A GOTHIC TALE by

EDGAR ALLAN POE

The Mask of
the Red
Death
About Poe
 Author, poet, editor and literary critic
 Born: 19 January 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts,
U.S.
 Died: 07, October 1849
 Place of Death: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
 Spouse: Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe
 Alma Mater: University of Virginia (dropped out),
Military Academy at West Point
 Famous for his tales of horror and mystery
Poe’s Legacy

 His creative talents lead

to the beginning of
different literary genres,
earning him the
nickname, “Father of the
Detective Story.”
Inspiration
 Has greatly influenced modern writers such as
Stephen King (It, The Shining, Pet Sematary)
and Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere,The Sandman
comic book series, The Graveyard Book).
 - In 2014, Dark Horse Comics released a comic
book version of his stories and poems in “Edgar
Allan Poe’s Spirits of the Dead HC”
The “Poe Toaster”
 An unknown visitor paid homage to
Poe’s grave annually beginning in
1949
 -Every Jan. 19, in the early hours of
the morning, the person made a toast
of cognac to his grave and left three
roses.
The Masque of the Red Death Plot

 In a medieval land ravaged by the Red Death,

a plague that causes swift, agonizing death, Prince
Prospero retreats to his castle with 1,000 knights
and ladies. There he welds the doors and windows
shut, confident that he and his guests will escape
death. Prospero gives a masquerade ball. At
midnight, the grotesquely costumed courtiers find
a fearful figure among them, costumed in shrouds
and dried blood as the Red Death, which it proves
in reality to be.
Setting & Tone
 Dark and unestablished
country/place.
 Obscure and unknown time in the
past
IRONY
 The name PROSPERO connotes
happiness and prosperity.
 Time of gaiety, revelry and merriment
but there was a death consuming the
land.
 Masquerade ball – time of happiness
and merriment (ironic) but outside, the
plague ravished the land
 “castellated abbey” (with strong & lofty
walls) and “gates of iron” ~ not strong
enough to deter the Red Death
The Rooms
 Arranged in a row from east to west,
the seven color-coded rooms in the abbey
are considered symbolic of the progression
of life.
 Stages of Life: birth (blue), youth
(purple), adolescence (green), adulthood
(orange), old age (white),
imminent death (violet), and death itself
(black/scarlet)
The Clock
 The clock that presides over that room also
reminds the guests of death’s final judgment.
 The hourly ringing of the bells is a reminder of
the passing of time, inexorable and ultimately
personal.
THEMES
MAIN THEME: No man escapes death.

MINOR THEMES:
Madness & insanity ~ it is sheer madness to have a
revelry at a time of suffering and death.
Passage of Time ~ as suggested by the seven color-
coded rooms
Death of Feudalism ~ embodied by Prospero,
however, he dies in the end.
SOURCES

 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poestories/section10/
 https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-masque-of-the-red-death-edgar-allen-poe/37022
77.html
 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/p/poes-short-stories/summary-and-analysis/the-masq
ue-of-the-red-death
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-theme-masque-red-death-89943
Thank you

“For the moon never beams

without bringing me dreams”