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Kailey Dashiell

Ms. Woelke

Pre-Ap English 9

6 November, 2018

The Masque of the Red Death

“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is an allegory used to elucidate the

fact that everyone dies in the end and no amount of power or wealth can deter the outcome. The

three main points that substantiate this idea are, the masquerade, the clock, and the arrival of the

masked figure. Together they give the short story a deeper meaning and a stronger relation to the

fear of the unknown and the foreboding presence of demise.

The masquerade was a chance for Prince Prospero to forget about the disease ravaging

the lands outside the palace and entertain the rich people of his court. The masquerade was

extravagant, “There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There were much of the

beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not little of

which might have excited disgust” (Poe 3). They appeared to be mocking death. While they

enjoyed little safety in their lush environment, they danced the night away with a foolish belief

that they were sheltered. With merry laughter they tried to escape the realism of the destruction

outside their locked doors. The party goers believed they had evaded death but a sense of unease

had spread through the atmosphere, leaving them with an aura of the danger that truly presented

itself. Unfortunately no amount of money could keep them safe from the death they tried so hard

to ignore.
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Rather than calming the growing disquiet in the room, the loud, booming chime of the

clock seemed to fuel it more. The object itself was an oddity, standing along the wall in the

room no one dared to enter. Every hour when the clocks clang could be heard, “It was observed

that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hand over their brows”

(Poe 2) The clock had the ability to draw such powerful emotions from the partiers that it could

not be ordinary, “but when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the

assembly” (Poe 2). Although the sound shook the guests to their core it could only hold them in

its grasp for as long as the chimes rang out. As the time went on the tolls of the clock grew

longer, almost as if leading to the finale.

The third, and final indication of the hidden meaning is the masked figure, who had

decided to make himself known as the twelve o'clock chimes ended. This bizarrely dressed

stranger that arrived uninvited after six months of solitude deeply affected the emotions of

everyone in the room, “And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death” (Poe 5).

Prince Prospero seemed to be the most enraged by the intrusion and demanded to find out who

dared mock him in his own home. The foolish prince stood as a symbol of futile deception, for

he believed he had outsmarted death and the bloody end that was waiting for him. The Red

Death was upon them “And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their

revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall” (Poe 5). Prince Prospero was wrong, no

amount of money could have stopped the Red Death from demolishing his life.

Although they tried to shield their lives from the onslaught of death, they could only do

so much before each person fell with the same rigor as the ones outside the manor. Poe used the
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masquerade, the clock, and the masked figure as symbols because they best illustrate the fact

that everyone dies and no amount of riches can stop or change that outcome.