Poe's The Masque (Mask) of the Red Death

The Masque of Red Death

People don't really have that much in common, but they do have one

big thing in common, that is death. Death is the one thing that no one can

stop. The short story "The Masque of Red Death," by Edger Allen Poe shows

how that statement is true. Poe was a man who had had many experiences

with a disease that killed many people in his life, in his story "The

Masque of Red Death," he uses a lot of symbolic messages to express his

views and feelings on that disease.

Edger Allan Poe stated out with a home life that wasn't very stable.

His blood father left when Poe was about one. His mother was an actress

that moved Poe's sister, brother , and himself around a lot. Then when he

was three she died of tuberculoses. After his mothers death Poe was

separated from his sister and brother.

Poe was sent to the Allen family. Then when Poe was in his early

twenties Mrs. Allen also died of tuberculoses. At the age of twenty-six

Poe married his cousin Virginia. She later died of tuberculoses. His

brother died of tuberculoses also.

In "The Masque of Red Death," Poe uses color as a symbol. He used

the colors red, blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. In

the story red stand for the death that comes over everyone in the story.

In Poe's life it stands for the diseases that has killed everyone important

to him, tuberculoses. Blue is the color of the first room, in Poe's life

it is supposed to be him. The second room in the story is the color purple,

this color is for Poe's mother. Then there is a green room, this room is

for his brother. There was also an orange room for Poe's foster mother,

Mrs. Allan. The white room was for his wife Virginia, and the violet room

for her death. Last there was the black room, which was for Poe's death.

What is time? Is time something that people just made up ? Poe

seems to think that it means life. In the story a clock symbolizes life.

In the story every time the clock would time the hour the party would stop,