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Timothy Dull

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP English 9

11-9-18

The Final Guest

“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is an allegory revealing that

however hard some may try, no one can escape death. The story is about a masquerade ball in a

wealthy prince's abbey as the “Red Death”, or the plague, rages outside. During the party, many

symbols representing death become apparent to the revellers, culminating with the appearance of

a “masked figure” or the Red Death who ultimately takes the lives of all there. To fully illustrate

his allegory, Poe uses the seventh room, the clock, and the masked figure as symbols of

inevitable death.

The seventh room in “The Masque of the Red Death” is a symbol of life coming to an

end. The author describes how the “western or black chamber” had “blood-tinted panes” and

“was ghastly in the extreme” (Poe 2). The room is shrouded in black to symbolize the darkness

of death, and the characterization of the windows looking like blood keeps people from entering

the rooms due to its eerie nature. Being the westernmost room, it is last in the hallway of rooms,

implying it is the final step of your life whereas you enter you see the red of blood then the

blackness of dying. As the prince “fell prostrate in death” in the black room, the party attendees

“threw themselves into the black apartment” and as they did they “one by one dropped… and

died each in despairing posture”(Poe 4-5). Throughout the night the masqueraders avoid the

room, just as they would avoid death. After realizing the one man who was protecting them had
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died, they “threw themselves” into death with no fear because they know there is now no escape.

As life comes to an end everyone must make their last step into the seventh room.

The Clock in the seventh room represents the constant passage of time until your

inevitable death. As the grand party progressed, “the chimes of the clock rang” causing even “the

giddiest” to steadily grow “pale”(Poe 2). Just like hours on a clock, life has significant moments

that can be marked. As the clock continues to strike, the guests don’t know exactly how much

time has passed; they have to wait for the chimes to cease to know the result, just as someone in

a life threatening event would have to wait for the outcome. Throughout the story, the clock gets

closer to 12 o’clock, the end of the day, symbolizing life's end. As the clock strikes midnight all

the members of the festive occasion soon die. After the revelers die “the life of the ebony clock

went out” symbolizing the final end of life (Poe 5). The clocks constant motion forward is life's

greatest challenge.

The Masked Figure in the story symbolizes the Red Death, or death itself. The masked

figure is “shrouded from head to foot in habiliments of the grave” and is so terrifying many

believe it is a “stiffened corpse”(Poe 4). The figure’s appearance is directly characterized as

death-like, to help fully flesh out its symbol. The cheerful party is quickly interrupted by the

masked figure because the guests sense that death is upon them. As the masqueraders attack the

masked figure, they find “ the grave cerements and corpse-like mask” which they had just seen

clearly move around now “untenanted by any tangible form” (Poe 5). Though the figure had

appeared alive, it was just an illusion. Death was already there and as they discover the empty

clothing, they realize that death has found them. In the face of death, life will not prevail.

Poe’s allegory shows that in a beautiful castle, despite the revelry of a party, and although

the prince locks everyone away, the spectre of death cannot be escaped. The symbol of the
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seventh room, the clock, and the masked figure each represent the approach of life's end until

death itself ultimately arrives. Poe illustrates the unavoidable truth that death will always be the

final guest at the party of life.