In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death", Poe's gothic niche is showcased vibrantly. The theme is as gloomy and dark as any other Poe classic. A story of a greedy Prince falling prey to the clutches of death, despite all odds, topped off with themes revolving around social responsibility, morals, the seven deadly sins, and hypocrisy.
In his story, Poe explains how death is inevitable. Regardless of his title, Prince "Prospero" was swallowed by his death. Now matter how rich, tranquil and pure, one and one's life are, one cannot escape the manifest destiny that death is. As seen in the story, even though thee Prince stood in the peaceful, cheerful, beautiful, eastern blue chamber, the place where the sun rose, he was drawn to darkness by the Red Death. The ebony clock in the last and the darkest of the seven rooms was foreshadowing his fate, with every tick, the room filled with nervousness growing exponentially.
Prince "Prospero", as he isolated himself from all of his commonmen, those most prone to the Red Death, to suffering, to malady, believed that it was impossible for any force to enter and more importantly, escape his palace. He, along with all other noble and wealthy men of the town, locked themselves up, hid themselves, behind these superficial "masks" that hid their monstrosity with their flamboyant ways. Their explicit intentions for this hibernation included secluding themselves from the red death (the plague) that harassed all those poor in the town. While these masks only hid their selfish nature, they could not hide their seven deadly sins (symbolized by the seven vibrantly colored rooms). Prince "Prospero" literally followed his own death as his own ego made him follow the Masked Red Death from the blue chamber to the black one.
The color choices of the chamber, the mood, the dark night and all the flamboyant glam only adds to the theme, the power of fate: death can only be fought, not conquered.
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