It is interesting that in such an environment of "infinite
decorum" and "masquerade license" that any figure manages to evoke such responses of
"terror, of horror, and of disgust." Yet we are told that the figure had "out-Heroded
Herod" in his appearance, going beyond the bounds of what is acceptable and showing that
it is always possible to offend everyone if you know
how.
Let us consider how this guest is
described:
The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from
head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was
made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest
scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have
been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so
far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in
blood--and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was
besprinkled with the scarlet
horror.
What is so shocking
and incredible about the appearance of the stranger is therefore his choice of disguise.
As it says, the resemblance to a corpse would have been approved of by the assembled
masses, but what is unforgivable is the way that the masked guest has deliberately
disguised himself as a corpse that has been killed by the Red Death. To have such a
reminder of what Prospero and the others have fled from and also to frighten them with
what their future possibly holds for them is beyond the realms of acceptable social
behaviour, which explains why Prospero is quick to react in the way that he
does.
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