Organization in The Masque of the Red Death       

"The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were

improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine.

All these and security were within. Without was the 'Red Death,'" (209). As Edgar Allen Poe set

the scene for his story, he also created an ominous mood and a sense of suspense supported by

the setting. He details the fun and amusement inside the prince's abbey, in contrast to the horror

and doom outside, and the reader's curiosity is piqued, because such bliss cannot be maintained

for long. Throughout the story Poe explicates and changes elaborate environments to build the

suspenseful energy and create a strong structure. In "The Masque of the Red Death," setting is

employed to organize motives and action, and to focus the reader on the climax. Poe targets the

culminating point of his story using rich descriptions of the abbey, the masquerade, and the clock.