Introduction

Edgar Allen Poe was a 19th century American author who wrote gothic horror stories (as well as gothic poetry). Here, he delivers his theme that no one escapes death in his short story “Masque of the Red Death” through symbolism, setting, and narration. The colors of the room serve as symbols of life, with the red room serving as a symbol of blood and of the horror that awaits the revelers as the plague that they think they have escaped makes its way in to their party. The setting is also important. It is a party held in an abbey, secluded from the rest of the country, and the people are celebrating while those outside are dying. There is a distinct sense of separation and division between those at the masque and those who are not part of the elite crowd, the Prince’s friends. The narration of the story is dramatic and proceeds in a way that saves the best for last: the twist ending that drives home the horror with a shock—the “special guest” is none other than the Red Death itself. The story begins by describing how the “Red Death” had devastate the country, proceeds to describe the revelers seeking asylum in the abbey, and Prince Prospero’s unusually majestic celebrations—perversely held while so much suffering and death circulated outside the walls. When a figure enters into the story, wearing a funeral shroud with blood on it, the Prince is offended and pursues the guest whose costume outrages one and all. The other revelers let this distasteful guest proceed all the way to the final chamber—the red and black room, where the Prince finally confronts him only to fall over dead. The story ends with the sudden realization that Prospero and his guests have not managed to escape: on the contrary, Death has gotten in—and Prospero and all the other revelers drop dead as a result.

Symbolism

The color of the rooms is very symbolic. The colors represent the stages of life. The blue room symbolizes birth. The purple room is the symbol of childhood. The green room symbolizes adolescence; orange symbolizes adulthood; white old age; violet is the symbol of approach death; and the final room, which is red and black is the symbol of death.

In the last room is also a black clock. The black clock in the black room symbolizes... It announces to the reader that time is winding down, that the arrival of Death is imminent and that soon the story, the party, and the lives of all the characters will be over. How that will happen is what the story hides. The surprise is that one of the guests whom the revelers think has inappropriately dressed like a plague victim is not actually in costume but is actually the Plague personified.
The abbey represents a kind of gated community. It is a symbol of the attempt of some to separate themselves from the everyday toils and struggles of the common herd. It symbolizes the effort of the wealthy elites to separate themselves from unpleasantries and while away the time having parties. The masque ball represents the way in which people disguise themselves yet hide the reality underneath: they project something humorous or gawdy or appalling but really they are all human. The combined symbol of the abbey and the ball is that the rich prince thinks he is above everything that affects ordinary people. The big reveal of the story of course is that he is not above anything. Death is the great equalizer and death comes for all “like a thief in the night.” Death comes unexpectedly and no one in the story nor even the reader himself expects it, even though all the signs and symbols are there to show that it is coming.

The symbols are used to develop the theme of the story which is that Death is not something that can be escaped from. All of life leads up to it. The clock will strike the last time. The stages of life have a beginning, a middle and an end. This awareness is intuitive to man. The nature of the rooms says it is so. The prince has designed the rooms to reflect this reality even if it is unrealized. The symbols are used to develop the story by layering it with a deeper meaning and building up the underlying sense of dread that is lurking among the party-goers.

Setting

The setting of the story is during the Dark Ages when the bubonic plague ravaged Europe. The bubonic plague was a horrible and caused red spots on the skin to stand out before turning black. The plague is thus foreshadowed in the end by the colors of the last room, which are red and black. The setting itself captures the essence of bubonic plague that swept across Europe.…