Symbolism and Setting in Masque of Red Death

Edgar Allen Poe was a 19th century American author who wrote gothic horror stories (as well as gothic poetry). Here, he delivers his theme that no one escapes death in his short story “Masque of the Red Death” through symbolism, setting, and narration. The colors of the room serve as symbols of life, with the red room serving as a symbol of blood and of the horror that awaits the revelers as the plague that they think they have escaped makes its way in to their party. The setting is also important. It is a party held in an abbey, secluded from the rest of the country, and the people are celebrating while those outside are dying. There is a distinct sense of separation and division between those at the masque and those who are not part of the elite crowd, the Prince’s friends. The narration of the story is dramatic and proceeds in a way that saves the best for last: the twist ending that drives home the horror with a shock—the “special guest” is none other than the Red Death itself. The story begins by describing how the “Red Death” had devastate the country, proceeds to describe the revelers seeking asylum in the abbey, and Prince Prospero’s unusually majestic celebrations—perversely held while so much suffering and death circulated outside the walls. When a figure enters into the story, wearing a funeral shroud with blood on it, the Prince is offended and pursues the guest whose costume outrages one and all. The other revelers let this distasteful guest proceed all the way to the final chamber—the red and black room, where the Prince finally confronts him only to fall over dead. The story ends with the sudden realization that Prospero and his guests have not managed to escape: on the contrary, Death has gotten in—and Prospero and all the other revelers drop dead as a result.

The color of the rooms is very symbolic. The colors represent the stages of life. The blue room symbolizes birth. The purple room is the symbol of childhood. The green room symbolizes adolescence; orange symbolizes adulthood; white old age; violet is the symbol of approach death; and the final room, which is red and black is the symbol of death.
In the last room is also a black clock. The black clock in the black room symbolizes the amount of time left until death arrives. It announces to the reader that time is winding down, that the arrival of Death is imminent and that soon the story, the party, and the lives of all the characters will be over. How that will happen is what the story hides. The surprise is that one of the guests whom the revelers think has inappropriately dressed like a plague victim is not actually in costume but is actually the Plague personified.

The abbey represents a kind of gated community. It is a symbol of the attempt of some to separate themselves from the everyday toils and struggles of the common herd. It symbolizes the effort of the wealthy elites to separate themselves from unpleasantries and while away the time having parties. The masque ball represents the way in which people disguise themselves yet hide the reality underneath: they project something humorous or gawdy or appalling but really they are all human. The combined symbol of the abbey and the ball is that the rich prince thinks he is above everything that affects ordinary people. The big reveal of the story of course is that he is not above anything. Death is the great equalizer and death comes for all “like a thief in the night.” Death comes unexpectedly and no one in the story nor even the reader himself expects it, even though all the signs and symbols are there to show that it is coming.

The symbols are used to develop the theme of the story which is that Death is not something that can be escaped from. All of life leads up to it. The clock will strike the last time. The stages of life have a beginning, a middle and an end. This awareness is intuitive to man. The nature of the rooms says it is so. The prince has designed the rooms to reflect this reality even if it is unrealized. The symbols are used to develop the story by layering it with a deeper meaning and building up the underlying sense of dread that is lurking among the party-goers.

The setting of the story is during the Dark Ages when the bubonic plague ravaged Europe. The bubonic plague was a horrible and caused red spots on the skin to stand out before turning black. The plague is thus foreshadowed in the end by the colors of the last room, which are red and black. The setting itself captures the essence of bubonic plague that swept across Europe.
Setting is used in the story to develop the story too. The setting is the abbey castle and it is important because it gives the story its gothic feel. The setting is perfect for imagining a rich, romantic scene where every shadow has a sinister meaning, and Death Itself can skulk among people unnoticed until the very end. The setting helps to deliver the theme by providing a sense of the surroundings of the narrative, the rooms with their brilliant yet weird colors, the revelers with all their costumes, and the plague-torn country outside the abbey walls.

The setting is described by Poe as being ostentatious: and the unexpected visitor is the most ostentatious of all, offending even the Prince. The guest “had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds of even the prince\\'s indefinite decorum” (Poe). In one sense, the Prince is similar to the guest, because they are both ostentatious and indecorous, but the guest one-ups the Prince, which angers him. But the guest is also reflective of the reality which the Prince is had sought to keep at bay. The Prince has tried to create a safe space, a setting that is all about pleasure and celebration of self. The guest has arrived to make all the revelers remember the Red Death, which they have tried to leave behind. Poe’s naming of Herod gives the reader the sense that Prince is going to share in a fate similar to that of Herod—a famous king who ruled at the time of Christ and tried to take His life. Herod opposed the one Man who overcame Death. Prince Prospero (whose name hints ironically at his end) also seems opposed to the ideal of Christ, Who did not separate Himself from others the way Prospero has but Who went out and met the sick face to face and healed them. Prospero has instead run away and lived lavishly and celebrated and had feasts like Herod.
However, every time the clock strikes on the hour, the revelers stop their dancing and merry-making. They observe the passing of time with a solemnity that implies the fact that deep down they know that time is passing and that every hour draws them nearer to their end. The setting is thus very ominous in its design.

The story is told in first person by Death who comes to the ball dressed as a bubonic plague victim. The story is told by Death because Death is the only one to live at the end. The narrator is the lone survivor of the masque ball, which is ironic because the only survivor is Death.

The significance of Death telling the story is that Death is made to seem greater than Prince Prospero, who seemed to think himself the greatest and most clever person for escaping the plague. Death seems to be telling the story to suggest that Prospero is not clever or great at all. Death is the great equalizer. Death is also the master of the self-centered abbey: Poe states in the very last line that “Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” Death wins and the Prince Prospero loses in the game of life and death.