In Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Masque of the Red Death,” setting and symbolism construct a complex theme of prosperity and death. Poe ascertains that no man can escape death, even a man possessing great wealth or power.
The main character in this tale is Prince Prospero; he has vast riches and yet is unable to forestall his own death. The prince contains himself within his seemingly impenetrable fortress, attempting to conceal himself from the epidemic that threatens to kill all with the “redness and horror of blood” (Paragraph 1).
Poe utilizes the element of setting to accentuate the overall mood of the story. He does this by describing the setting and the characters in great detail. Poe also uses various symbols in “The Mask of the Red Death” he focuses most upon the rooms of the abbey, description of the ebony clock, and the appearance and composure of the villain. This story becomes an allegory for death, and the failure of man to elude it.
After half of the population of Prince Prospero’s ruling land die of the Red Death he invites a thousand of his subjects who are in good health to a sanctuary far from the death around them. They seal out the Red Death, while at the same time sealing themselves in (Paragraph 2). The prince and his subjects attempt to hide away from the pestilence by retreating behind strong walls. In the end, these walls are penetrated by the very villain they are attempting to shut out (Paragraph 14).
The masked personification of the Red Death embodies the epidemic that rages outside the safe haven Prince Prospero creates and this figure infiltrates the masquerade ball being held by the prince. “The mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood -- and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror” (Paragraph 9). The guests are outraged and disgusted and as a result the prince is infuriated and ominously his “brow reddened with rage” (Paragraph 10). The significance of this description is that in the end all of the guests succumb to the epidemic and the “avatar and seal” of this disease is blood, “scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim” (Paragraph 1).
Another way in which the mysterious phantom epitomizes death is in the way he moves amongst the guests. He is described as spectral, or ghostly and is seen “stalking to and fro among the waltzers with a slow and solemn movement” (Paragraph 10). This sort of movement is associated with funerals and death.
Many critics agree that the phantom is symbolic of death; however, the most interesting interpretation of the story is explained by G.R. Thompson:
The stranger comes to seem like Death himself. Yet, while the tale seems to tell of this supernatural visitation of Death, it can also be read as an ironic tone poem about hysteria, engendered by mood and setting, with a sarcastic concluding echo. (Thompson 122)
Other critics focus on the unreliable narrator of this tale and the familiar subject matter Poe uses. “In his Gothic fiction Poe handles the morbid and frightening subjects with which his reputation is so closely connected-- death, madness, disease…” (Buranelli 73).
Poe creates an allegory for death by describing the seven rooms. The first six rooms are symbolic of life, they “were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life” (Paragraph 8). The room that lies furthest west symbolizes death. Each room is a different color with colored stained-glass windows that corresponds to the color of the furnishings in each room. The last room is the farthest west, west usually signifies the end of something such as the setting of the sun in the west. This room is cloaked in black tapestries but the windows are not the same hue as they are in the rest of the compartments and the windows in this chamber are scarlet, “a deep blood color” (Paragraph 4). Black is traditionally seen as a color of death; the scarlet windows are symbolic of blood and violence. This last room is very ominous to the guests of the prince:
But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.” (Paragraph 4)
Eric du Plessis does not attempt to rationalize the color of the rooms as an allegory to life or death, in fact, he believes that Poe chose the colors because they can not possibly be harmonized. He names this an “optical shock” and says it forces readers to challenge their traditional sense of togetherness “while reinforcing the atmosphere of aesthetic dissonance that permeates the tale” (du Plessis 40).
The ebony clock serves as a symbol of death, or as an ominous prelude to death. The clock is positioned against the west wall of the most westward room, continuing the symbolism of death and the west. Throughout the story the clock subdues the guests with its “monotonous clang” (Paragraph 5). This is a powerful image in the story, for the mere striking of a clock to have such an effect upon people, especially when they are described to be lighthearted and giddy.
Perhaps the most poignant instance of the clock symbolizing death, is when “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 held illimitable dominion over all” (Paragraph 14). Vincent Buranelli has a vast knowledge of Poe’s works and made the following remark in regard to Poe’s short fiction:
Poe’s symbolism generally takes the form of allowing some object to stand for an abstraction or a personal attribute. The clock in ‘The Mask of the Red Death,’ with its hourly peal of the chimes, gives to the revelers a premonition that the end for them comes ever closer. (Buranelli 77)
The central image in the story is the mysterious figure that appears at the ball. This uninvited guest is a personification of the “Red Death,” the epidemic that plagues the land, he slips through the precautions Prince Prospero puts into place. The prince is unable to elude his death or to stop it from ravaging his people; consequently, the story becomes an allegory for death.WORKS CITED
Buranelli, Vincent. Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1961.
du Plessis, H. Eric. "Deliberate Chaos: Poe's Use of Colors in 'The Masque of the Red Death.'" Poe Studies: Dark Romanticism 34.1 (2001): 40-42.
Thompson, G.R. Poe’s Fiction: Romantic Irony in the Gothic Tales. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1973.
Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Masque of The Red Death.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. 3rd Compact Ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2006. 245-49.