Suggestion of Narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death

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Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Masque of the Red Death? provides many allusions as to who, if anyone, narrates the tale. The narrator witnesses all the events within the sealed abbey and lives to tell the tale. However, it is certain that everyone in the abbey dies at the end, after exposure to the Red Death. This seems to clearly indicate that it is not possible for any guest to be the narrator, unless someone can supernaturally foresee the future. This also rules out the possibility of the narrator being Prince Prospero, despite the emphasis in the story placed on wealth and beauty, indicating a more pragmatic perspective from whoever is narrating. There is also the possibility that the tale is written by a dying guest who makes an astonishingly accurate assumption of the end result of events.

This leaves one to ponder whether there is, in fact, no intended narrator, or rather, an abstract narrator, such as the Red Death itself. Can one consider that Poe was merely careless and that the inclusion of three first-person pronouns1 is meaningless, indicating there is no narrator? This would, however, be quite an aberration of Poe?s tendency to pay such close attention to the usage of language in his works. Relating to recurring concepts in Poe?s writing, his dreadful fear of death could be the reason why the narrator may be the Red Death itself. The strongest evidence is that the narrator is aware of all the events within the story, while at the same time reporting it, and is able to tell what happens at the very end-the point at which everyone within the abbey is dead. Also apparent is the language used to describe the guests? reaction to the masked figure, which is somewhat indicative of a personal opinion.

The narrator never blatantly appears in a scene, but is always there and knows of all happenings. Even then, the narrator is only ever revealed as the one who tells of events2. He highlights and describes events as if he were an outside party, when, in actuality, he is within. Could the narrator be omniscient, perhaps the super ego of Poe himself?

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