7 Deadly Sins!

"That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue -- and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange -- the fifth with white -- the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet -- a deep blood color." (Poe)

This is exactly how Edgar Allan Poe describes the 7 color filled rooms word for word.

      Blue, Purple, Green, Orange, White, Violet, Black and Red.

These are the 7 rooms that some people, and Myself, seem to associate with the 7 deadly sins.

The story states directly that Prince Prospero has a love of the strange and bizarre that could support the idea that he would match his rooms to the deadly sins. Another supporting factor is that Poe uses biblical language throughout the entire story, which is where the sins originate from. Edgar Allan Poe gives allusion to the Red Death as an ‘antichrist, an inverted Christ, and how it “comes like a thief in the night”.

If you've been living under a rock and have no idea what the 7 deadly sins are, here:

Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Vanity

All 7 of these things are all taking place throughout these rooms during the ball.

What a small amount of people know though, is that on the opposite side of the 7 deadly sins, are the 7 holy virtues, things that counteract the sins. Things people are suppose to strive for, while avoiding the sins.

Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness and Humility

 You’ll notice after reading the whole short story, that Edgar Allan Poe makes it known that none of those are 7 virtues are happening inside the fortress.

To really understand how the deadly sins correspond to the 7 rooms, its best to break down each sin individually and relate it to the story... Lets do that!

1. Vanity - Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities, and setting one's heart on things of little value.
1. Prospero's belief that he is more powerful than death is a vivid demonstration of vanity.
2. Envy - The desire to have a quality, possession belonging to someone else.
1. It is unclear who the Prince might envy, but he sure is trying hard to impress someone.
3. Gluttony - Gluttony is the act of consuming more than is required.
1. Instead of using his means to protect more people, he lavishes his guests with "ample provisions" and "the appliances of pleasure."
4. Lust - Lust is an excessive craving for the pleasures of the body, usually associated with sex.
1. The era in which Poe wrote prohibited the explicit or implicit description of sex, but what do you think was going on at an anything goes party?
5. Anger - A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.
1. The Prince becomes angry with the uninvited guest and attacks it.
6. Greed - The intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food.
1. Although it is apparent Prince Prospero shares his wealth with a thousand guests, he helps those who need it least and withholds his substance from those in need.
7. Sloth - Sloth is the absence of work.
1. The prince seems like a hard worker; his work, however, is on the physical realm not the spiritual realm.

 It's not really stated that specific rooms stand for specific sins, and personally I've tried to

  sit down and correlate them to eachother and it just becomes too hard to do. Green could go with Greed and Envy...so I don't feel as if Poe was assigning colors to sins at all.

This is my favorite reasoning for the 7 rooms, There's no real reason behind it, I just have a strong like for the 7 deadly sins and looking at how people indulge in the seven.

 Work Cited for this Post:

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Masque of the Red Death." The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales. New York: Penguin, 1998. 145-51. 

Zimmerman, Brett. "The Puzzle of the Color Symbolism in "The Masque of the Red Death": Solved at Last?" Edgar Allan Poe Review 10.3 (Winter 2009): 60. Print