Analysis Of The Masque Of The Red Death

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Hundreds of people thought that they were being isolated from a deadly contagion, but it had seemed to find another form of an entrance. “The Masque of the Red Death”, was written by Edgar Allan Poe, a poet from the mid-1800’s, with a wife who had tuberculosis. The short story begins with a lengthy description of the pestilence, which can be interpreted as tuberculosis, that has infested the fictional country. The wealthy Prince Prospero decides to house a thousand of his friends, in order to keep them safe. The artistic home of this Prince has seven rooms, each decorated with a separate color. After five or six months of being sheltered from the contagion, Prince Prospero decides to throw a masquerade ball. As the party progresses, the large ebony clock in the black room chimes, on the twelfth chime, a new guest appears. The rooms turn silent as the ghost of the red death slowly walks through, the fearless Prince Prospero follows …show more content…

The exposition of the story clearly states that the prince thinks that the “external world could take care of itself” (Poe, para 2). As a ruler of an entire country, he seems to not care about all of its tenants. When the Poe explains that the prince took in a thousand of his friends, it gives off the illusion that the prince is unselfish. After reading the first few paragraphs, it is noticeable that the prince included “buffoons… improvisatori… ballet-dancers… musicians… [and] Beauty” (Poe, para. 2), but he did not include his peasants. The prince included a thousand of his, so called, friends who were hand picked. He made the invitations into his castle exclusive because he cared about himself and those he deemed important. Prince Prospero rules a country, he does not just rule one thousand people, therefore, he gives the illusion of unselfishness but he is just another example of a selfish

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