death"; it has long been devastating the country, and the narrator describes the process of the disease, emphasizing the redness of the blood and the scarlet stains. The disease is so deadly rapid that one is dead within thirty minutes after he is infected. Thus, in the short opening paragraph, Poe uses such words as devastated, pestilence, fatal, hideous, horror of blood, sharp pains, profuse bleeding, scarlet stains, victim, disease and death — and all these words, gathered together, create an immediate effect of the horror of death caused by the "Red Death."

In contrast, we hear that Prince Prospero, a name that connotes happiness and prosperity, has summoned a thousand of his "lighthearted friends" from the nobility to join him in a "castellated abbey" which has strong and lofty walls and "gates of iron." The prince has very carefully provided entertainment of all types, and they are all happy and secure within, while outside the "Red Death" is rampaging.

After setting the tone, Poe next underscores his theme by suggesting the folly of these foolish people who think that they can escape death by such physical barriers as high walls and iron gates. The contrast of the gaiety within and the ravaging death outside, as described at the beginning of the story, contributes to the overall effect the author is after. Likewise, the people are entertained by the merriment of a "masked" ball, described in almost surrealistic terms. Many critics have looked for a consistent symbolic pattern in the seven rooms in which the ball is held, but Poe eschewed elaborate symbolic structures and, instead, worked for a unity of effect. One method he often used for this effect was to have his stories take place in a closed circle where one has the impression of there being no escape. Consequently, the inhabitants are locked inside the castle by the high walls and the gates of iron, and they are further enclosed during the ball by the circular, enclosed seven halls. Accordingly, when the stranger, masked as "the Red Death," walks through the room, he passes in close proximity to all of the revelers.

The importance of the seven rooms lies in the seventh and, therefore, the last room. As the narrator describes the rooms, we are told that the window panes look out onto the hall rather than the outside world, and that they take on the colors and hues of the decoration of each room. The first room is decorated in blue and the stained glass has a blue hue. The second is purple and so "the panes are purple." And this continues through the green room (third), the orange room (fourth), the white room (fifth), and the violet room (sixth). However, the seventh room is different. Here the apartment is "shrouded in black velvet," but the panes are "scarlet — a deep blood-color." Furthermore, this black chamber is the most westernly and "the effect of the firelight upon the blood tinted panes is ghastly in the extreme, and produces so wild a look upon the countenance of those who enter it that there are few . . . bold enough to set foot within it."

Poe's purpose in these descriptions, particularly the black room, has no relation to reality. In reality, no such place as the black room would be used as a part of a ballroom. But Poe wants to achieve an effect — a total, unified effect — in order to show the close proximity of the revelry of life and the masquerade to the inevitability of death itself.

As noted above, therefore, regardless of whether or not the first six rooms have any symbolic function, the significance of the seventh room cannot escape the reader's attention. Black usually symbolizes death, and it is usually used in connection with death. Moreover, in describing the black decor of the room, the narrator says that it is shrouded in velvet, shrouded being a word always referring to death. Likewise, the window panes are "scarlet — a deep blood color." This is an obvious reference to the "Red Death." When the masked "Red Death" makes his appearance, he moves rapidly from the Eastern room (symbolic of the beginning of life) to the Western room (symbolic of the end of life). In conjunction with man's quick and brief journey through life is the rapid passing of time, represented by the black clock; every time the clock strikes the hour, the musicians quit playing and all of the revelers momentarily cease their celebrating. It is as though each hour is "to be stricken" upon their brief and fleeting lives. To emphasize the brevity of life, the fleeting of life and time, and the nearness of death, Poe reminds the reader that between the striking of each hour, there elapses "three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies."

In spite of all things, the masqueraders continue their gaiety and revelry. Here, note Poe's description: The guests have donned costumes that are often grotesque; there is "much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm"; there are "arabesque figures" and "madman fashions." Poe describes the party in terms of "delirious fancies" and as "beautiful . . . wanton . . . bizarre . . . terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust." These descriptions are reminiscent of orgies which are described in other great Romantic works (in Goethe's Faust, Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, Byron's Childe Harold, for example). Furthermore, because the maskers are so bizarre themselves, when the mask of the "Red Death" appears, it is shocking. The reader discovers that this "guest" is even more fantastic and strange than all the other guests. He is horrendous by comparison. Significantly, the appearance of the "Red Death" at midnight is propitious and symbolic. This is the end of the day and, by analogy, the end of life. His appearance strikes a note of "terror, of horror, and of disgust." The figure is "shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave." His mask is that of a corpse which, we gather, died from the Red Death and to create more horror, his entire outfit is sprinkled with blood and "all the features of the face were besprinkled with the scarlet horror." Again, the reader should note how effectively Poe, by his choice of words, captures man's universal fear of death and its horrors.

When Prince Prospero sees the stranger, he is indignant at such an intrusion. (It would almost be too simplistic to say that all people are indignant at the intrusion of death on their lives.) The prince immediately instructs the stranger to be seized, but all are universally frightened to seize this Red Death. Infuriated, the prince draws a dagger and rushes 'hurriedly through the six chambers," but as he approaches the figure, his dagger stops, and he falls dead upon the black carpet. The other revelers fall upon the black "mummer" but to their "unutterable horror," they find nothing under the shrouds or behind the corpse-like mask. One by one, all of them drop dead. The "Red Death," Poe tells us, holds "illimitable dominion over all."

Poe's story possesses no real characters. The greatness of the story lies in his use of an age-old theme — the inevitability of death — and in the way that Poe creates and maintains a total unity of effect, he brings us into the horror of the story.

The story makes no effort to present a realistic view of any known aspect of life. We do not even know what country the story takes place in, but, due to the name of the prince, we assume it to be a southern European country. The story achieves credibility simply through Poe's powerful unity of effect that he creates so marvelously. Each word of each description contributes to one single, unified mood of fear and horror. An atmosphere of strangeness, a bizarre situation, and an evocative style all combine to make this one of Poe's most effective stories.

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The Masque of the Red Death

by Edgar Allan Poe

How can I create an engaging hook and introduction for an essay analyzing literary devices in Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"?

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As regards the central question of your essay concerning how symbolism and allegory are used in this excellent short story, literally hundreds of questions have already been asked on this, so if you search in this group you will find plenty of answers. The key to writing a good hook statement at the beginning of your essay is establishing a connection between the theme of the story or text you are writing about, the essay question and the audience of the essay. A hook statement should be able to grab the attention of your reader and draw them in to read the rest of your essay. A great way of doing this is coming up with some sort of statement that relates to the theme and expressing it in ways that the reader can relate to. If we consider this brilliant short story, the key theme is obviously about the impossibility of escaping or cheating death. The way in which Prince Prospero tries to do this by locking himself away in a castle, and yet still the Red Death enters, clearly demonstrates this. A good hook sentence to open your essay therefore might be something like:

Man, throughout his existence, has raged against the inevitability of death and has done everything he can to try to escape it. In "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe we see how yet another such attempt is doomed to failure through the use of literary devices such as setting and symbolism.

Obviously this is just an idea to get you thinking, but hopefully you can see how the opening sentence provides a general hook and a link to the reader before you then go on to state your thesis statement and signpost your essay. Hope this helps and good luck!

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Cite this page as follows:

Hathaway, John. "How can I create an engaging hook and introduction for an essay analyzing literary devices in Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"?" edited by eNotes Editorial, 5 Oct. 2011, https://www.enotes.com/topics/masque-red-death/questions/what-literary-devices-that-being-used-masque-red-282563.

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