In course of Edgar Allan Poe's early life he found himself in some serious heartbreaks. The death of his biological parents and serious disappointments would later set the mood of his works to come. Many that read his stories and poems catch the "true" themes of his work, besides all the twisted, evil, dark, gloomy, and even demonic details that help conceal the "true" themes. Poe uses symbolism to bring out imagery of death and despair in most of his works, and although gruesome at times, he uses it masterfully to bring his stories alive.

"The Masque of the Red Death" is an elaborate allegory that combines objects in the story with visual descriptions to give focus to the reader's imagination. Poe's story takes place in seven connected but carefully separated rooms. This reminds the reader of the past significance of the number seven. (The history of the world was thought to consist of seven ages, just as an individual's life had seven stages.) Therefore, a reading of this story suggests that the seven rooms represent the seven stages of one's life, from birth to death, through which the prince pursues a figure masked as a victim of the Red Death, only to die himself in

Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline, identical twins, are almost two faculties of the same soul, and they can be interpreted together as the soul of which their mansion is the body. All three decline together, and the inference is that the disappearance of one means the disappearance of the others, which in fact is what comes to pass. Usher's house itself is a symbol for Usher. It is isolated like Usher. There are many "intricate passages,"(Poe 76) like the many facets of his mind. One of the rooms had windows which "feeble gleams of encrimsoned light...served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around."(Poe 76) The windows stand for Usher's eyes, the light is reality. He lives in his own world he created. Reality enters his brain only in "feeble gleams of light."(Poe 77) "The eye...struggles in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber."(Poe 76) The reality does not reach all of his brain. These quotes show that Usher is only half in the real world, half in his own world. The books Usher read, his art, and music all reveal his personality. He played "long improvised dirges"(Poe 77) on the guitar. The narrator describes his painting as "phantasmagoric."(Poe 75) The books he reads are about death, magic, mysticism, the occult, and torture. His favorite is a book of vigils for the dead. All these things show that Usher is unstable and obsessed with death.

The significance of the seventh room is apparent throughout the entire story. Black usually is symbolic of death, and this is used heavily throughout the story. Furthermore, in describing the black decor of the room, the narrator says it is "shrouded"(Poe 184) in velvet, shrouded being a term generally referring to death. The relationship between blood and death is an essential aspect because Poe wants the reader to have a visual image of the blood flowing down the walls as a form of death. This is an obvious reference to the Red Death. The relationship between the Red Death and time is a key to understanding the symbolic meaning of the story. The seven rooms are laid out from east to west, reminding us of the course of the sun, which measures our earthly time. These rooms are lighted from without, and it is only in the seventh room where the color of the windows does not correspond with the color of the room, but instead is "a deep blood color"(Poe 184) through which light illuminates the westernmost chamber of black, with an ebony clock on its western wall. In creating this room, Poe links the colors red and black with death and time.

the final chamber of eternal night. The prince's name suggests happiness and good fortune, and the prince, just like all beings uses happiness to wall out the threat of death. Prince Prospero's masked ball or dance r

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1863
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)