# The Masque of the Red Death explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Edgar Allan Poe. ## What happens Prince Prospero and a thousand of his courtiers seal themselves in a castellated abbey to escape the Red Death, a horrific plague. They hold a magnificent masked ball in seven color-themed rooms, but a mysterious figure dressed as a corpse and dabbled in blood appears. Prospero pursues the figure through the chambers, only to die upon confronting it. The revellers discover the figure is intangible, and the Red Death claims them all, leaving Darkness and Decay in dominion. ## Themes in this chapter ### Death and Mortality The Red Death personifies the inescapability of death, claiming all regardless of wealth or status. ### The Supernatural and the Gothic The mysterious figure, the eerie clock, and the blood-tinted black chamber create a Gothic atmosphere of terror. ### Isolation and Alienation Prospero's attempt to isolate himself and his court from the plague ultimately fails, highlighting the futility of escape. ## Character check-ins ### Prince Prospero The prince who retreats from the Red Death with his court, hosts the masked ball, and dies pursuing the mysterious figure. ### Unknown Narrator The narrator describes the events of the masquerade and the appearance of the Red Death. ## Key lines > The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. A deadly plague called the Red Death has ravaged the land, marked by bleeding and rapid death. _Establishes the setting and the nature of the plague._ > But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and lighthearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. Prince Prospero, confident and clever, gathered a thousand healthy friends and secluded himself in a fortified abbey to escape the plague. _Introduces Prospero's attempt to evade death._ > The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet—a deep blood color. The seventh room was draped entirely in black velvet, but its windows were blood-red, creating a ghastly effect. _Describes the ominous black and red chamber._ > It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation. A large ebony clock in the black room chimes each hour, causing the revellers to pause in unease and grow pale. _Highlights the clock as a symbol of mortality and time._ > And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise—then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust. Whispers about a strange figure spread, and the crowd's reaction shifts from disapproval to terror and disgust. _Describes the arrival of the Red Death figure._ > The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. The figure was tall and thin, dressed in funeral clothes, with a mask that looked exactly like a corpse's face. _Details the appearance of the mysterious mummer._ > But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood —and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror. The figure was dressed as the Red Death itself, with blood on its clothes and face. _Reveals the figure's blasphemous costume._ > There was a sharp cry—and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. With a cry, Prospero's dagger fell, and he collapsed dead on the black carpet. _Describes Prospero's death upon confronting the figure._ > And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. The Red Death was revealed, and one by one, all the revellers died in the blood-stained halls. _Concludes with the total victory of the Red Death._ > And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all. The clock stopped with the last reveller's death, the fires died, and only Darkness, Decay, and the Red Death remained. _Final image of desolation and the triumph of death._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_14_se/chapters/the-masque-of-the-red-death - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_14_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_14_se/chapters