Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death
Upon first reading "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe, one might assume it simply a morbid horror story meant to initially scare and then disturb the reader and nothing more. In actuality, the short story is chilling allegory which contains a great amount of symbolism and depth.
The title "The Masque of the Red Death" sets the stage for the story. It is alluding to the instance in the story when Death comes to the party wearing a mask of sorts devised to look like a strange humanoid mummy form wearing all red and having on its face the symptoms of the "Red Death Plague." The title also sets up the usage of colors as symbols.
Prince Prospero's kingdom is under the plague of the Red Death in which its victims die a horrible death in about half an hour. However, the Prince is "happy, dauntless, and sagacious" during the whole episode. Prospero's name suggests a happy man troubled by nothing. The fact that the prince can be happy and dauntless while his entire kingdom is dying from a horrible sickness shows the prince is a shallow, selfish, egotistical man who is willing to take advantage of his wealth to save himself while everyone else is dying. Prospero has a love for the bizarre. Poe uses this term with a negative connotation, perhaps trying to further show the reader what a strange, evil, selfish man the Prince is. Prospero's castle is a vast, fortified structure with huge walls and gates of iron. When all of the prince's thousand "hale and light-hearted" friends come in for his party, the gates are welded shut. Like Prince Prospero, the guests are equally shallow, egocentric, and do not mind taking advantage of their wealth. The guests feel that they are escaping everything that they do not want to see. Poe includes a huge description of the castle walls in order to show the reader just how hard it is for anything unwanted to come. It is folly to "grieve or think" in the Prince's palace, and the prince has all...
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