Death is going to reach everyone at some point. No matter what advantage a person has in life, they are still going to die. In “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, a village is faced with a deadly plague. The main character, Prince Prospero, decides to gather 1,000 of his friends and family and lock them up in his castle as a way to avoid catching the plague. He then throws a masquerade ball that contains 7 color coded rooms, and the party takes a turn for the worse. Symbolism is used throughout “The Masque of the Red Death,” and it shows that death is inescapable. The first use of symbolism in “The Masque of the Red Death” is shown by the directions the seven rooms flow. On page one, Poe states, “But in the western or black …show more content…
This applies to every room besides the last room, which is black and red. On the first page, the seventh chamber is addressed, “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.” Once again, “blood” is used to compare the room to death. The room is different than the other seven, and it raises eyebrows because of it. It’s not one color like the others, and it gives off an eerie mood. Also on the first page, the rooms are described as: “That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue --and vividly blue were its windows. 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.” Each room’s color represents a part of the life cycle. Because of the last room being the darkest, it also symbolizes a person’s death. With the reoccurring symbolism of death, there is yet another …show more content…
On page 2, Poe states, “Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation.” The clock makes everyone sick to their stomachs when it rings, and it momentarily brings their deaths to their own attention. The clock is a ticking reminder of the guests’ lives. Additionally, the author wrote, “But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who reveled” (2). The party attendees do not realize there is an unwanted guest in the crowd until midnight, when the clock chimes. The man is the Red Death, and they all die because of him soon after. All of the symbols help