masque or red death
Poe, a master of illusion, uses this talent to keep his audience in suspense throughout the story. He uses symbols such as the seven colored rooms and the clock, to portray to his readers what appears to be a fairytale. However, Poe takes this fairytale and transforms it into "The Masque of the Red Death," a nightmare in disguise.
The theme of this story is the inevitability of death. Prince Prospero was "happy and dauntless and sagacious" and his only thoughts were of pleasure. He is foolish in thinking he could escape death. Prince Prospero also knows that he is far too noble to catch a disease and die of it. The Prince decides to out wait the disease. He thinks that while the "pestilence raged most furiously abroad" that he can revel in pleasure and be safe.
The Prince is seen by his followers as a wise and a fearless foreseer. His followers worship him because of his ability to circumvent the "Red Death." Yet, the author presents the Prince as a coward. He worries about his own proper interests, and leaves the common people "to take care of itself." His decision to out wait the disease "to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys" leaves us to believe that deep down he is really afraid to face the "Red Death." The Prince creates a wonderful kingdom to forget the reality of the"Red Death." Each time the gigantic clock of ebony strikes, it reminds the Prince and his "light-hearted" friends of the advent of the disease; it reminds all of them of terror, horror and disgust. They all try to believe it doesn't exists, that they are all immune to the Red Death: "But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness !
and folly, and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion. Then, after the lapse of sixty minutes there cam...