Exposition: Poe uses the beginning of the story to offer important background information; Prospero's kingdom is under attack from the Red Death, and Prospero locks his friends and himself into his castle to escape the plague.
Inciting Incident: Prospero's decision to hold a masquerade ball starts the main conflict between he and the Red Death in motion.
Rising Action: The description of the rooms, the chiming of the clocks, and details of the party increase the tone of anxiety and fear in the story. The conflict intensifies when the mummer (mummy) dressed as the Red Death appears and angers Prospero. Prospero's decision to chase him when the other knights in the castle back away from the unexpected guest in fear leads to the climax.
Climax: Prospero has reached the point of no return when he falls dead while attempting to kill the mummy.
Falling Action: The knights must react to Prospero's death in the climax of of the story and they pull the sheet off the mummy only to find nothing there. They all fall dead.
Resolution: With all the knights and Prince Prospero dead, the conflict is resolved as the Red Death takes complete control of the kingdom.
Symbols
The ebony clock: The clock symbolizes the passage of time, the onset of death, and the life of the party goers (revellers). Poe builds the symbol by giving details on how the party stops and the partiers get nervous every time they hear the clock chime, and he finishes the meaning of the symbol when he states "And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay." The clock stops when life stops.
Prospero: The king was prosperous by having lots of money, food to eat, and a nice house to live in. His life was funfilled and he enjoyed it very much. He was so prosperous that he thought he could cheat death and live forever.
East and west: The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In the Masque of Red Death it symbolizes Prospero's life and death.
Abbey: He locked himself inside the abbey to save himself so that he wouldn't die from the plague that was being carried around on the people. An abbey is used by monks to help and save people, but he used it to exclude him and get away from people.
Room Colors: Room colors set the mood for the readers. Bright and colorful colors were more positive then the dull and negative colors. The more dark or dull a color is the more people feel afraid, scared, or whatever the author is going for. Bright and colorful are usually for a more cheery mood. Since the first room was blue; it stood for innocence. The second was purple; mourning. The green room, symbolizes life and growth. Orange stands for pride. White symbolizes winter. Violet is considered the twilight, right before dusk. Last, black stands for darkness, death, night.
Irony
a. Prospero locking himself in the abbey: It's ironic that abbeys are used for monks to come and pray and help people. In this story, Prospero excludes himself from everyone else and does the exact opposite from helping people.
b. Description of Prospero: Prospero was described as "happy and dauntless and sagicious." Dauntless means fearless. Sagicious means wise. Prospero cannot always be happy, as he can not escape death. At first he fears the mummer, and his decision to try and escape death turns into a situation where he chases death and allows it to kill him.
c.Prospero: Prospero's name is an obvious allusion to the word Prosperity or Prosperous: the condition of being successful or thriving; especially : economic well-being. While Prospero is thriving at the beginning of the story, Poe creates irony when the Red Death is able to sneak into the party and kill the "most prosperous" man in the kingdom. Although Prospero thinks he is wealthy enough to escape death, he isn't.
Charecterization
Prospero was selfish and greedy. He didn't want to share his life with anyone which is why he locked himself away from everyone that were dieing. Prospero is also ignorant and has a huge amount of Pride and ego. Prospero had hale friends and light-hearted friends.The hale friends are just sort of like aquaintances. The light-hearted ones don't really care about anyone but themsleves, just sort of do whatever.