Symbolism In The Masque Of The Red Death

Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Masque of the Red Death,” seems to be historically based on the pandemic of the black death, which its disease plagued and killed millions of people, in the 1800s. In the story, it seems that a royalty named, Prince Prospero has invited many lords and ladies to escape both the plague and death, by quarantining them in his mansion. To entertain his guests, he hosts a masquerade party, which is captured as the main setting of the story. An unexpected visitor shows up at Prospero’s party---his presence QUOTE deadly/he is the symbol of death and the plague. All of Prospero’s guests begin to become QUOTE, terrified, and uncomfortable in the proximity of this intruder. As the intruder begins to change the atmosphere of the party/mansion,

After the revelers, or guards, grab the “man”, they find his costume to be empty and also drop dead. Soon, all royalty and parties die due to the red death. QUOTE.
The allegoric meaning of the text presents itself through the underlining theme of the inevitability of death, and the fact that you cannot escape it. The people in the mansion, depicted in the story, were acquainted with royalty and were of the upper class. They also seemed to believe that if they all were together, in Prospero’s mansion, they wouldn’t contract the disease and die, as many commoners and civilians outside of the mansion were. This interpretation could also represent a potential societal divide/way of thinking of the upper class, as they believed they could simply quarantine and party in Prospero’s mansion, to stay away from the disease, while many people, outside of their class didn’t have the luxury of doing this, and had unfortunate fates. It seemed the visitor had different plans for the party and proved to them that the disease