The Masque of the Red Death

[Dei]

I was wondering if there's any similarity between this story and what was actually happening in Europe in times of the Black death. So far, I've found some sort of connection with Edward III, who was celebrating his coronation and creating the order of the Garter when this disease first appeared. However, I've heard some people saying that Poe's story is also an allusion to the steps one had to follow at that time in order to become part of the French royal court. Can anybody confirm this?

[Scheherazade]

Hello Dei,

Could you be more specifis about the similarity you are refering to? I am not sure about the French Royal Court reference but I think the story is an allegory about death in general and also the order of the rooms represent our life cycle.

Welcome to the Forum.

[Tis]

Presumably, Poe’s tale “The Masque of the Red Death” was written while Poe was living in Philadelphia and working for Graham’s Magazine as editor. George Rex Graham owned both the Saturday Evening Post and Graham’s Magazine. Probably written throughout the latter part of 1841 and early 1842, it was first printed in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine in May of 1842 with the title “The Mask of the Red Death.” Coincidentally, Poe resigned from Graham’s Magazine that same month. The story was reprinted in the Literary Souvenir in June of 1842 with the same title and it wasn’t until July of 1845 that the story first appeared in the Broadway Journal with the title, “The Masque of the Red Death.”

According to the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Poe was paid $12.00 for this short story. I have serious doubts that Poe ever received any other royalties or any further recompense for reprints.

It has been said that Poe’s inspiration for this tale may have been a single incident that occurred while he and his wife, Virginia, were attending a social gathering with friends at the Coate’s Street house in Philadelphia in January of 1842. As the story is told, while singing at the piano, Virginia had ruptured a blood vessel and, apparently, coughed blood. In the more dramatic versions of this incident, it is said that her pale white frock had been widely spattered with the crimson color of blood and that Poe’s reaction was that he became instantly horror-stricken.

That this incident occurred is very likely factual. There is specific evidence including a letter from Edgar Poe to George Eveleth, a friend, in 1848 in which he mentions the episode. That events transpired precisely as given here, highly improbable. In the Eveleth letter, there is no mention of the ghastly vision that allegedly horrified Poe.

That Edgar was filled with terror and despair over the health of his wife, there is no doubt at all and he details this in the letter to Eveleth. But it was more a despair born of the fear of losing Virginia than the vision of blood on her dress. That this incident was the driving inspiration for his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death”, personally, I have serious doubts. I will concede that this occurrence may have suggested specific textual illustrations, perhaps, but I would point out that it would be limited to the visual context of the tale. Secondly, the theme of the story lacks a personal touch, the sensitivity, sentimentality and the passions that Poe so clearly demonstrates in other tales such as “Ligeia” and “The Oval Portrait.”

Another possibility occurred during Poe’s stay in Baltimore in September of 1831 where he had witnessed, but had escaped, the effects of a cholera epidemic that eventually spread throughout New England. Possibly, the very cause of his brother, Leonard’s death. Brought to the United States by unrestricted European emigrants, it was of the Asiatic variety and finally ended in 1832. Later that same year another cholera epidemic spread to New York and Philadelphia had its own Typhus epidemic later in 1837. While Poe may not have been exposed to the dreadfulness of the plagues in New York and Philadelphia, he was most assuredly aware of them through newspaper accounts. He was also aware the wealthy and privileged of the period could easily afford to escape to their large country estates to wait out an epidemic while the poor were left to endure the ravages of repeating plagues. See his tale, “The Sphinx” written in about 1845 and printed in Arthur’s Ladies Magazine in January 1846.

Although not particularly unique in style, “The Masque of the Red Death” is unlike many of Poe’s tales in that the story is told, not so much from the narrative or first person, but more from the perspective of an observer or commentator that is recounting a tale. This is important only in that the tale concludes with the death of Prince Prospero and all one thousand revelers. Effectively, there were no survivors, hence, no eyewitnesses to the horrors of the Red Death. In fact, the use of the term “I”, representative of first person, exists only twice in the tale and in both instances suggests for the reader, simply, that descriptions are as they have been told before. For example, “…as I have told..” or “In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted,…”. The narrator in this story remains unidentified.

Poe sets the stage in the first paragraph and tells us, not only that the Red Death is horribly lethal, but once contracted, death was but mere moments away and that the victim will die alone, unaided and with little or no sympathy,.. “of his fellow-men”. The realm had been overrun by this horrible plague that had destroyed half the population and the embodiment of its evil manifestation lies in… “the redness and the horror of blood.”

At the throne of this rapidly diminishing realm sat a… “happy and dauntless and sagacious”, Prince Prospero. Determined to survive with subjects to rule, he summoned the most fit and cheerful of his knights and dames of the court, the favored of his kingdom. With a thousand of them, he secluded himself within one of his “castellated abbeys”. The abbey had been well stocked with provisions for all. Its walls were tall and strong. Its iron gates were welded shut to prevent entry by those on the outside that may panic from despair and desperation and those on the inside that may surrender to the impulse of compassion for those despairing souls condemned to die. Inside the abbey, secure from the Red Death and the contagion that swept the land, the Prince and his favored thousand souls would partake of the beauty and pleasures of life and enjoy the music and the ballet, the clowns and, of course, the wine. While the outside world would be subject to their dismal fate, those inside the abbey had determined there was nothing to be done, and to grieve or even think about the horrors that the people were to endure was just so much foolishness. All these pleasures were within the walls. “Without was the Red Death.”

Poe uses the titled name Prince Prospero to infer royalty, wealth and happiness with privileged circumstances and a life of excess. It suggests that the Prince is untroubled by the plague and is confident of his survival and the survival of his one thousand pampered friends. He is untroubled by the rampant contagion that was the Red Death and manifested by “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim,… “ Prince Prospero felt secure and isolated from these horrors behind the formidable walls of his abbey.

“It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.” Here, Poe seems to infer that the Prince felt that the Red Death had depleted his realm but had passed him by and the favored thousand. Confident in his success, he wished to celebrate by hosting a masked ball.

The balance of this story takes place in seven apartments of the imperial suite and Poe goes to great effort to detail and describe them. Unlike most palaces where the seven rooms may have been constructed linearly, one at the end of the former, so that by opening all the doors one could view the seventh chamber from the first, Prince Prospero had chosen to have them built so that… “.. vision embraced but little more than one at a time.” This resulted in “a novel effect” at each turn of “every twenty or thirty yards.” The rooms were arranged east to west and each room was uniquely colored. The first apartment was dressed blue, the second in purple, the third was green, the fourth orange, fifth with white, the sixth lavishly covered in violet and the final chamber shrouded in black tapestries and carpets. Each had two “tall and narrow” windows with stained glass that matched the prevailing color of the room with the exception of the seventh apartment. Here the window panes were tinted scarlet, “a deep blood color.” Poe eerily characterizes this final chamber and the effect of light streaming through the windows as “…ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.” Each window looked out into a corridor where “a heavy tripod bearing a brazier of fire, that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room.” There was no source of light within any of the seven chambers.

It has been suggested that these seven apartments are an allegorical representation of the seven stages of life. Perhaps this is the case, but I would suggest that the arrangement of the rooms from east to west together with the successive colors and the ebony clock that stood upon the western most wall was more descriptive of the cyclic passing of the day from before twilight to its final termination at the midnight hour. Therefore, the life-cycle is represented by the passing of a single day. It must be understood here that each successive day that passes cannot be reclaimed and that the passing of each day is inevitable, unalterable, unstoppable… time will not be denied… there is no escaping the passage of time nor the ultimate conclusion or death.


Each color is representative of the passing day’s partitions, from the sparkling blue of approaching dawn, the rich purple of first light, the lush green of the reflected earth, the bold orange of sunrise, the brilliant white of noonday, the somber violet of dusk and, finally, the coming blackness of the day’s demise. At the end of this inexorable passing of the day stands the gigantic ebony clock, its pendulum swaying to and fro, relentlessly ticking off the seconds of the remaining minutes and tolling the remaining hours for the last one thousand and one masqueraders of the realm.

Poe goes to considerable effort to describe the sense of dread each time the clock sounds the ending of the hour and the beginning of the next. As the clock strikes and counts off the early hours, the revelers easily endure the eerie tolling of the clock, but cannot resist pausing their merriment until the sound is no longer heard. They look at one another, smile and nervously proceed with their gaiety, dreading the coming hour. Upon the next successive hour, just as inevitable as the passing of time, and in conflict with their determination to ignore the tone of the clock, each and every reveler once again pauses as the next hour is sounded. Here Poe is attempting to impart a sense of apprehension or dread to the reader. He gives no clue to the source of this uneasiness among the revelers beyond the relentless passing of time and the deep resonant tone of the giant ebony clock, yet we clearly have a growing sense of anxiety and fearful anticipation among the people attending the masquerade.

Among the guests, Prince Prospero himself had provided guidance in the selection of costumes and while they did not necessarily meet the required suitability for the fashion of the day, each was suitable to his taste. “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.” Each and every one unique, cheerful or added to the gaiety of the party. However, none, not a single one, exceeded or violated the decorum of the festivities. And as the gaiety continued, time moved forward until the clock once again eerily tolled the passing of the hour. Once again, for a moment, the giggling and laughter ceased, the orchestra music quit in mid refrain, and all stood stock still as the ebony clock echoed throughout the seven chambers, the end of the eleventh hour.

The eerie and ghastly lighting in the westernmost room, together with the somber sounds from the ebony clock had caused the maskers to vacate the seventh apartment and only those most bold would venture inside. The other apartments were now crowded and the sounds and spirits of life were in those rooms. Laughter and singing and dancing was in full force and the crowd whirled on and on “… until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon the clock.”

Again, the gaiety ceased. The orchestra quit playing and all the maskers stood rigid listening to the tolling of midnight. It was during the closing of these long twelve strokes of midnight that many became aware of the “…presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before.” Whispering rumors began and slowly increased to a murmur among the crowd and expressions of disapproval and finally, “…. of terror, of horror and of disgust.”

Here again, Poe goes to considerable effort to convey to the reader the disparate appearance of the newly recognized guest from any of the other maskers. His mask approximated the “… countenance of a stiffened corpse…” that upon the closest inspection would reveal no deceit. The “mummer’s” garments from head to toe were like those from the grave. But the most appalling violation of the festivity’s decorum was the similarity displayed by the mummer to the Red Death. His vesture were sprinkled with blood and his “broad brow, with all the features of the face was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.”

Clearly shaken by this visage through terror or distaste from the sight of him, Prince Prospero becomes enraged and screams, “Who dares… who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him - that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!”

None made the attempt to seize him and with deliberate steps he approached “within a yard” of Prince Prospero. Awed by his presence and unhurried step, the crowd shrank back against the walls of the blue chamber. The visitor then proceeded again with deliberate step to the purple, to the green, into the orange, through this to the white and on into the violet, yet still, no movement had been made to stop him. His timidity under control and his rage increasing, Prince Prospero moved quickly through each successive room and raised a dagger to resolve this insult. Upon entering the seventh chamber and within “three or four feet of the retreating figure,” the mummer turned and confronted Prince Prospero. The Prince let out a sharp cry and instantly, fell dead, prostrate on the black carpeted floor of the black chamber. From the courage born of despair and rage, a group of the revelers leaped into the blood lit chamber and violently seized the intruder but to their shock, found nothing of substance within the mask or the vesture of the Red Death.

“And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay.. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”

Clearly, the theme of the story, at least in my opinion, is that no one, regardless of status or wealth or power or privilege over man can stay the passing of time and the inevitable conclusion of life itself. For us humans, we have simply labeled this final conclusion, “death”. This is in keeping with Poe’s view of the ultimate, inescapable closure, that life begins so that it can end, that all beginnings will ultimately lead to an ending, a conclusion. This is, incidentally, one of the major reasons I personally feel that Poe had no particular fear of death. He, like his contemporaries, was confronted with it throughout their lives and in some periods of Poe’s own despair… he longed for it. Perhaps, to escape, as he says in his poem “Annie”, “… that fever called “Living.”

[C. Wilson]

Tis, you said:
"It has been suggested that these seven apartments are an allegorical representation of the seven stages of life. Perhaps this is the case, but I would suggest that the arrangement of the rooms from east to west together with the successive colors and the ebony clock that stood upon the western most wall was more descriptive of the cyclic passing of the day from before twilight to its final termination at the midnight hour. Therefore, the life-cycle is represented by the passing of a single day."

Why would you believe that the 7 rooms symbolize merely one day rather than an individual's whole life? It is common in literature to use the idea of the phases of one day to symbolize they journey from birth to death. I'm wondering why you would stop at the initial metaphor of sunrise to sunset and not then take it to mean the progression to death, in a story with death as a main theme. The example that comes to mind was the riddle from Oedipus Rex; "What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?" -It compares a day to a life. Also, how would the concept of one day tie in with a theme of the story? I am curious to know.

One more thing; you say:
"This is in keeping with Poe’s view of the ultimate, inescapable closure, that life begins so that it can end, that all beginnings will ultimately lead to an ending, a conclusion. This is, incidentally, one of the major reasons I personally feel that Poe had no particular fear of death."

For a man with no fear of death, he could sure write in an effective, omnious way on the subject! It always seemed to me that he could convey such frightening stories/images to his reader due to his own fear of the ultimate. I am taking into account the trend that writers often write more effectively when their inspiration comes from personal feelings or experiences.

Anyway, I'd just like to understand why you have the opinions you do, Thanks!

~ C. Wilson