G. R. Thompson, in The Dictionary of Literary Biography, has pointed out that Poe was "the master of interior monologue of a profoundly disturbed mind." "The Masque of the Red Death" may certainly be read on a psychological level as just such an "interior monologue," the delusional nightmare of a madman. The narrator suggests several times that there may be reason to believe Prince Prospero is insane, and that the entire story is his crazy dream. If this is the case, then the narrator of the story may be Prospero himself, describing his own mad vision. This would explain why the narrator distances himself from the statement that Prospero may be "mad" by suggesting that it is only the opinion of "some" people, for he mentions that "there are some who would have thought him mad." However, the narrator just as quickly denies this assessment by calling...