Edgar Allen Poe is one of the most famous poets of the nineteenth century because of his dark and twisted poems that contributed to the American romantic movement. The Masque of the Red Death is a story of medieval mortality. Poe’s poem explains that it doesn’t matter what kind of life people live because they will all eventually die, so it’s better to treat everyone as equals and with kindness and respect than to be selfish and inconsiderate. People only have so much time to live and they shouldn’t waste it being anything but the best kind of person they can be. The theme of this story boils down to treating others the way you would like to be treated.
Throughout this story, there are many examples of things that are happening that represent the hidden message that Poe is trying to express. “The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had been ever so fatal, or so hideous (Poe, 662).” Right from the beginning, Poe tells us about death, and by doing this we are immediately confronted by death. This is done this way to make the reader feel like death is everywhere around and there is no way to escape it. There is a certain element of fear distributed in this line and it’s almost as if Poe is trying to frighten the reader by explaining that the Red Death is a very horrible way to die. In the mid-1800’s in a fictional country, there was a plague that was spreading around killing everyone in its path. “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men (Poe, 662).” This quote has a very impactful message, which is death is somewhat isolating. As a human being people want to be cared for neutered when they struck with illness but as described by this quote, Red Death takes a hold of its victim and leaves them to fend for themselves. This only makes death more horrific because now it must be confronted while being all alone. The disease caused its victims to die painfully and very quickly and there was no way to treat this illness. The prince of the country, Prospero decided to close the gates to his palace with him and some of his royal friends inside so that they would be protected from the plague that wreaked havoc on the common people. The prince very selfishly did not worry about those who were dying, he only thought of himself and was very happy with his even with all of this taking place. After a few months of being in the palace, Prospero decides to through a big celebration ball and he decorates be painting each room of the palace a different color. The rooms go from east to west being painted blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and the final room is black and red. Each room is used to represent a stage in a person's life. Each color is to represent a different time period in a person life. The first is the blue room which represents birth and the second room being purple represents youth. The color green represents adolescence and orange shows adulthood. The white room shows old age and violet is to be a death that is soon to occur. Finally black and red represent the final the final stage of life which is death. The rooms run from east to west, which Poe did intentionally to symbolize the life cycle in a person’s day. The first room represents the beginning of your life and the last room represents the end. There is a clock in this room that chimes every hour so loudly that everyone stops what they are doing because of the distraction. When the clock isn’t chiming the room is described as being so beautiful but also have a strange feeling to it. Most of the guest try to avoid the room altogether. The final room represents death which is the reason everyone tries to avoid it. The clock in the room chimes as a reminder that life keeps going on and everyone is always getting closer to their death. The bell’s sound can be ignored neither can anyone at the parties eventual death. The clock is also used to remind all partygoers of their final judgment once they have died and passed over into the spirit world.
As the ball is underway, everything is going smoothly until midnight when a ghostly character arrives. His face is covered by a mask the resembles a corps and it also has blood on it that indicates he could be a victim of the red death itself. Most of the quest are terrified of the mysterious figure that has joined the party, except for Prospero who is furious that someone who is bringing down the mood of the party has shown up uninvited. The figure starts off with the first room and makes his way through each and every one of them before arriving in the black and red room. Most of the guest are so afraid that they don’t try to follow the figure. “ turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. 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, 666).” Prospero finally catches up with him in the final room but as soon as he confronts the figure he immediately dies. It seems Prospero’s attempt to avoid death has failed and it’s pretty ironic that he ends up running right into death at the end. After this, the rest of the party goers try to attack the cloaked figure but they soon find out that there is no one beneath the costume. Everyone then dies and it becomes clear that the red death has infiltrated the castle. So even those people who thought they were above everyone else and could stay safe still fell victim to the red death.
The Masque of the Red Death is an allegory for many different reasons. An allegory always works in two different ways. The literal representation of the plot and the symbolic hidden meanings. Poe uses this poem in a brilliant way to show that even those people with all the riches that high society life has to offer can not protect them from their inevitable deaths. It also shows that all humans are powerless when it comes to what happens in their lives and when they die. It didn’t matter how fancy the castle was, how delicious the food was, or even how protected the castle was, no one would be pardoned from death. There is another idea that the story displays which is that Prospero’s cockiness and spoiled way of life will defend him against the natural occurrence of death. Other’s who are less fortunate than him are more susceptible to death than him. Prospero has wealth that he could have used to help other people but he instead used it to protect and care for himself only. When the plague started to spread, if he had tried to bring people into the palace of all economic classes to protect them and give them shelter then the outcome for him could have been a lot different. He had all the resources he needed to care for others but he was selfish and was served by his own death.
Just like in many other of Poe’s famous short stories, he uses allegories that represent economic contexts in the story. For example, Prospero’s name can also be represented as financial prosperity, which he uses his own wealth to protect himself from the red death. As most know he doesn’t stay protected by his wealth and eventually dies. It seems the palace that he retreats into could also be looked at like an economic system that Poe believes will eventually fail. The plague itself is something that Poe took from the true event of the Bubonic Plague that occurred in the fourteenth century to Europe. Except the red death is more about equality because there is no economic class that is safe from the harm.
When Poe wrote this story, he was living and completely different kind of world than there is today. People were a lot less understanding of people’s differences and much more judgemental. This was the time period where people owned slaves and thought that was a completely okay thing to do. Though there is never a straight out conformation if Poe was against slavery, it seems if he would write a piece like this he would have to be against it. The main theme is this poem is to not treat people like your better than them because in the end everyone will be buried in the ground. It seems clear that Poe believed every man should be treated with equal respect and compassion because if not your final judgment would be much more miserable. Poe isn’t wanting everyone to fear their death, he is just trying to make everyone aware it is something no one can avoid and that is why everyone should look out for each other.
Everyday in society people face challenges in their life. Many of those challenges come from how people treat each other. There are some much hate and greed in the world and this story relates very well to those issues. If people were to do as Poe say’s and love each other and not discriminate on race or the way people want to live their life there everyone would a lot happier and better off.
In conclusion, The Masque of the Red Death has many hidden meanings inside of it. Poe’s main theme is that we are all given one life and we have the choice to live it how we want, but if we live it with certain characteristics like love, compassion, and respect than we will go farther in life spiritually. The reason the people in this poem died was that they knew there were people suffering and dying and they did nothing when given the choice. If they had shown an ounce of one of the traits mentioned earlier they would have helped those in need and possibly been spared by the Red Death. Treat others the way you want to be treated.