Analysis

Zach Thompson

English 1100

9/27/13

Analysis Essay

The Masque of the Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death" predominantly uses themes of death, symbolism, and imagery in connection with time in order to foreshadow the fate of the guests.  In the story "The Masque of the Red Death" a contagion is sweeping across the country killing everyone it possibly can.  "There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores with dissolution."  Poe is merely displaying the degree of death you would have to endure if you contracted this pestilence.  It just adds to the severity of how important is to make sure you do not catch it if you already haven't.

Prince Prospero is our main character.  He clearly demonstrates from this quote how much wealth, power, and influence he has; "when his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of castellated abbeys.  This shows the gap of economic wealth between rich and poor, and gives you an idea of the time period it was in.  The Prince himself believing he is untouchable from death seals himself and a thousand hale and light-hearted friends away in his castle.  The seclusion period last's just a little over five to six months.  "It was close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, the the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence."

In Prince Prosperos Castle which he holds the masquerade in, there were seven rooms. Each representing a different color.  The first of the colors was blue, the second purple, third green, fourth orange, fifth white, sixth violet, and the seventh black.  These rooms are significant for the fact that they represent the seven stages of life,  blue being birth, and black being death.  As many know, the sun sets in the East and goes down in the West.  They refer to the blue room as the eastern chamber, and the black room the western chamber.  This signifies that Edgar Allen Poe was relating the seven stages of life to a twenty-four hour day, starting with dawn to dusk; birth to death.  Time being the important key, because just as there twenty-four hours in a day, there is a certain amount of time in ones life, some being cut short earlier than others.  You could even say from that statement that Poe may have found dark inspiration in this kind of thinking.  After all he did experience three losses of women he loved to tuberculosis very early in his life.  Death being the main result in all three of these women, you could say at some point, Poe uses death as the theme in most of his story's because death is so prominent in his own life.

In the black room sat an ebony clock.  The ebony clock is meaningful because the theme of time is closely linked with the theme of death.  With each passing minute we become closer and closer to death we and the guests come closer and closer to inevitable death.  Each hour on the clock is a constant reminder of  how long the guests of his castle have to live until they face death.  "And then for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock."  Poe is showing the correlation of time and death as his main theme for this story.  This gives the idea that since the clock is mentioned through out the story that the guests are being foreshadowed, as well as the Prince to die sooner or later.  At the stroke of twelve was a particular time for the guests and Prince Prospero that night at the masquerade, as an unexpected presence never seen before was detected in the room.  "And the rumor of this new presence having it spread whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or a murmur, expressive disapprobation and surprise--then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust."Poe describes this new stranger as "his vesture being dabbed in blood, and his broad brow-with all the features of his face was besprinkled with scarlet horror."  With a new stranger being at the Princes ball, and no one knowing who or what this figure is, it is safe to assume that Poe is working his way up to the climax scene.  It gives the feeling of uncertainty, and an un-easyness feeling, for the fact someone completely random shows up in the castle that you have been locked up in for five to six months.  My first reaction when I read this was how did this person manage to get in this castle?  And not only that but is there anymore of them in the castle?  These were my first concerns.

After this figure was detected in the castle, alarming the guests, Prince Prospero quotes, "Who dares insults us, with this blasphemous mockery?  Seize him and unmask him - that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements"  The text states that it was in the Eastern Chamber, or the Blue Chamber in which the prince said those words.  Relating back to the seven rooms, and how each day has a dawn and a dusk, you can imply that the hanging at sunrise is symbolic in some way.

As the Prince Prospero attempts to catch this unknown figure, he finally starts chasing it through the chambers as Poe wrote.  Starting with the Blue chamber, Prince Prospero followed the unknown figure through the seven chambers.  As the seventh chamber came near, so did Prince Prosperos death.  "He boar aloft a drawn dagger, and approached with rapid impetuosity to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer.  There was a sharp cry - and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon witch most instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero."  The significance of those two lines were, as Prince Prospero ran through the seven colored chambers, Poes way of referring too the seven stages of life, then finally coming to the very last chamber in which he "turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer".  His pursuer was death, thus that is why his life was taken all the way in the Western Chamber, also the black room.  The story depicts no matter how rich, famous, or idolized you are, you cant escape death, no money, power, or influence can save you, everyone has to face it.

In conclusion I have provided enough information, as well as textual quotes from the story to build up the claim I have given.  This story to me was one of Edgar Allan Poe's more better pieces, it held my attention more than his other stories.

MLA

Poe, Edgar. Diss. 1842. Print. <http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/>.