The Masque Of The Red Death Essay

Words: 765
Pages: 4

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer of short stories, Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” is one of his serious short story that he can relate to. Poe’s Red Death is a version of tuberculosis that claimed many lives in his time. Poe writes the short story of the Red Death to describe this plague to the readers. Poe uses objects and people for symbols within this story to grow the Red Death. Poe’s use of the symbols in his short story, “The Masque of the Red Death” to show that no one can escape death by any means. Poe’s use of symbolism of a person in “The Masque of the Red Death,” is to represent everyone’s fear of death. The Prince in the story, Prince Prospero represent how people fear death. Poe writes in the story, “When his dominions were …show more content…
The ebony clock with this story is a symbol for the countdown to how long that everyone within the castle has left to live for. Poe use of context clues for the ebony clock within the story shows that the clock is a countdown, this is mostly noticeable in the last paragraph in the story “ And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay” (Poe 4). Poe’s use of this clock is to show even if someone can delay his or hers death, that there is a counter counting down for their death. With the clock, the tripods of fire is another form for the countdown till death. The fire in the short story seems like it is a source of light for the people in the castle but with the context that Poe uses at the very end of the story to tell that they are not only a source for light but the souls of the 1000 people in the castle, “and the flames of the tripods expired” (Poe 4). Poe wants to show that the tripods can be another form of a countdown till the death just like the clock was a form of a countdown. Both the clock and tripods is a form of countdown that shows no one can escape