Sub: English Topic: Essay Writing
Question:
Write a three page essay about the story "The Masque of the Red Death" by Allan Poe.
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Write an analysis of the story (the essay should talk about the theme, plot, atmosphere,
characters and so on). There are many elements in the story that have a symbolic meaning,
please identify those symbolic meanings to each element.
Solution:
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
‘The Masque of the Red Death’ is an allegory written by the well known author Edgar
Allan Poe. It was published in May 1842 in the ‘Graham Magazine’. This story has been very
widely read and interpreted in different ways. The story has been narrated in the typical ‘Gothic
Fiction’ style. The entire story plot and the different characters and the surroundings are
interpreted as symbolically representing different attributes. The story has been interpreted
with different schools of thoughts one entirely opposite to the other.
The story, in brief, is about a prince Prospero who lives in a secluded castle. The people
living outside are afflicted by a deadly plague and a good percentage of the population die. The
disease is a vicious type where the person afflicted sweats blood and dies within the next half-
hour. Prospero, however, wants to escape this cruelty and lives in a castle without any care for
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Sub: English Topic: Essay Writing
his own people and their suffering. Prospero decides to organize a ‘masquerade party’ and
invites a few special guests. The party is conducted in seven rooms in the castle. Each room is
decorated with different color themes such as blue, green, red, black, etc. The seventh room is
decorated in black. The party commences and the guests note a strange person covered in
black and blood splattered. He orders the guests to kill this person. But nobody dares. Prospero
himself pursues this figure. Prospero chases him to the last and the seventh room. As soon as
Prospero enters the seventh room, the figure unmasks and shows his real shape. Prospero dies
on the spot. Within the next few minutes, all other guests also die.
A post-reading analysis of the story throws different attempts to understand and
interpret. Each character and scenario can be referred to be allegoric representation of
different attributes of life. The entire story can be viewed to describe human mortality or as
mankind’s futile attempts to prevent death which is inevitable. The Prince’s attitude to isolate
him from the suffering of the outside world and indulging in all pleasurable pastimes is
analogous to our life wherein all humans crave after material pleasures thereby turning
themselves from the knowledge that every human being must face death.
The disease ‘Red Death’ is fictitious. ‘Red death’ can be referred to two different
diseases when we do an autobiographical analysis. Prospero represents the author Poe whose
wife Virginia was suffering from Tuberculosis. Also, Poe’s mother Eliza and his foster mother
Frances Allan had died of tuberculosis. Like Prospero, Poe was agonized at this suffering and
wanted to escape the same. Thus, ‘Red death’ can be alluding to Tuberculosis. When we read
the corresponding happenings in Poe’s life, we find that there was an epidemic of cholera in his
city where a large number of people died. So, we can register that ‘Red Death’ may be alluding
to Cholera. The plague, in general, can be assumed to represent Death.
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Sub: English Topic: Essay Writing
As blood is an imagery used throughout the fiction, it can be construed paradoxically to
represent both life and death in the fiction. As the victims of the ‘red death’ die after sweating
blood, it can be understood as representing death. But, the black-shrouded representative of
Death appears in the ‘blue’ room. Blue is supposed to represent life. This explains that Life is
followed by Death. The last room is black in color. It has red panes as if they are stained with
blood. It is in this room that death claims the prince. No one is immune from Death. The rooms
in the palace are lined up in a series. They represent the stages of Life. The rooms run from east
to west. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The sun symbolizes Life while night
symbolizes death. The last room has only one element within: the clock. The clock that is
prominently ticking away in the black room symbolizes the ticking away of one’s life from the
moment one is born. The clock drew everyone’s attention when it chimed. This shows that the
chime is used as a constant reminder of everyone’s impending death.
While the other rooms were crowded, the last room was devoid of people. This shows
that while many may provide company in Life, none can provide company in Death. We take
the last steps in Life alone. Poe portrays this fact in a blunt manner. The masquerade ball is
arranged in 7 rooms decorated in 7 different colors. The specific colors are blue, purple, green,
orange, white, violet and black. Each room symbolizes a particular stage in Life. Blue stands for
birth. Purple represents development in Life. Green stands for nourishment an orange
corresponds with the setting of the sun. White relates to ascension. The placement of rooms
shows the progress in Life and its inevitable end. This symbolism portrays death as a cruel and
harsh fact. The prince was an arrogant and selfish man who committed many sins. The seven
rooms are also believed to represent the seven deadly sins namely: sloth (laziness), lust,
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Sub: English Topic: Essay Writing
gluttony, avarice (greed), pride, anger, and covetousness (taking what does not belong to
oneself). The seven rooms symbolize these seven sins.
The castle, serving as the backdrop of the fiction, stands to symbolize oppression as it
isolates the rest of the people from Prince Prospero and his company of nobles. The grated wall
symbolizes the social barrier between the poor and the rich. The castle is designed like a maze
with a number of confusing entrances and exits. The long and narrow windows also add to the
mystery. At the same time, a stranger, shrouded in black, is shown entering the castle in spite
of the elaborate security. This can be interpreted that ‘control’ is an illusion. Pride and
Arrogance are the flaws that are exposed in the story. “The Masque of the red death” is not
only a wonderful horror tale, but also a criticism on the wealthy and corrupt aristocrats who
hoard wealth and misuse power. It clearly brings to light the fact that time conquers all and
everything that has a beginning has an end.
** End of the Solution **
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