EDGAR ALLAN POE
Story Lines:
Backgoround Story:

A mysterious disease has recently
ravished the lands killing many
inhabitants indiscriminately.

No Pestilence has ever been so
fatal or hideous.

Its main symptom is continuous
bleeding at the pores.

It is manifested, first and for most,
on faces, and victims die within
minutes.
1. The events

Half of the population dies from this
plague, which is now known under the
title “The Red Death”.

As a result, prince Prospero decides to
incarcerate himself within the walls of
his own castle.

He invites with him a thousand of his
loyal courtiers. He welds shut all doors
and windows in his determination to
escape the red death.

He thought the external world can take
care of itself as he believes it is foolish to
ponder or grief while waiting for this
disease to take its course and go.

Prince Prospero thought his only task is to
keep his guests entertained. So, he opts
to hold a big masquerading ball for
everyone.

Buffoons, actors, dancers and musicians
who dominate the ball create an inner
world hermetically sealed off from
external reality.

A detailed description of the ball’s
locale dominates the story, particularly
a series of seven rooms lavishly
decorated and sequentially arranged
so that visitors can only see one after
the other.

One very significant detail is the large
ebony Clock beating at 12, midnight
every day, when every motion in the
ballroom somehow stands still for a
few seconds till it resumes again.

“There was much of the beautiful,
much of the wanton, much of the
bizarre, something of the terrible, and
not a little of that which might have
excited disgust. To and fro in the seven
chambers there stalked, in fact, a
multitude of dreams.” This is what Poe
himself has written.

At the strike of 12 this night a hooded
figure appears to the guests.

Its face is that of a stiffened corpse
dabbled with blood to assume the
appearance and type of the Red
Death itself.
The Prince follows the hooded Figure???

Prospero cries for his soldiers to arrest
the uninvited hooded figure and drag
him out of the ball.

No one could possibly approach the
figure, for it emanates such a radiant
awe and reverence that fills the
place, and forbids anyone from
approaching.

Prospero himself decides to chase the
figure through the seven chambers in
hopes to catch and execute him.

At the last chamber, Prince Prospero
catches the figure and with a dagger
tries to stab and kill him except he
instantly falls dead.

When the rest of the guests attempt to
catch him they find that the cloak, the
masque and the hood were all
covering no tangible body
underneath.

The guests too, start falling down dead
one by one, showing the symptoms of
the Red Death.
The story ends with the ominous last line: “And Darkness and Decay
and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
2.
Characters:
Prince
Prospero
The hooded
Figure
The courtiers
1. Prince
Prospero
1. Physical appearance:
a) The prince seems physically fit and in good health, having
no trouble whatsoever regarding his health.
2. Status in the community; is as high as could be imagined,
both in terms of money and power.
3. Psychological make up:
a) Extremely cynical and indifferent to other people’s
sufferings .
b) Tyrannical use of power.
c) Lack of empathy with others.
d) Absence of conscience.
e) Fear of solitude.
f) Extreme vanity and egotism.
g) Generally believable can relatively be identified with in
the practical life.
The external world could take care of itself. In the
meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The
Prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure.
There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there
were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there
was Beauty, there was wine
Prince
Prospero
4. Morality and emotional content.
The prince totally disregards other people’s lives. He seems to
care only about his own . He has no chivalry, nobility or
interest for humanity. There is no mention in the story of a
princess, which means that he has no heart as well. The only
bundle of emotions he seems to be having is to do with
preserving his own life and the lives of those who would
improve his. Fear of death and solitude governs his action and
behavior.
5. Believability and identification:
The prince is very easy to dis-identify with. How many people
do you know who actually own their own castle? However,
fear of death is perhaps the most common of all human
emotions, except that not all of us are prepared to disregard
our ideals in service of that fear.
2. The Hooded Figure: The Red Death
1.
Physical appearance:
It looks very frightening and almost non-human.
2.
Status:
It seems designed to inspire awe, deep reverence
and fear.
3.
Behavior and Psychology:
It is single-minded and purposeful.
4.
Morality and emotional content:
It seems to represent what could be seen as simply
anti-life; a methodical and calculated coldness
towards the value of human life. It has no empathy
with, or regard to, all characters in the story,
perhaps humanity at large.
5.
Believability and identification:
It is very hard to identify with the red death in the
story. The hooded figure represents perhaps the
complete “other” to both the reader and other
characters in the story. It is both rejected and
feared. So, identification happens here between
readers and the courtiers.
3.
The Courtiers
1. Physical appearance:
Typical courtiers looking and sounding
healthy enough and dressed in the
masquerading costumes appropriate for the
party
2. Status:
Followers of the ruler’s commands. Higher
than ordinary people, but hold no real power
in the presence of the prince .
3. Behavior and Psychology:
Followers of the prince represent all who
follow .
4. Morality and emotional content:
Much like the followers of any ruler offering
neither objection nor approval of what is
happening in the story. They share, I guess,
the prince’s fear of death, but do not
participate much in the events of the story.
5. Believability and identification:
Quite believable, and identifiable with, simply
because of their lack of action or decision .
3. Setting
The castle is simply welded shut, totally
secluded from the outside world.
The castle is a self-incarcerating
haven-look-alike designed with all the
imagined comforts of high class living
in order to keep the guests both
occupied and entertained.
The different details of the castle itself,
however, tell a completely different
story. The ebony clock, for example, is
more a count-down machine than an
actual time counter. The ways in
which its strikes inspire awe and fear in
the hearts of the guests who cannot
help but stand completely still and
silent while it finishes its strikes.
A ball room in the hall of the prince’s castle leading to seven
sequentially arranged rooms all designed and decorated
by the prince himself.
The allegorical dimension of the setting is quite revealing on more
than one level.
This is what is called an atmospheric narrative precisely because
of the amount of locational details embedded in its story lines.
The first room in the suite – the farthest room to the east – is blue, the second is purple, the
third is green, the fourth is orange, the fifth is white, and the sixth is violet. (Yes, violet means
something different than purple in this context; it's more of a blue-purple or gray-bluepurple color. Creepier than purple, in other words). The seventh room – the room farthest to
the west – is special. It's hung in all black, but its windows are a deep blood red. There's also
a huge, threatening clock in it, which eerily chimes every hour and makes everyone's hair
stand on end. So, between that and the color scheme, you might as well think of the black
room as the Horrifying Room of Death, which it turns out to be anyway.
Do the seven rooms represent the famous seven
deadly sins; or may be a seven-stage format
representing human life, or perhaps the seven
days of the week? Why are they so elaborately
described? The seven rooms offer a stage by
stage degeneration towards death.
"And Darkness and Decay and the Red
Death held illimitable dominion over all"
Why, though, has the writer gone to such expense,
to describe the simple-enough matter of the
inevitability of death?
What isthe particular significance of the colourcodes?
Are these simply the acts of a megalomaniac;
egocentric self-serving mad tyrant with too much
money and power in his hands? Can we identify
with him at all? Do we not have the same fear of
death; the same colour madness
4. Time, or Historical Positioning:
1. The historical period of the story is at least
100 years ago judging by the structure of
the castle and the presence of the clock.
2. This is simply ascertained by the presence
of some technology especially in textile
considering all the colours of the material
decorations.
3. It is also judged by the music instruments
and the welding of the gates.
4. However, it is mostly judged, by the style
of government where there is a court
and courtiers, and were there is a definite
lack of governing institutions such as
ministries of education, o health, or
defense, or local councils and
directorates.
5. The gothic choice of architecture and
decoration also suggests a period of time
at least a 100 years past, where there is a
definite lack of electricity and a mythical,
rather than scientific, methodologies to
fight endemics. There is no modern
medicine.
5. Themes
5.1 Mortality:
The most obvious of all themes in this
particular Poe story is perhaps the
inevitability of death for all living beings.
However, the question that begs to be
asked is how needy such an idea is of a
story to elaborate it?
Perhaps the general theme of human
mortality is based on another even deeper
theme regarding the quality of human life.
Namely, this is a story about the design of
life that we lead and why? The colors of
the seven rooms. the heavy strikes of the
clock which literally take the guests’
breath away, and the seclusion within the
castle are representative of some way in
which the human mind itself works in its
dealings with life even though it knows
about death.
5.2 Fear:
Fear is perhaps the most common
denominator in all stories involving life and
death.
Prince Prospero, as well as the rest of his
guests, are all frightened to die. Their acts of
chosen seclusion alone can testify to that.
But, much more significantly, the ways in
which they themselves attempt to forget
about their own fear by indulging in parties
and basically pretending that there are
nothing wrong with the world.
It is said, being the first and most innate
sensation, fear reduces humanity to much
worse than animals. In extreme cases, it is
known for fear to cause hysteria, and induce
physical symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea
and sever headache.
5.3
Peculiarity or foolishness
Of course, to try and escape death itself is
quite foolish as it is the only truth that has
never been disputed. However, but to try
and escape diseases that cause death
itself is not itself at all very foolish, is it?
Modern medicine teaches us that the first
thing you do in cases of endemics or
epidemics is to separate the infected and
sort them out according to the stages of
the disease known at the time. What
prince Prospero did is not completely
devoured of logic, sanity or even science.
Yet, the combination of seclusion, thinking
to fight death itself and decorate rooms of
the castle in these ways all suggests a
peculiar personality, rather than a foolish
one.
Peculiarity is not foolishness, and we are all,
to a certain extent, peculiar
Discovering the
hodded figure and
deciding to capture
it.
The confrontation between
the prince and the Red
Death
Holding a
masquerading
ball for the
prince’s guests.
Deciding to
barricade himself
and some guests
in the Castle to
escape the
disease.
1. Introducing the Red
Death, and its
diseased environment.
Defeat and sudden
death of the prince.
Climax
Fear and conflict
between the guests
and the Red death
Revelation of the
nature of the Red
Death.
6. Plot Structure
Introduction
Resolution
Realization of the
inevitability of
death.
Guests succumbing
to the disease and
falling dead,
7. Language:
7.1 Symbolic reference (allegory):
• “The Mask of the Red Death” is one of the
most apparently allegorical works of literature
simply because of the extent of descriptive
details it has committed itself to, not only with
regards to the setting, but also its furniture and
general architectural elements from windows
and the carpets to the ebony clock.
• It depends on the reader, of course, but most
would agree that the symbolism of this
particular story refers to the dilemma of death
and its shadows on the value of human life;
how valuable is human life when it is so easily
taken away by tyrants’ wars, disease or old
age alike? The seven colored rooms may be
symbolic of this idea representing different
stages of human life which must ironically end.
7.2 Phraseology or tone:
• The general tone of this story is really to do with
meticulousness, and compositional harmony.
Every part of the story’s descriptions is made
with due care to describe something in specific
and describe it in the kind of details it is
seemingly designed for.
• There is a certain amount of eloquence in the
choice of words and
morbidity in their
meanings.
• The general tone of this story is perhaps
contemplative, eloquent and meticulous.
Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy,
monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand
made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be
stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the
clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep
and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note
and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the
musicians of the orchestra were constrained to
pause, momentarily, in their performance, to
hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers
perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a
brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and,
while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was
observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more
aged and sedate passed their hands over their
brows as if in confused reverie or meditation..
7.3 Emotional Charge
• Most of the emotions described in this story
revolves around death; including fear of it
and repulsion by it.
• Most of the story’s descriptive metaphors
and allegories attempt to install a general
sense of diffusion and indeterminacy towards
the nature of death.
• Some readers would define the emotional
charge of this particular story as a particular
fascination with death itself rather than a
literary attempt to redefine life in relation to
it. However, this general sense of dilution to
the classical questions associated with death
is itself
7.4 Psychological Content:
• The general psychological register of the
story is fear, and the attempts by all
attendees
to
dull
its
particular
overwhelming sensation.
• Nothing else in the story would possibly
be able to justify the action and behavior
of both prince Prospero and the rest of
the guests.
• The ball was held for just this reason; to
dull this overwhelming sense of fear.
• Of course, with the basically negative
fear of death, there are also other more
positive sensations of hoping to escape
death.
• The language of the story is charged with
commentary on the ugliness and
inevitability of death.
• It is also full of formal decorum,
eloquence and classical balance.
8. Narration: Point of View
• The main point of view in this particular
short story is third person omniscient.
• This means that the narrating voice in the
story (or the person telling us the story) is
not himself part of it. He is not a the
protagonist, a participant, or a witness /
conveyer of the story. Rather, he tells the
story by reference to a third person (s/he
did, s/he is).
• It also means that the narrator knows
definitely all the details of which he tells.
He is “omniscient”; telling what he chooses
to tell and hiding what he chooses to hide.
• Audience, in this case, are only receivers
of, rather than contributors to, the story.
I tell you
what to say
I tell you
what to feel
I tell you
what to do.
Web Sites for Visual
Readings of the story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjrLFW0Y50I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv2qL-LRBag