"The Masque of the Red Death" Analysis
By: Star Skylighter

No one can outrun death. We all know that, but some of us think that if we take numerous, and sometimes drastic, measures to protect against death, we can prolong our lives. Edgar Allan Poe, the Gothic author who wrote many short stories and well known poems such as "The Raven" knew that death was inevitable, despite any precautions a mortal may take. He lost his parents very early in his life, then lost his step-mother while he was a teen. Poe struggled with many things during his life, and finally came to writing.

In "The Masque of the Red Death", Poe describes human nature somewhat drastically. Prince Prospero, to quarantine himself and a thousand of his friends from the red death, locks himself and his visitors in a castellated abbey while the rest of Europe is plagued with disease. Prospero is almost arrogant, and many consider him to be eccentric. This is displayed in his actions, and in the architecture of the abbey in which the story takes place.

The abbey is astoundingly filled with symbolism. The eastern most chamber is colored blue. The carpet, the walls, and the stained glass windows are blue. This color is oft times taken to represent the first stages of life, as is the eastern direction, because the sun rises in the east, signaling a new day and a new beginning. The other chambers are other colors, but the only other one that stands out is the seventh, and most western chamber. This chamber is black.

What makes this chamber different is that the bordering and stained glass of the room isn't black, as is the carpet and the walls. The window and bordering are red. This makes for an eerie, red colored hue to anyone who enters into it. Black is the color of mourning, and red the color of blood. These two colors come together to symbolize death, as does the direction of the chamber. The sun sets in the west, bringing darkness to the world. Also in this room is an ebony clock which chimes at each hour. Clocks are sometimes taken to represent the passing of life.

After some months of Prince Prospero's quarantine, he calls for a masquerade ball. There is music, and the guests revel in the costumes and the dancing. They dance throughout the colored chambers of the abbey, but none dare to step into the black room. The red hue given to anyone who does is strickingly similar to the effects that the red death, the disease Prospero and his friends are trying to outrun.

At the turn of each hour, the music stops. The dancing ceases. All his quiet, except for the loud chiming of the ebony clock in the black chamber. Another hour has passed, the guests and Prospero are one hour closer to their fate. Uneasily, after the chiming is finished, the music starts once again and the guests laugh off their silly phobia of the clock.

Midnight is a time of uncertainty. It is the witching hour in some cultures, the time when the unknown has power in this world. It is the peak of darkness. On the night of the masquerade, at the last chime of midnight, something unexpected happens. A new person appears amidst the crowd. No one knows who this is, and that can't be! Prospero and his friends have been quarantined for months!

The new masquerader is dressed as a victim of the red death. He wears burial shrouds, and his mask is a skull. Blood drips from his shroud and his mask. Prince Prospero is astonished at this, and orders that the person be apprehended and hung at dawn. But no one moves. All is still, except for the blasphemous masquerader. He moves silently from chamber to chamber. Everyone is too frightened to do anything.

Prospero, realizing that no one will do as he ordered, catches up with the shrouded figure, a dagger in hand. Just as Prospero reaches the figure in the black chamber, the figure turns to face Prospero. Prospero drops the dagger, falling face forward in death.

Several members of Prospero's entourage, in a fit of rage, attack the figure. This symbolizes a last effort in the struggle for life, a last idea to overthrow death. The men unmask and uncloak the figure, only to find nothing beneath the shrouds. The figure was death itself, the masqueraders realize, aghast.

One by one, the once-were revelers drop, suffering from the red death that quickly spreads throughout the abbey, and Poe comes to the moral that no one can tempt fate, and everyone dies.