Mortality In Poe's The Masque Of The Red Death

Never has a very infectious disease turned into a human figure, intrude on a private masquerade ball, and massacre all of the guests at the end of the night. In the story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, written by Edgar Allen Poe, the plague affecting Prince Prospero’s community does just that. Poe’s short story is strong when it comes to symbolism which helps lead the readers to find the theme of mortality. In “Masque of the Red Death”, there is a vast amount of symbolism giving both positive and negative messages. One way that this short story shows symbolism was through the way the apartment / suite is laid out. Poe says, “The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than once at a time. There was a sharp turn every 20 or 30 yards, and at each turn a novel effect.”(448). As well as the sharp turns, there are 7 rooms, all of which are a different color. The suite is an allegory for human life, each room representing a different stage and each corner representing a sudden change or alter. The colors of the rooms, “...from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple - through the purple to green - through …show more content…
Death sometimes may also just be lingering in the background waiting for the appropriate moment and sometimes, death will come out of nowhere. Death is an indefinite thing, so don’t worry about dieing and just let what happens happen, it is all for a reason. Poe’s short story is strong when it comes to symbolism, which helps lead us to the theme of mortality. “The Mask of the Red Death” may not be real but it is an example for the readers to see how life works. Whether they focus on the 7 different stages of life or they focus more on the sharp turns and alters, or even the walking disease, they will easily be able to find that the disease is representing