The Masque of the Red Death By: Julia Ornatowski, Danny Zhang, Sofia Moskvicheva, Antonio Mangual

Setting and Main Characters Setting - The story takes place in Prince Prospero’s castle cut off and secluded from the rest of the world in a kingdom struck by the plague, with the main actions taking place in a ball in a suite consisting of seven different colored rooms where a masquerade ball is being held by Prospero himself. Main Characters Prince Prospero: A wealthy and shallow nobleman/prince that locks himself in his castle to protect himself and his companions from the plague while everyone else is left outside to die. The Red Death: The embodiment of death, he appears at the party uninvited dressed up as a corpse killed by the plague.

Major Events  Prince Prospero locks himself and his courtiers in his castle to prevent the plague from reaching them, and leaving all other people outside to die (shows how greedy and selfish the prince is, he does not care about anyone but himself and his friends)  Prospero throws a Masquerade Ball that is set in a suite of seven rooms, running east to west with each room being a different color. The first room is blue, the second one purple, the third one green, the fourth one orange, the fifth white, the sixth violet and the seventh black with red windows and a huge clock on the wall that strikes every hour. No one dares to go inside the seventh room.  At midnight, a new guest arrives, dressed up as like someone who died of the plague, or Red Death. Angered at this guest and how he is dressed, Prospero follows them with a knife at hand, ready to kill them. Once at the edge of the black room, the masked guest turns around and Prospero suddenly drops dead.  Enraged at what has just happened, all the guests at the ball run and start ripping at the Red Death, soon realizing that there is nothing under the costume and that the plague itself has gotten into the castle. One by one each person starts bleeding and dying, as they are all infected with the Red Death.

Themes  Death is inevitable and cannot be escaped, no matter how wealthy or powerful one is (Prince Prospero tries to hide away from the plague and the death it brings by locking himself in his castle, but death still manages to get to him in the end)  We are all subject to the passing of time (in the story time is linked to death, the striking of the clock is a sign of death approaching)  Madness and insanity (Prince Prospero is not in his right mind, it is not normal to hold a ball while the world outside dies from disease)

Symbols and Mood Symbols  Seven colored rooms (each room has a different color that represents the different stages of human life)  The ebony clock striking every hour (symbol of the passing of time, approaching death and the inevitability of it)  The Red Death (a symbol and form of the plague itself coming to the party to take the lives of the wealthy who hide from it)  The secluded castle/abbey (symbol for power and seclusion, standing above the peasants who are dying from the plague) Mood  Dark  Grave/serious  Ominous and menacing, making the reader unsure of what will happen

Point of View  The point of view in which the Masque of the Red Death is told is third person omniscient.  The narrator doesn’t have anything to do with the characters and doesn’t take the specific point of view of any of them. He mainly just describes the atmosphere of the party and the setting and describes what occurs.

Conflict and Resolution Conflict  Prince Prospero’s attempt to kill the masked guest, and dying while trying to do so. Resolution  The revealing of who the masked guest is (the Red Death) and the immediate death of all the guests because the Red Death/plague had found it’s way into the castle.

SymbolMeaning The Seven Colored Rooms Each room represents the different stages of life, beginning with birth (blue) and ending with death (black). Blue Room The blue room represents the birth and beginning of life. Purple Room The purple room represents the beginning of growth in one’s life. Green Room The green room represents the spring and youth in life. Orange Room The orange room represents strength and maturity in life. White Room The white room represents aging. Violet Room The violet room represents the approaching darkness and death. Black Room The black room represents death. The Ebony Clock The ebony clock symbolizes time passing by and the inevitability of death. As the clock strike every hour, it’s a reminder to the guests of the part that their lives are drifting away as time does and death will soon be upon them.