English Per. 22/2/2005 Human Mortality in “The Masque of Red Death ” 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.
David R. Dudley states that “the Red Death symbolizes death in general” (Dudley 169).
This can be assumed by the nature of the disease. No cure could be found for the Red Death and all whom obtained it eventually died.
Also, the fact that the Red Death contains the word death directly connects the two. This connection clearly suggests that the Red Death symbolizes death. Knowing that, the fortress that Prince Prospero designed to separate himself and his guests from the Red Death symbolizes his human desire to escape death. Just as humans attempt to avoid the topic of death with material goods and busyness, the prince provides his guests with “all the appliances of pleasure.” (Poe 1) Yet despite all of these precautions, death rules over all as the Red Death is able to sneak into the fortress and claim every life within it. Liz Brent states the entire masquerade ball “can be read as an allegory for the ways in which humans attempt to distract themselves from thoughts of their own mortality by indulging in earthly pleasures” (Brent 242).
The Essay on Red Death Story Poe Prince
Edgar Allan Poe's short story entitled The Mask of the Red Death is an artistic example of vivid symbolism. Throughout the sinister tale Poe writes in a style that appeals to all five senses and captivates the reader's curiosity until the story's dour conclusion. Upon first glance, the story seems to be a complex tale of good versus evil. If the reader were to examine the story more deeply, they ...
The guest’s isolation gave them a life of false security and their superficial pleasures distracted them from the contemplation of death.
By focusing on their own need for entertainment, they were able to ignore the devastation occurring outside of their walls. Poe used the rooms of the fortress as a symbol of the progression of a human life. The fortresses design contains seven distinctly different rooms. H. H. Bell, Jr.
, an expert on Edgar Allan Poe, has suggested that Poe seems to represent these rooms as an “allegorical representation of Prince Prospero’s life span” (Bell 241).
The greatest piece of evidence for this is the order in which Poe arranged the rooms. The first room is positioned in the far eastern side of the mansion and the last room’s placement resides in the far western side. Just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west each day, the arrangement of the rooms suggests the beginning and the end of life.
Poe exemplifies this idea with the coloration of the last room. Black, a color connected with night and death, covers the walls in the last room. Also, the color of red seeps through the stained glass windows representing the bloodiness often incorporated with death, particularly the Red Death so feared at this party. Prospero’s guests avoid the last room out of fear, just as the living avoid reminders of death.
Meanwhile, music and dancing occurred nearby as all of the other rooms “beat feverishly with life” (Poe 2).
Poe cleverly created a setting that showed how the people do not believe their death was imminent until later stages of life. Poe used many devices to connect the passage of time with the inevitability of death. Poe chose to capitalize Time during the story. This helped to personify time, suggesting that it should be analyzed in an allegorical sense instead of a literal sense. Brent believes that “the placement of the great ebony clock in the seventh room connects the passage of time with the progression of the rooms from birth to death” (Brent 243).
The Essay on Masque Of The Red Death Poe Edgar 8212
... themselves from death's inevitability — must have seemed implicit in Poe's own life. So many deaths in Poe's life not only ... a ghost or a corpse and frightening family guests. This is not in itself an unusual ... the maskers revel in this room; this room is too close to death. And how is it furnished? ... escaping the Red Death which will claim the revellers that very night. The clock which chimes the ...
Furthermore, just as the rooms going east to west counted down the different sections of the lives of the guests, the clock counted down the passing of their lives. The sound of the ebony clock struck fear into the hearts of the guests. Each time that the clock struck, all of the music and dancing within the fortress would halt. To the guests, the clanging of the clock had a greater meaning than an hour of time. Brent suggests that “Poe meant for the clock to count off periods of life-not mere hours” (Brent 243).
Each chime acts as a reminder of the limited amount of time each individual has left to live.
As the clock strikes, dancing, music and all of the other distractions created to mask out the fear of death become irrelevant and the guests become aware of their own mortality. Patrick H. Wheat suggests that at midnight “the clock, the most powerful reminder of death in the Prince’s world, is at its most powerful moment of the night, since it has twelve long, suggestive strokes to sound” (251).
At the end of the twelfth chime, the guests became aware of the presence of a masked figure which evokes terror through all those present. Death can no longer be avoided and becomes accepted as an inevitable. As Prince Prospero and guests fell to their deaths “the life of the ebony clock went out with the last of the gay” (Poe 3).
After everyone had died, the clock had served its purpose of counting down what remained of their lives and no longer had a reason to function. Poe cleverly used the clock to connect the end of time with the end of life. Poe created “The Masque of Red Death” to fascinate and intrigue his readers. He also included a deeper meaning to show the futility of attempting to avoid death. Refusing to acknowledge death will not deter its final call. There is no safe haven or fortress which can prevent its entry.
Through various literary techniques Poe successfully portrayed the message that death holds illimitable dominion over all.
