The Masque Of The Red Death Research Paper

Death is a mystery event that happens to all of us and it is one those events that you can hide from no matter what you do. In the story “Masque of the Red Death” Edgar Allan Poe explains how Prince Prospero locks himself and others in his castle to hide from the plague. Even though the prince hides himself in his castle, he was not able to escape death. He even tried to fight it off ,but made it worse for himself. In the story Peo applies that you can not hide from death or fight it off. The Prince shuts himself and some friends in his castle to try to hide from the the plague. “When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and lighthearted friends”(Poe456). The castle was suppose to be a safe place for him and his friends. The Prince believed that within his walls he the red death would not be able to get in.”All these and security within. Without was the “Red Death.”” (Poe456). The Red Death was the easiest thing to get in the castle. Where the Prince’s party was taking place stood a gigantic clock the rang every hour. During the party every hour it rang everyone in the party would stop what they were doing and wait until it stopped. “at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to
pause”(Poe457). At midnight a stranger appeared and caught the attention of everyone there. The stranger appeared out of nowhere and made his way around the party. “the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual”(Poe459). The sound of the clock was a warning the something was coming and it let everyone wondering.

During the Masque party a stranger appeared in one of the rooms and was something that caught the prince off guard.
The stranger was not human or a friend of the Prince. When the prince noticed the he called to capture and unmask the stranger. Seize him and unmask him”(Poe460). The stranger in the story symbolizes the Red Death because it was the one thing that the Prince was hiding from and was not able to get away. When no one would do anything about the stranger the prince ran towards it with a dagger it kill, but instead ended up dying himself. “dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince
Prospero”(Poe461). Even though the Prince shut himself in his castle the Red Death still got him and everyone that was with him. The Prince closing himself and other in his castle meant that no one will be able to leave or come in. The clock was a warning that the Red Death was coming and the everyone was clueless. The stranger that appeared as soon as the clock struck midnight was the Red Death ,but Poe gave it human like features so it can appear as if something killed them not just a plague. The hidden message that Edgar Allan Poe applied was that no matter what you do you can’t hide from death.