ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The tripods’ flames symbolize the lives of the revelers.

Detailed explanation-2: -More precisely, it’s a symbol of the passing of “the Time that flies” (5), and the inevitability of death. Its eerie chiming on the hour is a regular reminder to the revelers that their lives are drifting away with the time, and that death is approaching.

Detailed explanation-3: -In “The Masque of the Red Death, ” the ebony clock symbolizes the inescapable passage of time leading up to death. In literature, the color black is often connected to the idea of death. Further, the people are made uneasy as the clock strikes each hour, showing the passage of time.

Detailed explanation-4: -The rooms symbolize life; no matter what a person’s life looks like, it will always end in blackness, or death. In the case of the Red Death, life ends in darkness and in blood, represented by the blood-red windows. The symbolism is continued through the directionality of the rooms.

Detailed explanation-5: -Poe’s most prolific use of color in the story is his use of both red, which to him symbolized terror, horror, an ending of life; and black, which symbolized death and destruction.