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Madison Staat

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP ELA 9

8 November 2018

The Masque of the Red Death ​Symbol Analysis

In the tale, ​The Masque of the red Death, ​the author tells a story about a prince who has a

masquerade party. Poe goes into detail about the 7 rooms and their different colors and

meanings. He continues to use comparison to present his allegory and message of the black

plague epidemic. Poe, exemplifies the analogies he created like the masquerade, the clock, and

the masked figure through the use of symbolism to portray a deeper message that no matter your

social ranking the black plague can still kill you.

The author gave many analogies for readers to interpret such as the masquerade. While

the chaos of the black plague was going on outside the walls of the castle, “Prince Prospero

entertained his thousand friends at the masked ball,” (Poe 1). By including this, the author shows

that the rich believed they could hide away from this deadly disease. It’s almost as if they

thought their social ranking could somehow protect them. As the upper class began to notice

their surroundings and “acknowledged the presence of the Red Death,”, they realized that it was

not as safe as they, “one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedwed halls of their revel ,

and died,” (Poe 5). Poe demonstrated how the rich believed they were sheltered by their masks,

as if they were a disguise from the deathening sickness. Sadly they were not protected and they

all died just as the all the other social rankings did. Therefore, this symbol creates the lesson that

money cannot save you from an inevitable death.

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Throughout this allegory, Poe illuminates the fact that time is running out, he does this by

using a clock as reference. As the clock struck each hour, “It was observed that the giddiest grew

pale, the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or

meditation,” (Poe 2). The author emphasizes that the older citizens are nearing the end due to

their age and the clock is symbolic of their time running out. However, they want a natural death

rather than dying by a harsh disease. When the populace continued to enjoy their gala, “There

came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and

meditation as before,” (Poe 2). This represents that the clock acts as a warning that death is near

and creates a feeling of terror that circulates in all respects. Also as an alarm that their time alive

is limited, so use it wisely. All in all, the grandfather clock presents the idea of mortality brought

by the disastrous affliction of the Black Plague.

All these devices lead up to the most important symbol; the masked figure. The last

reminder made by the old grandfather clock had struck and people didn’t know what was to

come next, “And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself…. Expressive of

disappointment and surprise-then finally of terror, of horror, and of disgust,”(Poe 3). The figure

imposed on their ball and the guests were quite frightened by the realization of his new and

unaccompanied existence. The masked figure embodies the bringing of death like the Black

Plague. When all was over with, “the flames of the tripod expired.” therefore leaving, “Darkness

and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all,”(Poe 5). This indicates that the

black plague is inescapable no matter what ranking a person is in society. The Red Death is to

come and take the lives of all who are in its presence. In the end, the Red Death is a personified

example of the black plague that spread across the nation.

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As shown, ​The Masque of the Red Death, ​is chilling story about a party used as a

distraction from the undeniable death due to the rapid spread of the black plague. Through this

tale, the author provided symbols with determinable deeper meanings such as the masquerade,

the clock, and the masked figure. In that, it was learned that the people who attended the ball

believed they would not be affected by this epidemic because of their higher social standard.

They soon learned they were mistaken when the Red Death (the black plague) came upon them

and killed everyone. In conclusion, the moral of the story is that the author, Edgar Allen Poe,

used symbolism to get the more advanced interpretation of his narrative across to his readers.