You have asked a question that identifies how crucial the
setting is to the story. The rooms where the masquerade ball is set are symbolically key
to understanding what is happening and going on as the revellers pass the night in
diversion whilst the Red Death is laying waste to the land around the castle. Consider
how the text describes their layout:
There were seven - an imperial suite. In many
palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight vista, while the folding doors
slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is
scarcely impeded... The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced
but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty
yard, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each
wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued
the windings of the suite.
It
is key to note as well that the rooms run from East to West, with the final room being
the black room. Note that against the Western wall of this room there is placed a giant
ebony clock. Of course, as the sun rises in the East and sinks in the West, this room is
symbolic of death, and thus it is entirely appropriate that the Red Death chooses to let
himself be discovered in this room. Hope this helps with how crucial the setting is to
this excellent story!
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