The Masque of the Red Death

DOG A. In The Masque Of The Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a devistating critic of a society that were trying to escape from missery and proverty. (tip: the title belongs to a short story) B. He was speaking of a society in which wealthy people would live good; have parties and spends money; while others were living in despereteproverty.

There is serious epidemic disease sweeping the nation and thousands of people have died in your city and the surrounding area. You are invited to go on a cruise until the epidemic has passed, but you can’t bring any of your family members or loved ones. Will you still go?

Napoleon Bonaparte said the following: Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined. Do you agree or disagree? Explain to what extent humans can and/or cannot control their fate. What must we understand before we can respond to this question?

Fate: --the supposed force or power that predetermines events --the inevitable events predestined by this force --a final result or consequence; outcome

DOG A. The Red Death stand for the misry afflicting the people, the Prince and his friends represent those people who were ignoring what was goin on around them and there fate was a sort of divine retribution. B. Poe clearly feels that people who behave that way deserved eternal damnation and the story is full with images of death and punishment.

The Mask of the Red Death

1. What is an allegory? • An allegory is a story intended to be read on a symbolic level. The characters, settings, and events are intended to have meanings independent of the action in the surface story.

2. Define connotative meaning. • The connotative meaning of a wordis what the word suggests beyond its literal dictionary meaning. It can help establish symbols.

3. What is the basic plot of this story? • Prince Prospero selects a group of his friends to live in a secluded place until the threat of the Red Death has passed. • He fails, however, when an uninvited guest appears at the masquerade party and all are infected with the disease and die.

4. What kind of person is Prince Prospero? • Prince Prospero is happy, dauntless, and sagacious. In other words, he is happy, fearless, and keenly perceptive. • He believes he can escape death and disease by removing himself from it. • His chief concern seems to be avoiding death and being as inconvenienced as little as possible while doing it.

5. How does the writer play on Prospero’s name? Who does he represent? • Prosperous means successful, wealthy, favorable. The name Prospero comes from the word prosperous, and the prince does appear to be all that the word suggests. • The prince could represent mankind and the nature of mankind to love material things/possessions.

6. What does the abbey symbolize? • An abbey is a monastery or convent, both of which are thought of as safe places. • However, the prince goes through great pains to have the gates bolted shut and fortified against anything undesirable. This is another example of how the prince is more concerned for his own health and discomfort than that of his people, whom he has left to cope alone.

Pay close attention to this wall surrounded the abbey. The wall serves as a social barrier between the poor and the rich. • Also, the iron bars are welded to shut in order to cheat death. By the end of the story, however, the iron bars closely resemble the bars of a jail cell from which the revelers cannot escape. (irony)

7. Name the different kinds of people that Prospero has invited to the security of the abbey. Collectively, whom do they represent? • He has invited his friends—knights and ladies of the court. These people symbolize the privileged members of a social order.

He has also invited buffoons, poets, ballet dancers, and musicians. These represent the privileges of the wealthy—entertainment, pleasure, irresponsibility. • Notice he calls them “appliances.” What does this suggests about Prince Prospero?

The Design of the Abbey

All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school. And then the lover,Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,Seeking the bubble reputationEven in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,In fair round belly with good capon lined,With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws and modern instances; • And so he plays his part. The sixth age shiftsInto the lean and slippered pantaloon,With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wideFor his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,Turning again toward childish treble, pipesAnd whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,That ends this strange eventful history,Is second childishness and mere oblivion,Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

11. List the color of each apartment and what each color might represent. • Suite 1—blue; faces east = beginning • Suite 2—purple ornaments, tapestries, and window panes = royalty. • Suite 3—green, including the windows;

Suite 3—green, including the windows = growth, life. • Suite 4—orange, furnishings and the light=anger. • Suite 5—white = purity, cleanliness.

Suite 6—violet=feminine, weak, dreams Suite 7—black; heavy, black velvet tapestries, black velvet rug, but blood-redwindow panes = death, evil. • The abbey is supposed to be a protective location, yet its maze-like design and narrow windows create an oppressive atmosphere. (oppressive = weighing heavy on the spirits or senses)

13. The number of apartments—seven—cold represent the Seven Deadly Sins. List them. Can any of these sins be detected at this ball? Explain. The Seven Deadly Sins are pride lust envy anger covetousness(wanting what others have) gluttony(eating too much; over-indulgence) sloth(laziness). Nearly all of these sins can be detected at this ball.

At the ball, “there was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust.” Several times in the story, the writer talks of their determination to not be bothered by the things happening outside the abbey.

14. What effect does the clock have on the revelers? • The musicians stop playing and the dancers stop dancing. The crowd grows pale and some even pass their hands over their brows as if they might be dreaming. • In these paused moments, the people are reminded of passing time and their inability to stop time.

15. What does the clock represent? • The clock is gigantic, heavy, and chimes loudly. All of these symbolize something lasting and important, something to which attention must be paid, such as the passing of life.

The color ofebony also contributes to the symbolism. The clock represents the passing of time and their impending doom. • The clock serves to remind them that time is still passing and life continues to march to its end.

16. Compare life outside the palace with the life of the people Prospero brought inside the palace. • Outside the palace, people are suffering and dying. There is no frantic denial of death; it isvery real to them. The people outside the walls are experiencing it and grieving.

Inside the palace, the people are in denial. Not only do they deny that people are dying outside of the gate, but they deny that they, themselves, can be touched by this disease and die.

13. Why does the visitor frighten the guests? Who is the visitor? • The visitor’s appearance so resembles a dead man touched by the disease that the guest are frightened. Most probably, the visitor is the Red Death.

The palace is fortified so that nobody can enter or leave, so the visitor must not be human; this adds to the character’s symbolism as the Red Death. And, he has been there all along. • Another ponderous point: the abbey was meant to be a closed space, but the stranger is still able to get in, thus suggesting that control is an illusion.

What is the allegorical lesson in this in this story? • Poe is showing that death or fate cannot be avoided. • The conflict is man vs. fate. • The theme is that one cannot outwit death.

This story is a brilliant portrayal of the vanity of the rich and powerful and their illusions of invulnerability. In the climax, Prospero learns that wealth and privilege will not shield him from death.

The Masque of the Red Death