Marian Minette S.

Villanueva
8, 2016

AB-English

September

The Masque of the Red Death

By Edgar Allan Poe
The Masque of the Red Death is a short story written by the master of English
gothic horror, Edgar Allan Poe. It was originally published in the May 1842 issue of
Graham's Magazine, a Philadelphia literary magazine for which he served as editor.
The story happens in a country where a plague was devastated by what they called,
the Red Death whichas what the author describes has sharp pains, and sudden
dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The story
revolves around Prince Prospero and the happenings throughout his grand
masquerade party.
The first element of the story is the plot. The exposition of the story started
with the introduction of Prince Prospero in the time of the Red Death which the
country is devasted with a plague and then invites all the wealthy and nobles in his
kingdom for a grand masquerade ball. The rising action was when Prince Prosperos
guest arrived and the narrator starts describing the grandiose abbey and the seven
colored rooms including the ebony clock in the seventh room which chimes every
hour and gives an eerie feeling to the revelers. The climax then came when an
enigmatic guest appears just before the midnight strikes. The falling action was
when the prince got enraged by his sudden cowardice and decided to face the man
with a dagger but when he turned around, a sharp cry was heard instead and there
the princes life ended. The resolution of the story was when the presence of the
Red Death was finally acknowledged and as everyone tried to seize the intruder,
they found nothing under the costume and everyone in the room died. The conflict
of the story is Man versus Death.
The story is consist of two main charactersPrince Prospero and the Red
Death. The story started with the introduction of the Red Death which had said to be
the one who had long devastated the country. In the story, the red death appeared
before the midnight strikes. The spectral imaged is described as tall and thin and
shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. Prince Prospero is
described to be bold and a robust man. He remained happy, dauntless and
sagacious amidst the death of the most in his town brought by the Red Death. But
these might just be the irony of what he is ought to be. He tried to avoid the Red
Death by secluding himself inside his castellated abbey; providing all his needs
and pleasure. The moment when he laid his eyes on the spectral image, the
prince was seen to be convulsed and shuddered at first but being dauntless, he was
enraged by the mysterious presence. Upon knowing the presence of the Red Death,
he ran through the different colored rooms. Angered by his cowardice, Prince
Prospero decided to face the intruder with a dagger but suddenly, however, a sharp
cry was heard and there lies the fall to his death in the presence of the Red Death.
The story was set on one of Prince Prosperos castellated abbey. It is
described to be extensive and a magnificent structure. It also has a strong and lofty
wall girdled in it and the walls had gates of iron. The masquerade ball took place on
the seven colorful imperial suits. The first room in the suite is blue, the second is

purple, the third is green, the fourth is orange, the fifth is white, and the sixth is
violet. The seventh room is special but everyone is not really paying much
anticipation to this room because it's hung in all black and its windows are a deep
blood red. There is also an ebony clock that was placed insidethe only one among
the rest.
The point of view drifted a lot of times throughout the development of the
story. The narrator obviously is a third person but there are times when it shifts to a
first persons point of view by saying lines such as But first let me tell of the rooms
in which it was held. But as analyzed on the context, the narrator was just a mere
spectator to the whole event. The narrator was narrating the whole story without
giving much information about the characters feelings or thoughtsthe detailed
rooms, the thoughts of the audience inside the rooms and even Prince Prospero
himself. The narrator did not state what was Prince Prospero was thinking the whole
time; instead, the narrator would give us the hints of what he was going through .
All ideas were from the observation from a birds eye view. This type of point of view
is more on showing than telling the readers.
The story was published in English. The style of the author was written
elegantly and gothic. The paragraphs were arranged based on the flow the story.
Though each paragraph doesnt have the same measure because some of it was
composed longer and others not; but these paragraphs were important pieces to
create the picture of the puzzle. The first paragraph began with the introducing of
the plague or the Red Death. The second paragraph was the Prince, and then the
third was the castle and next was the seven rooms and so on until the last
paragraph ends the story of revealing the presence of the Red Death. The author
made a really good job in dividing the parts of the story and to make it as a whole.
The author is also fond of putting a lot of details in describing things and the
reaction of the characters in the story.
The author had craftily chosen the right words to make the whole story feels
gothic and evokes the eerily feeling; even started in the very beginning of the story.
By doing this, the author had made an atmosphere of sensing dark and suspense
throughout the story. Basing on the first paragraph alone, the author had already
used the word, Red, Death, fatal, blood, hideous, sharp pains and etc. These words
could already reflect the readers to feel uncomfortable and disturbed throughout
the whole ride of the plot. Even when the author mentioned the word happy in
describing the Prince, It didnt have much effect to make it optimistic because you
know that later on, something bad will happen. The author also added a lot of spices
on creating suspense and spooky thrills through being detailed on the descriptions
and the uses of a lot of imagery.
There are a lot of symbolism that was observed in the whole context, one
important thing is the characterPrince Prospero, itself. Prospero is a man holding a
very high position in a country. He is filled with all the pleasure and treasures in the
world and also, the castle. The author pointed out a vivid description on what the
castle looks like. It was said that it has a strong and lofty wall girdled in it and the
walls had gates of iron and it was also said to be a magnificent structure. Based on
these two, we could say that no matter how rich the Prince was, and how hard he
tried to hide into a place guarded by irons and steel gates, death will always be
there to haunt the poor soul. Another important symbol is the ebony clock that can

only be found in the seventh roomthe black one. The clock is meant to symbolized
death. Its a symbol of how the time flies while the revelers were spending the night
on the ball. Noticing how the revelers reacted nervously every time the clock sound
its monotonous clang and how the party would eerily stop; its depicting that death
is approaching. And lastly, one of the most important symbols which the author had
given a lot of time creating such details is the seven colored rooms. The different
rooms were the symbols of the stages of life. The color blue indicates a new
beginningrepresents birth. The purple represents the start of growth, green
indicates youth, the orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow
which can represent the summer and the autumn of life. The color white shows the
color of a grown mans hair turning white which indicates the age of being old and
the color violet also symbolizes darkness and death. Obviously, the seventh and
the black room symbolizes death. When the red death appeared before the prince,
the prince ran from the first room which was from the east until the very end which
was the seventh and the black room in the farthest west where he faced death and
also the unexpected guess. It also represents how the sun rises in the east and sets
in the west which then the darkness will envelop the world. It was also written in the
story that the people or the revelers dont want to go to the black room which
indicates how much the revelers feared death.
From the title itself until the resolution of the plot; death is written all over the
story. The theme of the story is the inevitability of death to our lives. No matter how
rich and powerful you are, your wealth cant protect and hide you with the nature of
death. Prince Prospero believed that he can escape death with his high steel walls
protecting himself from the outside world which was already plagued and with his
wealth providing anything that he needs, but he himself even met death eye to eye.
I conclude that the author made a very skillful and elegant piece of literary
work. The use of the third person objective gave this