Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story "The Masque of the Red Death" in 1842. Although only one character, Prince Prospero, is actually named, the story creates apprehension based on the descriptions alone and not on dialogues. The narrator is never named and this person's involvement in the story is a mystery. The narrator's ambiguity also helps build drama throughout the story. "The Masque of the Red Death" tells the story of a group of wealthy people who try to ignore and separate themselves from a terrible disease that is sweeping through their country. The disease is rapid and brutal and can cause death within 30 minutes. Infected people cry blood from the pores of their face and body, which causes a disturbing visual image. Poe uses setting and symbolism to reiterate to the reader that death is inevitable. Poe sets the scene by describing in detail the horrendous plague that is ravaging the nameless country. After the disease kills half the country's population, Prince Prospero decides to invite 1,000 of his friends, who are healthy, to lock themselves away with him in a castle. The location of the abbey is also not named. The absence of the location of the town or abbey makes the reader feel that the story could happen anywhere and makes it more personal. The name of the main character, Prince Prospero, also helps with the setting. Prosperous, of course, implies wealth, prosperity, and a fortunate place in the hierarchy of the system. While most of the country is dying, the prince wants to lock himself and his friends away and forget about the chaos occurring in the outside world. This is the foolish idea of ​​a rich person who thinks that his status in life and his money can save him from the plague. In the center of the paper… windows stained scarlet, the images are “horrible in the extreme” (Poe 517). Normally, a room would not be decorated in such a way that everyone is too afraid to enter. Therefore, the fear of space imitates man's fear of death. Poe's life was shaped by death and perhaps this influenced his writing. His mother had died when he was just three years old. After a long illness, her adoptive mother also passed away. Then, Poe's wife died of illness. These events in his life may have taught him that time is precious and that life is not eternal. No matter how much a man tries to ignore death, sooner or later we will all die. Tragically, Poe himself died under mysterious circumstances just as he was turning his life around and achieving success. The way Poe set the story and the symbolism used throughout the film made it clear that life is fleeting.