Broadway Journal

The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe follows numerous traditions of Gothic fiction and can be analyzed as an allegory demonstrating the inevitability of death. Prince Prospero is the main character of this short story and seeks a solution to the plague of the Red Death that is consuming his people at a rapid pace. In a hurry to escape the disease, he brings along those who have not been infected and settles in a castellated abbey. For fear of any form of disease to enter the castle, he orders the only doors welded shut and designs seven rooms of his suite to be mono-colored with every hue beginning with white and ending with black. All Is well with Prospero and his followers, until an uninvited guest arrives to reveal the fate of those attempting to cheat death. The setting of this story is inside Prince Prospero’s secluded castle. As everyone in the castle was feeling hopeless, Prospero decided to throw a masquerade ball where his guests could appreciate his elaborate suite. The mono-colored rooms have been interpreted as a metaphor for the stages of life, white room being birth, and the black room as death. Other sources claim that the rooms reveal the insanity of Prince Prospero, which seems likely as he is very paranoid. The setting of “The Masque of the Red Death” inflicts fear in the reader through isolation and the questionable sanity of Prospero, who as a metaphorically decided to seal the fate of every inhabitant of his castle through the…

Often in short stories, symbols are present. Symbols represent meanings beyond what they literally are in the story. In the short story, The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, the gigantic ebony clock is symbolic. The ebony clock is symbolic because it symbolizes death and that time never stops. Symbols represent something other than themselves, which is significant to the story. The ebony clock in the seventh room symbolizes death. According to the short story, it…

“The Masque of Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe is a deliciously creepy short story. The “Red Death” is showing Edgar Allen Poe’s view on the Black Plague. This plague took over the fantasy country. It's incredibly fatal, horribly gruesome, and it's already killed off half the kingdom, one might say “Blood was its Avatar.” “Meanwhile, in a panic, healthy people did all they could to avoid the sick.” The story goes into detail how people would do whatever it may take to stay healthy, this quote is…

The author of the story Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe is about a prince who tries to avoid the red death. He locks himself in a castle. With loud music he stays in the castle and surrounded by the rich and the poor people were outside listening to how the prince partied. He had the door closed so no poor person can come in. Towards the end the red death came in and killed everyone inside. In this story we talk about the ebony clock and room east to west and finally we talk about…

Symbols flood the pages in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death, which he uses to clearly express the theme of unavoidable mortality; Prince Prospero’s palace chambers are one such symbol. The specific layout of the rooms is one symbol found inside the palace. Poe makes a point to describe the rooms from east to west. This symbolizes the rising and setting of the sun, as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. As the sun goes through its daily routine, so do Prince Prospero and…

Kwanzaa, an African-American tradition that contains seven symbols, is celebrated from December 26th until January 1st. “Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966.(History)” Each night, for seven nights, each family will light a candle. There are seven candles, one black, three red, and three green.(History) Each color represents something different; the black represents the people, the red represents the…

Life is followed by the natural process of death. It is something that cannot be avoided and occurs unconditionally. In Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death,” this message is conveyed through the use of symbolism and allegory. In this story, a fatal contagion pervades the land in which Prince Prospero reigns, killing victims within thirty minutes of contracting the disease. In reaction to this, the Prince summons a few of his loyal courtiers to an abbey isolated from the outside,…

Symbolism in "The Masque of the Red Death" The horrific disease, “Red Death”, is highlighted and running through the story, The Masque of the Red Death, by Edgar Allan Poe. It also brings out the memories of the Black Death of Europe during the Middle Ages. The protagonist was the Prince Prospero. When his dominions were depopulated, he brought one thousand people went into hiding in a castellated abbey in order to avoid the fatal disease. He decorated and provided all the appliances of pleasure…

Although every room was exquisitely designed, each room represented one of the seven deadly sins. Greed, wrath, pride, lust, gluttony, sloth, and envy all “attended” the party through the guests and their oblivious actions. The infamously painted black room with window panes of “a deep blood color” was the most avoided (Poe 1). With red lighting, as well, this room was highly evaded throughout the night. What was special about this room was that it included a large ebony clock with a pendulum,…

Writing Assessment: The Masque of Red Death Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” is a chilling story about a prince that tries to avoid the Red Death, a plague that sweeps his kingdom. He attempts to do this by locking himself and his friends in his castle and throwing a lavish party. Everything is fine until the Red Death visits the prince and his guests, and everyone dies. Throughout the story, Poe uses symbols such as the colors of the rooms in the party, the gigantic wall clock…