Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

Although we all wish we could live forever, and that everything would always go our way, that’s not how life works. We all will have negative things in our life that we cannot run away from. In Edgar Allen Poe's story, “The Masque of the Red Death” many dark, spooky words are used to pull us in and make us want to keep reading. “The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.” (Page #) In this passage, the word fatal sticks out. A lot of people will be pulled in when they hear the word fatal because death can be a scary part of life. The author used this word so that we would read to the end just to find out what happened. Another thing that Poe uses often in his stories is strong symbolism …show more content…
The seven different colored rooms in the story represent the stages of life. “These windows were of stained glass whose colored varided in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chambers into which it opened.” The rooms were blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. Blue stood for birth because when a baby is born they are pure. Poe used purple to represent youth. Green is for the teen years, and orange for adulthood. Old age is represented by white, and violet represents imminent death. Finally black stands for death because death is a dark thing. Poe used the rooms as symbolism because when he took all of his friends and put them in the abbey he was having them all sit in there and wait to die. They were spending their stages of life there. Even though that is what it represented that is not how Prince Prospero saw it. He saw it as a never ending party rather than everyone just waiting to die and not doing anything to better the world with their life. Another object that was used as symbolism was a big black clock that was hung in the back. “And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And darkness and Decay and The Red Death half illimitable dominion over all.” The clock went along with the doors and represented that you can’t stop time. …show more content…
Prince Prospero thought that everything in his life could be perfect. With that he tried to make his life a neverending party. “There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet- dancers, there were musicians, there was beauty, there was wine.” Out of all of the things stated in that quote, all are the positive finer things in life. There are no negative things. This is a form of symbolism that supports the theme because that is exactly what Poe wanted to get across to the reader. Prince wanted to throw a party in his palace with all of his close friends and family and lock all of the poverty and the sickness out. They would have a party with wine and dancers that never ended and they would all be healthy. He thought that he could just lock all of the negativity out and live happily ever after. He did not want to have to help the poor, he just wanted to shut the abbey’s doors and let those with no money fend for themselves. “The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve or think.” Prince Prospero just wanted to let them take care of themselves as he said in the quote. One of the themes in The Masque of The Red Death is that not everything will go your way. Prince