Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”

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Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" is an allegorical tale of horror. The Red Death is a plague which "had long devastated the country." In an attempt to avoid contracting the horrible disease, Prince Prospero invites a thousand friends to "one of his castellated abbeys." Here they are isolated from the outside world. Inside they lived in luxury and security, outside was the Red Death. In an allegorical interpretation of the story, Prince Prospero represents human happiness and good fortune. Symbolism is a vital part of the allegory; blood, the seven rooms and the clock are major examples. They help develop the theme that death holds "illimitable dominion over all."

"Scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face" indicate the presence of the Red Death. Blood, the very substance of life, now is a symbol of death. Prince Prospero tries to avoid his demise by building a fortress around him. Death, like blood, may be part of everyone and can not be protected against. The Prince and all of his companions eventually die. All his attempts to protect himself prove to be in vain, as death cannot be circumnavigated.
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The seven rooms signify the seven stages of life, from birth to death. "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." Darkness is symbolic of death and this final chamber represents the final stage of life. The Prince chases a masked figure (the Red Death) through the seven rooms until he confronts him in the last apartment. Here the Prince dies and is followed by all his companions. This is symbolic of the ...

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