Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

Whether people acknowledge it or not, most people’s greatest fear is death. In the short story, “The Masque of the Red Death,” by E. Poe, he shows how people were trying to escape death, but may not see what was to come. Early in the story, Prince Prospero and his friends were trying to escape the red death. With this, the Prince throws a masquerade. Instead of seeing what was right in front of them, they were to caught up in things that they could not see. To strengthen his allegory of life in “The Masque of the Red Death,” Poe expresses that avoiding something does not make it go away through his portrayal of the castle, the courtiers, and rooms one and seven. Prince Prospero lived in a very magnificent castle due to his immense wealth. The castle was very strong, and it was an attempt to keep the bad things out. This includes the feared, red death. Poe writes, “A strong and lofty wall girdled in it. The wall had gates of iron” (82). The symbolism of the castle represents the attempts to avoid bad things in life. With this, Poe shows …show more content…
The courtiers of Prince Prospero were about just as wealthy as him. Likewise, they also wanted to stay as far away from the red death as possible. For example, Poe mentioned, “The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers” (83). With this in mind, the symbol of the courtiers represent people of a higher social status that are trying to stay away from the reality of death. Furthermore, Poe shows how the courtiers were desperate to stay away from death that plagued the community. Above all, this is why these wealthy people brought furnaces and massy hammers, to try to completely stay away. Also, bringing these things did not make it go away. These people were trying to use material things to continue on with life. Therefore, those gifts were very expensive, but not useful in the long