completely different meanings amongst themselves.

The true meaning of "The Masque of the Red Death"

lies solely in the vast symbols used by Poe in this ingenious work.

Edgar Allan Poe used symbolism in the names he used in his story. The name of the story itself is a symbol. "The Masque" to the average person means the mask, but the definition for masque is a masquerade which is a dance in which persons where masks and other disguises. The "Red Death" is also symbolic. In many religions the color red is associated closely with death. So what Poe meant by the name of the story is the dance of death which it truly becomes.

Another symbolic name is Prince Prospero, which is the tragic figure in this story. The word "prospero" in Italian and Spanish means prospering or to prosper. This is very ironic because Prospero dies a tragic death at the end. Prospero was also a name of a

So you ask, "How did Prince Prospero die?" Prospero died of a heart attack. He was so afraid that his heart went into Cardiac arrest. This is proven by in "The Masque of the Red Death." Before Prospero chased the intruder, he was described "maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice." Also, the dagger fell so Prospero was not stabbed by the masked figure.

The masked figure represents by critics and scholars many different meanings. Many think the masked figure is the red death. Some critics say the figure is a figment of Prospero's imagination. Still others say the figure is Death himself. The masked figure is not any of them. The masked figure is just a masquerader participating in a tasteless escapade. This is proven by one source. When the story was first published in Graham's Lady and Gentleman's Magazine in May 1842, The original title was "The Mask of the Red Death. A Fantasy." Poe never said the masked figure is the Red Death. Instead, he was described as "the stranger," "this spectral image," and "the mummer." So the intruder is literally the mask of the red death.

The meaning of "The Masque of the Red Death" does lie in the symbolism. The symbols mentioned each have a small part to do with the meaning of Poe's story. The

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Approximate Word count = 864
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)