Much detail was missing - such as the symbolism of the rooms going east to west. This is supposed to show that just like the sun the guest start the party in the east and al die in the West. Also the color of each room is meant to symbolize the 7 stages of life (infant, child, adolescent, adult, old, crazy, death). The clock is counting down to the guest deaths and the last room (black) has red windows. Around the time this story came out Poe was extremely depressed since his mother, adoptive mother, and wife all died of TB. The black walls symbolize how 1/3 of Europe’s population died of the Black Death and couldn’t escape death. The red windows in the same window is to show how TB is going to be the end of man kind and no one can escape dying from it. The guest is supposed to symbolize the dead death itself and the red death is a combo of the Black Death and TB. Yea so kinda crazy
Oh my god .. you left out such a HUGE PLOT POINT.. and you drew Death tots wrong.. The whole reason the prince is angry with him and charges at him. He forbade anyone from wearing the color red to the Masquerade… Death literally wore stuff from the grave all over his body… his mask was that of a human corpse.. who has RED BLOOD dripping all over him.. The prince initially got angry at him for going against his rule and wearing red.. that’s why he goes from scared to angry… You about to make all these 12 year olds on here get a C- on their tests
The story is a fevered hallucination of a person who is buried alive. Often a theme in Poe. In this case, corpses are packed into a coffin due to the plague. As was the custom, a bell is tied to the toe and the person who is experiencing a fevered dream, is not yet dead. When he moves, the bell rings and the bodies surrounding him move - which he perceives as the clock striking midnight. The biggest clue to this is the fires being set outside....who set those fires if everyone is inside the "castle?" Well, what's actually happening is that the coffin is being burned (due to the plague). Our story-teller is close to death and so it probably doesn't matter. He is dying of the plague and being burned in a coffin full of plague victims. However, he is not quite dead yet. So,the rest is the fanciful imagination of his dying consciousness. It quite simple, really,,,,and consistent with Poe's predilection to write about the living being buried alive. Nobody really gets it, do they?
Here is a comment from Erin Fosgreen in this comment section: "Much detail was missing - such as the symbolism of the rooms going east to west. This is supposed to show that just like the sun the guest start the party in the east and al die in the West. Also the color of each room is meant to symbolize the 7 stages of life (infant, child, adolescent, adult, old, crazy, death). The clock is counting down to the guest deaths and the last room (black) has red windows. Around the time this story came out Poe was extremely depressed since his mother, adoptive mother, and wife all died of TB. The black walls symbolize how 1/3 of Europe’s population died of the Black Death and couldn’t escape death. The red windows in the same window is to show how TB is going to be the end of man kind and no one can escape dying from it. The guest is supposed to symbolize the dead death itself and the red death is a combo of the Black Death and TB. Yea so kinda crazy"
Much detail was missing - such as the symbolism of the rooms going east to west. This is supposed to show that just like the sun the guest start the party in the east and al die in the West. Also the color of each room is meant to symbolize the 7 stages of life (infant, child, adolescent, adult, old, crazy, death). The clock is counting down to the guest deaths and the last room (black) has red windows. Around the time this story came out Poe was extremely depressed since his mother, adoptive mother, and wife all died of TB. The black walls symbolize how 1/3 of Europe’s population died of the Black Death and couldn’t escape death. The red windows in the same window is to show how TB is going to be the end of man kind and no one can escape dying from it. The guest is supposed to symbolize the dead death itself and the red death is a combo of the Black Death and TB. Yea so kinda crazy
