The Masque of the Red Death is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1842. In this allegorical tale, Poe uses the setting of the masquerade ball and its mysterious attendees to explore themes of mortality and the inevitability of death. The story follows Prince Prospero and his court, who attempt to hide from a deadly plague known as the Red Death by walling themselves up in his castellated abbey. But the Red Death infiltrates the abbey disguised as a mysterious figure in a macabre costume and mask. This cloaked stranger who is the personification of the Red Death is one of the most enduring symbols in all of Poe’s works. But what exactly does this ominous figure represent?
The Red Death as Inevitable Mortality
The most prominent symbolic meaning of the masked figure is that it represents the inevitability of death. No matter how much the wealthy Prince Prospero and his followers indulged in entertainment and revelry within the abbey walls to distract themselves, death always comes in the end. The Red Death spreads through the countryside killing indiscriminately, and eventually finds its way inside, despite all of Prospero’s precautions. Poe is communicating that no matter how hard humans try to avoid thinking about it or hide from its grim reality, death comes for all eventually. The Red Death is fate, mortality personified, and cannot be escaped or bargained with.
Descriptions Emphasize Inevitability
Poe uses ominous and foreboding descriptive language regarding the figure that reinforces this symbolism of inescapable death:
“The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse…”
This macabre description casts the figure as death itself- its face masked like a dead body prepared for burial, its whole form hidden in dark winding sheets. The figure creeps slowly and deliberately through the revelers, seeking out victims in a way that feels preordained.
No One Recognizes Death
Additionally, none of the partygoers recognize the figure for what it truly symbolizes. Since they cannot imagine meeting their own mortality inside Prince Prospero’s secure domain, they disregard the omens of the figure’s presence. This ignorance of the truth reinforces the inescapable nature of death.
Death as the Great Equalizer
In addition to the inevitability of death, the Red Death also symbolizes how death is the great equalizer of social classes. Within the abbey walls, Prince Prospero and his wealthy nobles continue indulging in their lavish lifestyle, feeling safe from death and oblivious to the suffering outside. However, when the Red Death arrives, it makes no distinction between prince and peasant. As Poe writes:
“The Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends…With such audacity did the Prince Prospero enter the seventh chamber to confront the Red Death itself.”
Prospero mistakenly believes his wealth, power, and privilege can protect him from mortality. But in the end, the Red Death’s arrival teaches him death comes for all regardless of status. Not even a prince can escape or buy his way out. The masked figure represents how superficial human hierarchies and divisions crumble in the face of inevitable oblivion.
Indiscriminate Killing
This equalizing nature of death is further emphasized by Poe’s descriptions of the indiscriminate killing spree the Red Death undertakes once inside the castle walls:
“And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall.”
Young and old, men and women, nobles and servants – all meet the same fate. The figure of the Red Death eliminates these distinctions, reducing all humans to the same level in the face of oblivion.
Death Mocks Human Grandeur
Finally, the ominous figure symbolizes how death undercuts all human hubris, grandeur, and pretensions. As the Red Death glides silently through the masquerade ball, Poe provides exposition on the elaborate decor, lavish costumes, and raucous revelry the wealthy nobles engage in. The abbey rooms are decorated in garish colors with expensive tapestries, embellished furnishings, and a bizarre clock whose hourly ringing unsettles the guests. Prince Prospero and his court are dressed in ornate masquerade costumes meant to convey their wealth, prestige, and self-importance. However, when the Red Death appears, the festivities and posturing are rendered instantly meaningless. As Poe writes:
“And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
No amount of human creativity, wealth, or power can stop darkness, decay, and death when it decides to enter. The figure of the Red Death mocks all of the nobles’ pageantry by rendering it useless in the face of oblivion. Death reduces all mortals to the same level playing field, no matter their pretensions of grandeur while alive.
Hubris of Prince Prospero
The hubris of Prince Prospero is specifically highlighted through this symbolism. He arrogantly believes his wealth and privileges give him the power to outsmart and outrun mortality itself. But in the end, “darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all,” including over the once mighty prince and his domain.
Conclusion
In Edgar Allan Poe’s iconic short tale The Masque of the Red Death, no symbol resonates more chillingly than the ominous masked figure who infiltrates Prince Prospero’s castle. While many interpret this figure as the personification of the Red Death plague itself, it works on a more allegorical level to symbolize the inevitability of death coming for all. The silent, creeping figure embodies the way death cannot be bargained with or escaped from, regardless of human efforts. It also represents death as the great equalizer that eliminates class differences and undercuts pretensions of grandeur. Poe used this memorable symbol as the ultimate reminder that – no matter one’s wealth, power, and hubris – death is a universal fate that will have its day in the end. The Red Death mockingly reduces all to the same level playing field, as prince or pauper.