illustration of a clockface wearing a mask and ticking closer to midnight

The Masque of the Red Death

by Edgar Allan Poe

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Discussion Topic

The identity and initial appearance of the mysterious guest in "The Masque of the Red Death."

Summary:

The mysterious guest in "The Masque of the Red Death" is the embodiment of the Red Death plague. He appears uninvited at Prince Prospero's masquerade ball, dressed in garments resembling a funeral shroud and a mask resembling a corpse, symbolizing the inescapable nature of death.

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In "The Masque of the Red Death," who is the stranger behind the mask?

This is, as many of Poe's short stories are, a very symbolic piece of fiction, where you would be advised to look for how events, characters and the setting operate symbolically. It is clear from the description of the uninvited guest that he represents death and the way that no matter how hard we try, we are unable to escape, cheat or run away from death. It is key to note that when Prospero challenges this guest they are both standing in the blue room, and then the guest walks through all the seven rooms (seven indicating the seven stages of life and the seven stages of man) to the black room, symbolising the last stage of life. Note too that this guest is seized when he is standing in "the shadow of the black clock," itself a symbol of time passing and the brevity of life. This all points towards the guest as being "The Red Death" itself, or death, that Prospero and his revellers were unable to cheat.

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In "The Masque of the Red Death," who is the stranger behind the mask?

The stranger behind the mask is the Red Death itself. Of course, the entire thing is metaphorical of the disease entering the supposedly secure protection of the fortress, and the relative safety of the party. Yet, Poe describes the stranger as:

"....tall and guant, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask...was made...to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse....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."

It was after the attendants tried to get the stranger, that they found out, with horror, that this figure is basically the representation of the red death itself they:

"...gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpselike mask...untenanted by any tangible form."

So, the disease entered the secluded place: Sometimes the enemy is in front of our eyes.

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Who is the shocking midnight guest in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

It is interesting that in such an environment of "infinite decorum" and "masquerade license" that any figure manages to evoke such responses of "terror, of horror, and of disgust." Yet we are told that the figure had "out-Heroded Herod" in his appearance, going beyond the bounds of what is acceptable and showing that it is always possible to offend everyone if you know how.

Let us consider how this guest is described:

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. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. 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.

What is so shocking and incredible about the appearance of the stranger is therefore his choice of disguise. As it says, the resemblance to a corpse would have been approved of by the assembled masses, but what is unforgivable is the way that the masked guest has deliberately disguised himself as a corpse that has been killed by the Red Death. To have such a reminder of what Prospero and the others have fled from and also to frighten them with what their future possibly holds for them is beyond the realms of acceptable social behaviour, which explains why Prospero is quick to react in the way that he does.

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Where does the stranger first appear in The Masque of the Red Death?

The stranger first appears at the masked ball the Prince Prospero has, he is noticed at the stroke of Midnight, the Prince becomes so enraged at the sight of this figure that he issues an edict that the stranger must be caught and hung at dawn.

The Prince is so enraged that someone would wear such a ghastly mask that he insists that the stranger be unmasked, but the sight of this creepy stranger frightens everyone so much that no one wants to touch him.  The Prince, himself, pursues him, determined to personally catch up with him as he travels through the seven rooms of the ball.

If you look at the character of the masked stranger in another way, you can say that it first showed up in the town where it killed so many which in turn led the Prince to flee from the city.  It is also interpreted that the ball and the whole fleeing to the country is really only a feverish dream that the Prince has as he is in the grip of the red death, or the plague, and that confronting the masked stranger, or the red death, results in the death of the Prince.

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