I just read the Masque of the Red Death, and I did not understand it at all. With the different chambers, and the guy who had on the masque and he was the one that made everyone bleed through their pores and die? What did the guy have to do with the chamber with the blood red window panes, and what did the blood red windows have to do with the guy in the masque? This one really confused me.... I understood MS. Found in a Bottle, THe Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Cask Of Amontillado just great, those were the other Poe stories that I have read but I really did not understand this one.... Can someone help me out?

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2000

Answers

The story is an allegory (that is, it is highly symbolic and has a theme). The rooms, with all their colors, represent the passage of life (for example, blue=innocence and childhood, green= "springtime" of life, or teenage years, black= death). So when Prospero ran from the blue room to the black room to try and stab the man in the masque with a knife, he was symbolically and literally running to his death. Prospero thought that by walling himself up in the castle, he could defeat death and have great festivals forever. But death was always in the castle.

That is the theme of the story. Man cannot escape death, and if he makes an attempt to avoid problems like death, he will end up in big trouble.

I hope I cleared that up for you. If not, send me an e-mail. Now I have to go work on my term paper on this story (-sigh-). John

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2000