The story’s "Part 2" or climax unfolds as a terrifying chase through the seven colored rooms, which scholars at SparkNotes identify as a symbolic journey from birth (the eastern blue room) to death (the western black room): The Masque of the Red Death - The Poe Museum

In the haunting conclusion of Edgar Allan Poe's " The Masque of the Red Death ", Prince Prospero’s elaborate attempt to wall out mortality reaches its chilling end. Despite his wealth and his fortified abbey, the personification of the plague infiltrates the masquerade ball like a "thief in the night". The Final Movement