I am trying to write a paper about Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, I cannot remember what the 7 stages of life are...my 10th grade Englsh teacher told us years ago, but I have since forgotten. Any help or answers would be great, also any criticism or info of criticism on Poe would be super helpful... Thanks Samantha

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2001

Answers

Well, we are studying that right now in my English class (10th grade), and the seven stages of life are represented by the seven rooms, which go from east to west, of the house in which the story is set. Try this site for more information: http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/masque/

And here's some info I got off of another site:

The number of rooms is related to the "seven" deadly sins...the black room is sloth...blue is pride...purple is lust....anger is orange...etc.

The clock stands for the time left on earth of the sinners who survived the plague.

the braziers can be interpretted as God himself looking upon these people with his love...but it is filtered by the color of the panes.

Hope this helps!

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2001