the red death essay

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The Masque of the Red Death

by Edgar Allan Poe (published 1850)

   THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avator and its seal -- the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.     But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious . 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 his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons , there were improvisatori , there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."     It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.     It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven -- an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue -- and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange -- the fifth with white -- the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet -- a deep blood color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum , amid the profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire, that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.     It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to harken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.     But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel . The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not.     He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fête; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm -- much of what has been since seen in " Hernani ." There were arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. 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 a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these -- the dreams -- writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away -- they have endured but an instant -- and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.     But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise -- then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.     In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod , and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum . There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood -- and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.     When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.     "Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him -- "who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him -- that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!"     It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly -- for the prince was a bold and robust man, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.     It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who, at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince's person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple -- through the purple to the green -- through the green to the orange -- through this again to the white -- and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in 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 which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer , whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.     And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. 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. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

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The Masque of the Red Death

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The Masque of the Red Death , allegorical short story by Edgar Allan Poe , first published in Graham’s Magazine in April 1842.

In a medieval land ravaged by the Red Death, a plague that causes swift, agonizing death, Prince Prospero retreats to his castle with 1,000 knights and ladies. There he welds the doors and windows shut, confident that he and his guests will escape death. Prospero gives a masquerade ball. At midnight, the grotesquely costumed courtiers find a fearful figure among them, costumed in shrouds and dried blood as the Red Death, which it proves in reality to be.

The Masque of the Red Death

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Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Poe tells us that “there are some who would have thought [Prospero] mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not” (741). Do you think Prospero is mad? Why or why not? What is the significance of being able to touch him in proving his sanity? If he is mad, what is the significance of this to the story?

What is the significance of the “tall and narrow Gothic window[s]” (740) set with stained glass that illuminate each room?

Scholars are undecided as to whether Poe’s story should be considered an allegory , and if so, what exactly for. Where do you stand on this question? Should we take Poe’s story as having a moral beyond the text, and if so, what is it? Explain with references from the text.

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The Masque of the Red Death

Background of the story.

The short stories of Edgar Allan Poe are written in the tradition of Gothic fiction. These stories are often analyzed as an allegory that shows the inevitability of death. Various interpretations of the story have been presented by critics and readers. The readers attempt to find the true nature of the disease.

The Masque of the Red Death Summary

After some months, Prince Prospero throws a masquerade party along with some other wealthy aristocrats. For the party, he decorates the seven rooms of his palace in seven different colors. He decorates the easternmost room in blue with blue windows. The other room is decorated in purple color with purple windows. Moving towards the westward, the rooms are decorated in the color order are green, orange, white, and violet.

Characters Analysis

Prince prospero.

The kingdom of Prince Prosper is devastated by the plague that results in the loss of the population. Instead of helping and supporting his people in such a difficult time, Prince Prospero locks himself in his palace to hide from the problems. He let the external world take care of itself.

Mysterious guest

Death as natural and inevitable, the red death as a moral decay, safety is an illusion.

The ebony clock functions as a reminder that they are constantly pushed towards death; even the black room is a symbol of death. Moreover, the aggressive reaction of the people to the masked figures shows how far they can go hide from death and preserve their illusion.

Versions of Reality

Prince Prospero is an unconventional artistic figure. He appears to be mad as everything in the throws in the masquerade ball bears the mark of his artistic genius. The ball is held in the seven elaborated colored room in a writhing, whirling, costumed masquerades. Everything in the party appears to be imagined and fantastic, just like a dream or world of art that has spun out of control. 

In the fantastic world of the story, there is nothing that makes the readers feel home. There is no source of comfort and stability. Everything is dreadful and horrifying. The fear of the readers is reflected in fear of the guests of the masquerade party towards their death and the things that remind them of their death. The fears of the characters are built in a noticeable manner. Their fear starts as a nervous discomfort to an “unutterable horror” at the climax of the story.

Foolishness and Folly

Literary analysis.

Considering “the Masque of the Red Death” as an allegory of life and death and the helplessness of humans to avoid death, the Red Death is the symbol of both literal and allegorical death. The story illustrates the idea that no matter how large and beautiful the castle is, how much luxurious food and clothing you have, humans are mortal, and every mortal has to die one day, whether you are a prince of an ordinary human being.

The “Red Death”

At the time the story “The Masquerade of the Death Red” was written, Poe’s wife Virginia was suffering from the disease of tuberculosis. This disease could have been a source for the Red Death in the story. Just like Prince Prosper, Poe ignored the true nature of the disease. Poe’s brother William, his mother Eliza, and his foster mother Frances, died because of tuberculosis.

Title of the Story

Writing style.

Most of the paragraphs of Poe are either very short or very long. Even the long paragraphs deal with only a single thing. For example, the first paragraph deals with the Red Death, the second paragraph deals with Prospero’s castle retreat, the third is short; the fourth describes the suite, and so on.

The sentences of Poe are identical because of their simple structure and appear to be small.

Edgar Allan Poe then fills the clear and simple structure with color. The word choice he has in his stories makes his writing colorful. Sometimes it also depends on the dramatic quality or vividness of the words, for example, “arabesque figures” and delirious fancies.” Also, in the figurative language, he used it in his stories.

The spot-on word choice adds feelings to his works and shows how well put-together his work is. Everything appears to be selected with great care.

This sentence is the perfect example of how Poe puts the details in his writings. Poe loves to use lots of descriptive words, even if the sentence is short. For example, while describing the swing of the pendulum, he uses more than one adjective as “a dull, heavy, monotonous clang.”

Ultimately, one can say that the writing style of Edgar Allan Poe is extremely elegant.

Narrator Point of View

Symbolism, imagery, allegory, the seven colored rooms.

Considering this reading, the blue room in which the easternmost symbolizes birth. The color proposes the “unknown” from which a human arrives into the world. The next room is decorated in the color purple, which is the combination of blue and red. The purple color suggests the start of the growth. The next room is decorated in green color. It suggests youth, the spring period of life. The orange color symbolizes the summer and the autumn of life. The next color is white, which suggests old age i.e., white hair and weak bones. Violet is the combination of purple and blue and results in shadowy color representing darkness. And the color black is for death.

The “Castellated Abbey”

The red death.

Poe also portrays the hierarchical relationship between the peasantry and Prospero. He shows how unfair the feudal system is. He also points out the lavish lifestyle of the aristocracy and the suffering of the poor. The way Poe uses the feudal imagery in the story is historically accurate. When the actual Bubonic plague overwhelmed Europe in the fourteenth century, the feudal system was at its peak. The disease the Red Death shows radical egalitarianism as it attacks both poor and rich.

A scholar also gives an explanation by describing the Red Death, not as a disease but the weak man that is shared by humankind.

The Masquerade/Dream Imagery

The short story is set in the luxurious “castellated abbey” Prince Prospero which is hidden somewhere in the kingdom. The doors of the castle are shut so that no one can enter the house. Everyone in the house is having a party while poor people outside the castle are dying.

Art Imagery

The shakespearean connection.

There is one well-designed connection that appears to be really important for some of the scholars. There is the mention of “red plague” in the play The Tempest. The Cabilan characters early in play utter a curse, which shows up as “red plague.” 

More than the similarity between “red plague” and Red Death,” there are other connections too. These connections between the two are explored by observing the “Prosperos” of the two works. There are great similarities between the two characters. However, the two characters are unique in their own way; Shakespeare’s Prospero is soccer, while Poe’s Prospero is a great artist.

Apocalyptic Symbolism

Poe applies the phrase of Paul about Jesus to Red Death. While doing so, he makes the Red Death as an “apocalyptic figure.” Apocalyptic figure symbolizes the end of the world. Prince Prospero and his friends, like sinners, foolishly ignore the inevitable end of life and engage themselves in the pleasures of life. Like sinners, Prince Prospero and his friend, pay the price for their ignorance.

More From Edgar Allan Poe

Short stories.

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Literary Analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Masque Of The Red Death"

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