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Critical Analysis of Masque of The Red Death

The document is a critical analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death". It summarizes the plot, where Prince Prospero hides from a plague inside his abbey along with other nobles, hosting masquerade balls. During one ball, a mysterious figure dressed as the Red Death enters and makes its way through the rooms until confronting and killing Prospero. The analysis then discusses how the story is an allegory for the inevitability of death and humankind's powerlessness to escape it, as Prospero's wealth and isolation fail to prevent his demise. It also suggests the story criticizes Prospero's arrogance in thinking he can deny life's natural progression and his insensitivity to

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Charity Anne Camille Penaloza
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535 views1 page

Critical Analysis of Masque of The Red Death

The document is a critical analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death". It summarizes the plot, where Prince Prospero hides from a plague inside his abbey along with other nobles, hosting masquerade balls. During one ball, a mysterious figure dressed as the Red Death enters and makes its way through the rooms until confronting and killing Prospero. The analysis then discusses how the story is an allegory for the inevitability of death and humankind's powerlessness to escape it, as Prospero's wealth and isolation fail to prevent his demise. It also suggests the story criticizes Prospero's arrogance in thinking he can deny life's natural progression and his insensitivity to

Uploaded by

Charity Anne Camille Penaloza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name: Saifullah B.

Panda
Subject: GEC 106- Art Appreciation
Instructor:Francisco E. Amarillo

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

The tale follows the efforts of Prince Prospero to avert a deadly plague, known as the
Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. In seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated in a different
color, he hosts a masquerade ball, along with many other wealthy nobles. A shadowy entity
dressed as a Red Death survivor approaches and works its way through one of the rooms in
the middle of their revelry. After confronting this stranger, whose costume proves to have
nothing tangible within it, Prospero dies.
We, human beings think about the impact and inevitability of death throughout much
of our lives. Most of us understand that death is the irreversible ending of all life functions,
and that it happens to all living beings. The Red Death Masque gives us an allegory of life
and death and the powerlessness of human beings to escape the touch of death., which means
that whatever means we do, death will definitely find its way to get to us whether how
prepared we are or not. Furthermore, the Red Death thus reflects death, literally as well as
allegorically. No matter how magnificent the castle is, how luxurious the clothes are, or how
rich the food is, no mortal, not even a prince, can escape death. In another way, however the
tale also suggests punishing the arrogant conviction of Prospero that he can use his riches to
fend off life's natural, tragic development. The arrogance of Prospero blends with a grievous
insensitivity to the condition of his less fortunate people, which somehow shows unfairness
of a feudal system, where the riches lie in the aristocracy's hands while the lower classes
struggles.
As we deepen our thinking, Prince Prospero symbolizes us, the people. We are not
able to deal with the reality of death. Prospero, like all of us, Prospero believes that he will
stop death, or at least put it off. However, no man can escape death because it will seek us out
and find us. As what we can remember in the story, the nobles are so relaxed about their
situation that they played with the seven rooms which are color-coded and arranged east to
west. A scary room that is painted in black and scarlet is the last of these rooms. There's a big
clock in this room that scares the visitors if the hour chimes. In connecting with reality, the
arranged row from east to west, the seven color-coded rooms in the abbey are considered
symbolic of the progression of life. The stages they represent are birth (blue), youth (purple),
adolescence (green), adulthood (orange), old age (white), imminent death (violet), and death
itself (black/scarlet). At the end of the story, we have witnessed how darkness and decay and
the Red Death have at last triumphed. Prince Prospero and the other royals are foolish people
who think that they can escape death by such physical barriers as high walls and iron gates.
Hence, the whole story is an allegory of the vain efforts of men to stave off death and Prince
Prospero’s death symbolizes that death affects all, even how much effort we give to evade its
presence.

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