ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Poe uses allegory as a tool in order to convey both literal and symbolic meaning throughout the telling of the story, for example with the masked phantom that is literally the plague and symbolically the proof that you cannot escape death.

Detailed explanation-2: -The masked figure is the dark judge who brings death to Prospero and his friends. Blood, established as an enemy from the start, is the source of the pestilence that led to Prospero’s arrogance and eventual downfall.

Detailed explanation-3: -We can read this story as an allegory about life and death and the powerlessness of humans to evade the grip of death. The Red Death thus represents, both literally and allegorically, death.