Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death is a short story packed full of symbolism and is a powerful allegory. Within the story, many symbols appear and take effect on the tale, from the ebony clock to the Prince’s name itself. Throughout the story, we watch as the self-centered Prince Prospero locks himself and his many friends within an abbey, believing his power and wealth can ultimately outdo death itself.
In this story, there are many different symbols woven within the plot. One primary symbol are the seven rooms of the abbey that the Prince is entertaining his guests in. The seven rooms can represent several different things. A popular analysis is that the seven rooms represent the journey of life, starting with the blue room, the color representing birth, and ending with the black room, symbolizing death and the afterlife. Another interpretation is that when the Prince chases the uninvited guest through the rooms, the fact that he starts from the east and goes to the west is symbolic of the journey of life. He starts in the east, representing new life as well as the sun and travels through all the rooms till he ends in the west, symbolizing nighttime and death.…show more content… Their masks and over all costume attire represent their attempt to escape the reality around them. The masks symbolize the facade everyone is putting on that there is nothing to fear. Taking refugee behind their masks, it is as if the guests believe that when dressed up as someone else, the Red Death would walk right by them. The guests party and have a joyous celebration, denying the fact that lingers in their sub-conscious, the fact that time is catching up to them and that they are not invincible as they’d like to be. The masks represent the Prince’s friends’ attempts to hide from the truth of their