Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”: An Allegory for Man’s Attempts at Cheating Death

Edgar Alan Poe’s “mask of the red death” “And darkness and decay and the red death held illimitable dominion over all.” While the red death was scourging the land, a price decided to save himself and a hundred of his closest friends by locking themselves in his castle. During this stay in the prince’s castle, a masque is held and all one hundred inhabitants of the castle are incited. The party is lively and has all of the joys of life including seven different rooms all with one color in mind. The seventh and last room of the ten rooms was draped in black and tinted scarlet red. A click near the last room chimes hourly foreshadowing death closing in. When the clock strikes twelve a masked intruder appears unknowingly to the inhabitants of the castle and kills the prince and his guests. This story is an allegory for man’s feeble attempts at cheating death. In this story the red death serves as the allegory for death. Poe conveys the theme of deaths power over man. Poe shows how death can come silently and expectantly in the night and how man has little power over death. The first symbol Poe uses is the red death. The read death supports his theme of not being able to escape death or see him coming because the red death is a disease invisible to man until its mark was shown just like you don’t know where death been until you see someone is dead. “No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its avatar and its seal.” Prince Prospero tries to hide from the red death but death can stealthily. Yet another symbol in Poe’s story is the black draped scarlet red hued room. This room shows that people not only hide from death, but all things related to it also. The room shows resemblance to the red death so no one enters.
“Produced so while a look upon the countenances of those who entered?” This shows how people are so afraid to die they often avoid tings out of fear. The last symbol in Poe’s short story is the clock. It