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Savanna Gallegos

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP English, Period 6

11 November 2019

The Masque of the Red Death​ Theme Response

As a plague infects humanity, those who are vulnerable are desperately trying to survive.

However, Prince Prospero summoned a thousand healthy subjects to his beautifully architectured

abbey for a masquerade. He and his hale dominions shunned the horrid reality of the world they

were living in. In the short story, ​The Masque of the Red Death​, Edgar Allan Poe uses the

symbolism of the masquerade, the clock, and the seventh room within the abbey to demonstrate

the reality of death can not be ignored, life eventually becomes extinct.

The masquerade represented the false reality that the gathering had created. The purpose

of the celebration was to reassure the guest, as if neglecting the plague would allow freedom of

disease, as it is described, “the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited” (Poe 3).

Prince Prospero and his hundreds of friends were convinced that the revel would last for eternity,

even if there was a deadly plague infecting all those vulnerable. The masquerade was acting as a

false reality that did not exist. It was impossible to live forever. It was a false statement created

by those present in the abbey. Those in the masquerade were frivolous about the concept of life

and death, “the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests” the company possessed the

rational fear of reality, “there are matters of which no jest can be made” (Poe 4). The Prince and

his dominions were impractical of life and death, but evidence proves that all were aware these

matters could not be neglected. The attendants of the masquerade attempted to hide from the
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reality of life and death, even though the revelers were conscious of the inevitable. The

celebration intended to deceive a world where beginnings and ends were irrelevant. In

conclusion, the masquerade demonstrates the revelers’ denial of death.

The ebony clock in the abbey represented the impending doom that was to occur to all

participants in the masquerade. As the dancers and musicians played while others were kept

entertained, the clock would chime every hour drawing the attention of those in the abbey, “there

was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company” this relates to the revelers fear of the current

situation that was causing their population to decrease rapidly as certain masqueraders were

explained as, “the giddiest grew pale” (Poe 2). The company was reminded of the end when the

clock chimed. Everyone runs out of time, despite how wealthy one may be no one can pay to

make the passing of time stop. The fear does not change with every chime of the clock, “for a

moment, all is still, and all is silent” time continues to pass, even if they want it to stop, but the

analogy of living in a different reality occurs, “dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand” (Poe 3) The

survivors want to dance in peace in a dream, acting as a different reality. The reality the

company wants to live in is nonexistent, even if it is an attempt to ignore their present conflicts.

The clock chimes reminding them of the death that is sure to occur to every single occupant of

the abbey, as no one can escape death. All in all, the clock reminds the prince and his dominions

that death is inevitable, even if the masqueraders believe that their ignorance will prevent the end

of life.

Evil and death is represented by the seventh room of the abbey. The masqueraders

wanted to hide themselves from the reality of death, as it was demonstrated by their behavior

when the guests reacted to the seventh room, “there were few of the company bold enough to set
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foot within its precincts at all” (Poe 2). The seventh room was tinted with scarlet and black light

referring to the end of life and evil. The occupants were afraid of this room because the

masqueraders wanted to live in a dream world where life and death did not have to concern them.

The room symbolized the end, therefore not many guests set foot into the room. When the

outbreak of the Red Death spread into the abbey “the revellers at once threw themselves in the

apartment” as the last breath was drawn, the Red Death had brought disease upon the company,

“seizing the mummer” (Poe 4). When the dominions faced the reality of death, all the guests died

in the seventh room. The murder of the revelers in the scarlet room forced the ignorant victims to

experience the evil wrath of death. To conclude, the reality of the end had followed the company

into the seventh room that was meant to indicate death and evil.

In summary, the masqueraders were desperately attempting to hide from death. The Red

Death was spread throughout the population and could not be resolved. Prince Prospero was

afraid of the end and hid in his abbey with other survivors. Despite their efforts to ignore the end,

it was soon a fate all of the revelers had to experience. The symbolism in ​The Masque of the Red

Death ​by Edgar Allan Poe uses the masquerade, the clock, and black room to depict the cruel

reality everyone has to face, the inevitable death.