Symbolism In Masque Of The Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic Fiction “Mask of the Red Death” takes place in a kingdom struck by plague in Prince Prospero's abbey. Prospero hosts his party in his isolated abbey to try and protect himself and his rich friends. Eventually a character known as the Red Death shows up and kills everyone. Within Prospero’s abbey there are seven colored rooms which are blue, purple, red, green, orange. white, and finally the black room representing death. The colors of the room’s represent the different stages of life. The hidden message in Edgar Allen Poe’s allegory “Masque of the Red Death” is that death is inevitable. The clock in the story symbolizes the passing of time and the inevitability of death. In the story the people are partying until the clock strikes midnight in which the …show more content…
In order to avoid the Red Death Prince Prospero walls up his isolated castle, has a party with all his friends, and has enough food to last about six months. “ When his dominions were half depopulated… retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys”. This quote from the story proves the assertion because the story tells how Prospero tries to only save himself and his friends than the other people of his kingdom. Prince Prospero symbolizes man in the way he thinks he can escape death. Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” is an allegory that death is an inevitable part of our life and that there is no escaping it. The story applies to our society today because there are people that will only care about themselves rather than helping others because they think they can avoid death be just doing so. The story also applies to our world because of the reference to passing time through the clock in the black room which indicate that everyone will eventually die , and also how the color coded rooms in the abbey symbolize the different stages in one’s own