44 pages 1 hour read

Edgar Allan Poe

The Masque of the Red Death

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1842

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Story Analysis

Analysis: “The Masque of the Red Death”

The “Masque of the Red Death” is a Gothic horror tale—Poe being one of the first practitioners of the Gothic form in America and a father of the American Gothic subgenre. The story is often taken allegorically, as a narrative made to communicate the inescapability of death. This is symbolized through Prospero’s futile armaments against death, yet its ultimate arrival despite them. The imminence of death is also symbolized through the emphasis on several different ideas of time, such as through the gigantic clock striking the hours.

Stylistically, “The Masque of the Red Death” is highly ornate. Poe shifts between tenses (e.g., past, present future), narrative focalizations (e.g., first person, third person), and different literary genres and subgenres (e.g., Romantic, Gothic, fairy tale, parable) with ease. Poe’s genre-shifting is exemplified well in the transition between the first and second paragraphs of the story. In the first, macabre elements are brought forward in a short description of disease that reads like a medical text: “there were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleedings at the pores” (739). The tone shifts drastically when we are introduced to Prince

blurred text

blurred text

Related Titles

By Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

Berenice

Edgar Allan Poe

Berenice

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

Hop-Frog

Edgar Allan Poe

Hop-Frog

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

Ligeia

Edgar Allan Poe

Ligeia

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

Tamerlane

Edgar Allan Poe

Tamerlane

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe

The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe

The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Conqueror Worm

Edgar Allan Poe

The Conqueror Worm

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Edgar Allan Poe

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Edgar Allan Poe

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Gold Bug

Edgar Allan Poe

The Gold Bug

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Haunted Palace

Edgar Allan Poe

The Haunted Palace

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Imp of the Perverse

Edgar Allan Poe

The Imp of the Perverse

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Lake

Edgar Allan Poe

The Lake

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Man of the Crowd

Edgar Allan Poe

The Man of the Crowd

Edgar Allan Poe

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE
logo

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Edgar Allan Poe

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Edgar Allan Poe

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Oval Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe

The Oval Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide
logo

The Philosophy of Composition

Edgar Allan Poe

The Philosophy of Composition

Edgar Allan Poe