Masqueraders

What it represents:
They represent humanity/
human beings.
How it helps teach the lesson:
Although the party guests
isolate
themselves, they still die from
the Red Death,
thus showing no one can
escape death.

The masquerades in this story symbolize all human life, and how us humans try and hide from things we
don't want to happen. In this story the people at the masquerade are trying to hide from the red death,
possibly even in denial that they might end up catching it. Poe could have just said it was a regular party,
but he made it a masquerade on purpose to show how we sometimes cant accept reality and try to hide
behind other things, in this case a mask.
The Castle
What it represents:
The castle is a physical barrier
to the
disease, an escape from the
disease
How it helps teach the lesson:
Even though Prince Prospero
thinks he can
build a castle strong enough
to keep death out,
death still penetrates the
castle walls.

The castle in this story symbolizes our efforts to prevent death. Death is a scary thing for many people,
and we all do things to try and live as long as possible; eat healthy, exercise, go to the doctor. In this
story, Prince Prospero builds a magnificent castle to try to protect him and others from the outside world.
The outside world being infected by the red death.

Prince Prospero
What it represents:
The wealthy,
privileged people; the
upper class.
How it helps teach the
lesson:
The wealthy think
they can avoid suffering
and death or think they
are above the powers of
mortality, but they are
not.

Prince Prospero symbolizes mans foolishness in thinking one can avoid, or put off death. Prince Prospero
uses his wealth and power to escape from the world, and seclude himself and friends from the red death.
However this does not work out in the end of the story, he eventually gets the Red Death and dies. Poe
does this to highlight how death will eventually catch up to you, and there is no escaping it.

The Seven Rooms

What it represents:
The stages of life : infant,
schoolboy, lover,
soldier, justice, pantaloon (a
foolish old man),
second childhood (ultimately
death)—from
Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
How it helps teach the lesson:
The rooms begin in the east and
end in the
west (the sun rises and the sun
sets). The seventh
room represents death. No matter
where our
journey begins, it will always end
with death.

Other interpretation:
The seven deadly sins: pride,
envy, gluttony,
lust, anger, greed, sloth. (Biblical
reference:
Proverbs)
How it helps teach the lesson:
The seven deadly sins underlie all
that is wrong
in the world and are attributed to
the selfish causes
of human behavior, the actual
reasons why we hurt
each other.

the 7 rooms symbolize stages of life with the first room beginning farthest to the East, where the sun
rises, and the last room ending at the western side of the castle, where the sun sets. The 5 rooms in
between symbolize times in our life we go through as we grow up. The first room is located in the Eastern
hemisphere of the castle where the sun rises. The room is blue, with vividly blue windows, representing
birth and life. The second room is purple representing a "transition to roalty" according to
seattlepie.com/TheMasqueoftheRedDeath. This is appropriate for prince prospero, possibly meaning the
stage in his childhood where he had to take on more power and responsibility as a prince. The third room
is green, representing wealth and growth as the prince grows more powerful in his reign. The fourth room
is orange which represents "the autum of life" according to shmoop.com/MasqueofRedDeath. This could
represent the golden and glory years of the prince, maybe his favorite years in his life. The 5th room is
white representing old age and purity. In medievil Europe, lots of people were Catholic. As one of the 7
sacraments, Catholics must get resolution from their sins, and become pure before they go to Heaven.
The color white would be appropriate for this, representing purity before dieing. Th 6th room is violet,
representing "Knowledge and memory" according to enotes.com/homeworkhelp/MasqueoftheRedDeath.
This is the final room before death, so it would make sense that before you die, you want to share your
knowledge and memories with others. The last and most important room is black, decorated with black
velvet tapestries, and of course the ebony clock is located in this room. This room represents the final
stage of life,death. It is located at the Eastern end of the castle, where the sun sets,ad also where all the
guests are eventually chased and where Prince Prospero dies.

The location and setup of the 7 rooms is also important to this story as well. Each room is connected to
the other, but carefully separated, so you could not see two rooms at once. "There was a sharp turn at
every 20 or 30 yards, and at each turn a novel effect." -(The Masque of the Red Death pg 83). According
to shmoop.com/The MasqueoftheredDeath Poe has Prince Prospero build the castle this way to
symbolize that you don't always know what the next phase of your life will be, and you can't look into the
future to find out. This applies to everyone in the real world, and shows you that you never know whats
going to come.

The Clock
What it represents:
The clock represents
our time on earth, our life
span.
How it helps teach the
lesson:
The chimes are a
constant reminder of the
time we have left on earth.
Time is still ticking
onwards (like the beating of
a heart).

The clock symbolizes how death is getting closer and closer throughout the story. The guests feel safe
within the walls of the castle, but as the clock strikes, it reminds them of the horrible things outside. "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 reverie or meditation." The clock is also located in the 7th room of the castle, that
contains no light and symbolizes death
The Red Death
The red death in this short story symbolizes death. Although the "Red Death" isn't an actual disease, it is
described in the story to have similar symptoms of the black death, which killed about 2 million people in
medieval Europe. Once people were infected by the black death, they died quickly. This is very similar to
the way people died from the red death in the story. Another symbol of the red death is how people die to
quickly, and we sometimes don't have enough time to be with them before they die.