Bailes~Composition 2

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Symbolism ~ Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"


In 1964, a film version of Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death" was released. Known for his roles in horror films, Vincent Price played Prince Prospero.

In looking at the text of "The Masque of the Red Death," you should have noticed lots of symbolic elements. One of these is Prince Prospero's suite of seven rooms. Seven is an important number in numerology, whether used in literature and myth. In fact, you will want to look at the various expressions of seven in myth and legend and then find correspondences between them and Poe's use of seven rooms. Why did Poe choose seven?

And why did he choose the colors that correspond with each room? There are different ways to look at colors. You could examine them according to liturgical colors of the faith or based on the psychology of color. Try both. Then explain what you believe Poe meant by the colors for the seven rooms in this famous story.

posted by John Bailes at Wednesday, October 04, 2006

9 Comments:

  • "The Masque of the Red Death", was a little more interesting than some of the other stories we have read.I think it used better symbols which were alot easier to recognize throughout the story.
    Jillian Bull Shell
    Comp2 M-W-F 8-850
    Bailes

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 04, 2006  

  • the colors may all represented the way he felt at the time and from his emotions while writing this story...AB

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 04, 2006  

  • I think that the colors have something to so with life and death as well as the placement of the rooms running from east to west symbolize the rise and set of the sun can also represent life and death and the colors can represent various stages of life with the black room and scarlet windows representing the end or death. In short, I believe that the colors represent the stages of the day but also correspond on a much smaller level like that of life and death.

    Thad Myers

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 04, 2006  

  • Well, blue (representing heaven) being on the opposite side of the building than black (representing death and all that bad stuff) makes enough sense. Also, with green being in the middle (like earth) makes clear sense. I'm just a little confused of how Poe picked voilet which is a very different color from the royal purple that follows the blue room. Maybe poe was going for an overly lavish snese. Who needs a room in every color of the rainbow? Someone who can afford it.

    As for the number seven, it seems to be associated with good things.

    Except for the seven deadly sins.

    I tried just now to pair up the colors with the sins, but it didn't really work the way I was hoping.

    By Blogger Unknown, at October 04, 2006  

  • I have always loved Poe's grim style of storytelling. I love how this story shows that no matter who you are and how much money you have, death will always catch up to you. "The Masque of the Red Death" was a great story, and i'll have to read it again to catch the meaning of the numbers and colors.

    -I forgot my username. This is Ryan Darling

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 04, 2006  

  • I think that the colors of the rooms represented different elements of his life. The whole fact that there are seven rooms suggests to me that his life is complete; it is finished.

    The black room with the red in it obviously represents the man's death. Black seems very final...like death.

    By Blogger Tinamari, at October 04, 2006  

  • I missed class on Friday, could someone tell me what the assignment for Monday is?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 08, 2006  

  • In "The Masque of the Red Death" Poe uses a lot of symbols. The seven rooms, the color of the rooms, and the fact that the rooms go from east to west can mean the begining and the ending of life. Prince Prospero and his guest wanted to avoid the last room that was decorated in black and red and in life we try to avoid death as much as possible.

    But could Poe be saying that the things we try to to avoid will be the things that kill, or is he saying that we cannot avoid death even if we try?

    What do you think? MariaF

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 13, 2006  

  • "The Masque of the Red Death" had too many symbols and it made it confusing to actually interprit what the writer was trying to say. After Mr. Bailes explained the story to me it was more clear. It was a unique story and was actually pretty neat how Poe intertwined all of the colors, and all of the other symbols to all mean something.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at October 27, 2006  

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