The masked figure appears suddenly at twelve midnight. Neither Prospero nor any of his guests had noticed this figure prior to this moment. The guests are initially disapproving, and then quickly move to feelings of terror and horror.
Even though there are many people dressed up, this figure stands out. The narrator says he "out-Heroded Herod." This is a reference to the Biblical figure Herod, but also a nod to Hamlet, in which Hamlet mocks the actors for being too dramatic. In short, the figure conjures the image of an unsavory and dramatic character.
The mask itself looks quite similar to that of a "stiffened corpse." He also has the signs and symptoms 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.
The masked figure looks like a victim of the red death. The red death is precisely what the guests are trying to escape and (selfishly) ignore. Prospero orders his guests to unmask the figure. They make an initial move, but stop, too terrified to approach. Prospero dies when trying to confront this personified Red Death. The guests finally confront him, only to find the figure has no tangible, physical form under the disguise. The figure had been like a ghost or perhaps a collective hallucination on the part of Prospero and his guests. From the reader's perspective, the figure might also be a metaphor. In other words, his personified form is Poe's way of giving death a willful, maniacal presence.
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