Edgar Allan Poe's Symbolism in "The Masque of the Red Death"

Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 and died in 1849. After losing his biological parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allan adopted him. The entirety of his life was chaotic, depressive, and impoverished. Additionally, Poe was using several drugs. But all things considered, he was one of the most successful authors of American literature with a unique style. Gooder comments that the locations Poe chose to portray in his stories are located nowhere but in the reader’s mind (113). Towards to end of his life, Poe wrote “The Masque of the Red Death”. Even though most of the studies argue that it is based on “The Black Death”; in my opinion, it is a kind of autobiography. The short story starts with the description of the “Red Death”; horrific and bloody. Poe’s tragic and depressive life can be seen as a disease to some people. “But Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious”.

From my point of view, Prince Prospero is none other than Poe himself. The name itself “Prospero” is almost the adjective “prosperous” which means successful in material terms and Poe’s life was not even close to being prosperous, the irony is apparent. The story continues as Prince Prospero invites his friends to his court to hide from the “Red Death”. This section could symbolize the number of people that played a role in Poe’s life, his biological parents, his adoptive parents, his university friends, people he gambled with, and later on his wife. Prince Prospero lived in a broad and impressive abbey that was designed with abnormal and majestic taste and this abbey had a strong wall and gates of iron. In my opinion, the part with the description of Prince Prospero’s dwelling symbolizes how Poe sees himself. He is an impressive man with abnormal but majestic taste but he chooses to hide his true identity with big walls and gates of iron.

The next passage talks about Prince Prospero throwing a masked ball for his friends. “There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine”. It could be argued that this passage talks about his life after he started gambling, drinking, and using drugs. All of the three would provide “happiness” that is short-lived. Poe then goes on to describe the rooms where the masked ball is held in extreme detail. The most remarkable quality of these rooms is the specific colors. Although several studies argue the idea that the rooms represent the life span of the Prince, from my standpoint, Poe deliberately chose unmatching colors to depict the chaoticness and formlessness of his life.

According to Plessis, the second room which is decorated purple with the third room which is green clashes tremendously. The two colors create an optical shock (41). Then, Poe talks about an old ebony clock that tolls every hour with a heavy and disturbing sound. From my point of view, the tolling of the ebony clock represents the unconscious mind of Poe, which he chose to ignore, reminding him that his way of living is neither healthy nor stable and will lead to his demise. Towards the end of the story, a tall and skinny figure with a mask on appears. The figure is visibly sick from the “Red Death” and Prince Prospero orders his friends to seize the figure but nobody can act on it. Raged with anger, Prince starts to chase him through the 7 rooms and catches him in the last room, the Black room. To add to the chaoticness and the horror as Roth stated the word blood and its synonyms are often repeated and emphasized. The masked figure kills the Prince, the ebony clock and the brazier of fires dies with him, proving my point that the abbey is connected to the Prince and ultimately to Poe himself. In conclusion, although there are countless studies on “The Masque of Red Death” being about Prince Prospero’s life, in my opinion, it is a sort of autobiography of Poe himself. Symbolism and allegory in the story reflect Poe’s life.