Dichotomy of Colors in The Masque of the Red Death In "The Masque of the Red Death", Poe uses sound, visual, and kinetic imagery to create the effect of fear in a joyous mask. Poe begins with a description of the "Red Death." He gives gory details about how he seals his fate with blood. It tells of pain, horror and bleeding. Furthermore, the plague quickly kills and drives away the sick. This is the image of Poe's death. He only cares about describing the symptoms. It does not enter into the fear present in the lives of sick people. He describes the scene of redness and blood dripping from the pores, from the face. His description of the pain of the afflicted also adds to the graphically explicit denunciation of the disease of the red death. The image of the red death is morbid and has a modern counterpart which helps Poe create a beautifully horrific scene. Many of the symptoms mentioned in Poe's Red Death fit modern Ebola. Both diseases are of unknown origin and attack rapidly causing severe bleeding. Just as Ebola turned African society upside down, the Red Death encourages the desperate Prospero to build iron gates to protect himself. This disease is intended to cause fear in people. Referring to the Red Death, Poe draws comparisons to an Avatar, an image sent by God. He implies a god who gave invincibility to the Red Death and condemns the victim to alienation from society and a painful death. Just looking at the description - imagining the scene - creates fear and horror. In contrast to the morbid images associated with the Red Death, Poe describes a group of happy people in disguise. The central figure among the joyful people is Prince Prospero who, as his name suggests, is prosperous and has a lot of entertainment. He's not worried because his wh...... middle of paper...... goes. That fear, manifested as the Red Death, "stood erect and still in the shadow of the ebony clock..." and all fell into death with its presence. Even the clock "went off with that of the last of the gays". Poe paints a dichotomy of bright, varied, and interesting colors contrasted with the dark black. These colors blend, although one may fight and try to protect itself from the other. Using aural and visual imagery, Poe introduces the reader to the clock, a symbol of time, lurking as an enemy waiting to unleash inevitable horror upon the masses. With this inevitable and explosive mixture, Poe paints a picture of happiness, cheerfulness and vivacity, which decays into the dark abyss of the last, black apartment. Works Cited Poe, Edgar Allen. "The Mask of the Red Death." The works of Edgar Allen Poe. Ann Arbor, MI: State Street Press. 482-487.