“The Masque of the Red Death”

            “The Masque of the Red Death” written by Edgar Allan Poe is a very profound example of life with a distinct social class that stands above the general public and receives distinct advantages. In this case, the upper class was able to come to an isolated building in which only royalty was permitted to enter. Life in there was great and in the end outside terror, specifically, the Red Death breaks in.

            “Prince Prospero … and a thousand hale and lighthearted friends … retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys” (Poe 420). This represents the upper class getting to live in a monastery which was sealed off from the outside disease. Only the Prince and his friends, all of which were royalty, were isolated off in this abbey, while on the outside, Red Death plagued the people, killing them as Prince Prospero made no attempts to protect his people, just to protect himself.

            Life inside this castellated abbey was great. “The Prince provided all the appliance of pleasure. There were Buffoons, improvisatori, ballet dancers, musicians, beauty, and wine” (Poe 420). The only thing that wasn’t secluded inside his abbey was the Red Death. The Red Death was left out to torment all of the people he left helpless, outside of his abbey. In the abbey, however, is a black room with a blood colored window. This room symbolizes the Red Death. This room is vacant most of the time because it scares the people in it.

            During this great celebration, where everyone was wearing a mask, a figure entered of which, “The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse” (Poe 425). The king saw this figure and was overcome with anger. This figure represents the people outside of the abbey and the Red Death. The Prince tried to kill it and the figure ended up killing the Prince, as well as everyone else at this great celebration. This represents the lower and middle class that were being killed by the Red Death coming into the abbey and getting even.

            The social classes and the distinct differences between each of the classes are very obvious. Only the higher class was allowed in the abbey while Red Death raged on outside. Life was great inside until the Red Death leaked in.