Essay analyzing The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe

Essay by britercaHigh School, 10th gradeA, April 2005

download word file, 2 pages 5.0

In The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe there are three important symbols that relate to ordinary life in many ways. The seven chambers in which the masque was held all represent seven different things. The ebony clock in the black chamber also represents an important thing, and the same goes for the Red Death itself. The Prince Prospero was the ruler of a kingdom, and a disease known as the Red Death plagued this kingdom. To avoid contracting the disease himself he abandoned his people and invited a thousand knights, courtiers and ladies to come to one of his castellated abbeys, and once they were all inside with his guests, buffoons, musicians, dancers and servants, he had the gates welded shut. They had parties all the time, but about six months into their stay at the abbey, the Prince had a party of unusual magnificence in the seven chambers.

All the people at the abbey were killed off by the Red Death when it appeared at the masque embodied in a costume.

Six of the chambers, the blue, the purple, the green, the orange, the white and the violet, so called because of the colors of the hangings and windows, were the more popular rooms. The seventh chamber, however, was unlike the rest in that the windows did not match the color of the room; its velvet hangings were black, but the windows were blood red. This put a deep fear in the hearts of all who entered it, so they steered clear of it. The seven chambers represent the seven capital sins--pride, lust, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth and hatred. The Prince and his courtiers were perpetrators of most of these crimes, sloth especially because while the Prince's kingdom was dying off they stood by and...