in the story "the masque of the red death" poe has seven room each with a diffrent colors. what is the meaning of the diffrent colors? and why did poe choose to have seven rooms?

-- Anonymous, February 07, 2005

Answers

I can't speak for poe himself but I think the various colors represented various emosions and/or states of mind. For example black being death etc.

-- Anonymous, February 09, 2005

nailo is right but also it could mean that the differnt stages in life and so forth.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2005

Nailo nails it. Black and red are easy. You might think of liturgical colors or other classical references always with an eye to the effect Poe is trying for. Time is an important correlative. All linkage goes to the emotional effect and the progression to the climax. Seven ages of man, the symbolic number of completion. Naturally Prospero, while building ALL the signs of mortality into his fortress against death, avoids the last room and its clock- whose sound reverberates through all the rooms.

It is always good to go deeper than what things stand for, like WHY Prospero chose to defy death by enshrining its symbols. See "The Imp of the Perverse."

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2005

I believe he had different rooms because they could have a meaning. The scarlet room with black velvet drapes was the "RED DEATH" room. Who ever entered it would either have a curse on them or they were the ones who got killed when they entered it.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2005

I believe he had different rooms because they could have a meaning. The scarlet room with black velvet drapes was the "RED DEATH" room. Who ever entered it would either have a curse on them or they were the ones who got killed when they entered it.

-- Anonymous, February 11, 2005

poe had an eclectic mind that swayed from idea to idea. My interpratation of the different colors is much like anyone else's, i believe that the colors represented riches, beauty, life, flavor, death, and good interior design decorators. black has always represented death or presimism, bright colors favored life or the good/nature side of things. Watch the movie legend with tom cruz, its old but it shows a good interpretation of colors being used for both good and evil.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2005