Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

In “Masque of the Red Death” Prince Prospero is running a country that is undergoing an epidemic of the Red Death and instead of protecting his people, the prince secludes himself in his castle with other high ranking members of society. He eventually faces the red death figure at his masquerade party and ultimately falls into death’s hands. Poe makes the party a masquerade, to symbolize that the Prince and his guests are hiding things, more specifically from themselves. The symbolism of the masquerade also serves as an important setting as it is where the conflict with the red death figure happened. The red death’s appearance justifies itself in showing up at the party as “the mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resembles

The guests and Prospero are both hiding the fact that they do not feel comfortable in the castle as they know they are still not safe in the castle from the red death yet, instead the group tries to see what they want to see instead of the harsh realities and the prince does that by setting up a masquerade in his castle. Parties are places where people often go if they want to go to another world and escape their problems “But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and made whispering vows, each

When confronted with the red death “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” (Poe 116). Feeling shame, the prince realizes that he could not escape from death no matter what he did. All the things he did in the beginning like hiding himself in the castle and throwing a beautiful party meant nothing in the end and now he is feeling bitter about it. This initiates a fight or flight reaction from Prospero in which he has to choose whether he faces the Red Death head on or avoid it once again, he realizes that all along what he should have done is to fight the Red Death. Still maintaining his pride, he believes he can win since he thinks he had found the answer. The crowd is still not sure as they cannot believe that the figure was real until “There was a sharp cry- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero” (Poe 116). Prince Prospero’s conflict with the Red Death is interesting as even though it was a fight between life and death, he ended up dying quickly and easily which shows that everyone is vulnerable in the hands of Death. The conflict with himself adds to his character as he is as seen as dauntless but he