Allegory and Symbols

1. Party guestsWhat it represents: They represent

humanity/ human beings.

How it helps teach the lesson: Although the party guests isolate themselves, they still die from the Red Death, thus showing no one can escape death.

Dreams – the figures in each room What do they represent? Repressed desires and fears

How they help teach the lesson? They are there to entertain the

revelers, but they are Poe’s way of making the reader understand that all of the trappings of the party are just too unrealistic.

Prince Prospero’s abbey

What it represents: the abbey is a physical barrier to the disease, an escape from the disease

How it helps teach the lesson: Even though Prince Prospero thinks he can build a castle strong enough to keep death out, death still penetrates the castle walls.

Room colors/stages of life Blue – birth Purple – beginning of youth Green – youth Orange – adulthood White – midlife Violet – elderly Black – death Red – blood/fear

Allegory and Symbols

3. The black roomWhat it represents: It

represents the grave, a coffin, forebodes of death (the red symbolizes blood)

How it helps teach the lesson: It shows that death is the final resting place for all.

Allegory and Symbol

4. The tripods with the flames:What is represents: They

represent light, heat, life.

How it helps teach the lesson:Like the party goers, the tripods

are snuffed out at the end by death.

5. The masked visitor/uninvited guest

What it represents: It represents the Red Death, plague, death in general

How it helps teach the lesson(develops the theme): It shows us that we cannot escape death, no matter how hard we try. Death will come looking for us

Allegory and Symbols

6. Ebony clockWhat it represents: The clock

represents our time on earth. How it helps teach the

lesson: The chimes are a constant reminder of the time we have left on earth. Time is still ticking onwards (like the beating of a heart).

7. The seven rooms

What it represents: The stages of life

How it helps teach the lesson: The rooms begin in the east and end in the west. The seventh room represents death. No matter where our journey begins, it will always end with death.

1st room= blue 3rd=green 5th=white2nd=purple 4th= orange 6th=violet7th=black and red

8. Prince Prospero

What it represents: The wealthy / privileged people /upper class

How it helps teach the lesson: The wealthy think they can avoid suffering/death or think they are above the powers of mortality, but they are not.

9. Masquerade ball

What it represents: An attempt to have fun/ avoid unpleasant things by pretending everything is okay.

How it helps teach the lesson: People have a hard time facing their mortality or a serious problem, so they simply ignore it.

Allegory and Symbol

3. The musicWhat is represents: It represents

life or the tempo of life .

How it helps teach the lesson: It gives us a sense of vulnerability; each time it is stilled by the chiming of the clock, we recognize life is fleeting.