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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that discusses the symbolism in Poe's "Masque of the Red Death." No additional sources are cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KL9_khmasque.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
symbolic content and the metaphorical meaning. Detailed analysis of this tale reveals that it is a highly complex allegory. This is shown by considering the symbolism inherent in the setting,
the main characters name, and the tales thematic message. The setting includes the fact that the "Red Death" is devastating the country of Prince Prospero, which provides the impetus
for the prince to take a thousand "hale and light-hearted friends" from his court and retire to his castle while the contagion ran its course (Poe). After five or six
months of seclusion, the prince treats his friends to a magnificent masked ball, which is held in the series of rooms making up the imperial suite. Each room is decorated
primarily in one prominent color. The eastern most room is decorated in blue, with even the windowpanes matching its prevailing color. The second chamber was purple; the third, green; fourth,
orange; fifth, white; and the sixth was violet. The seventh chamber, the most western chamber in the suite was "shrouded in black velvet tapestries," which covered its walls (Poe). The
windowpanes in this room, however, rather than matching the color of the walls, were "scarlet-a deep blood color" (Poe). The last chamber also contains a large ebony clock that chimes
once per hour The revelers are visibly agitated each time the clock becoming disconcerted and tremulous (Poe). The rooms, like the sun, run from east to west, and they symbolically
represent the stages of life. The most eastern rooms are the cool colors of renewal. The middle rooms are decorated to reflect the intensity of mid-life and the seventh
room represents the finality of death. The progression of Prince Prospero, as he follows the mysterious stranger who appears at midnight through the rooms, represents metaphorically the journey of an
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