The Masque of the Red Death Group

Question:

dayi1292
dayi1292
Student
High School - 12th Grade

In Poe's "Masque of the Red Death," what has long devastated the country, and what is it exactly?

Rate question:

Posted by dayi1292 on Wednesday September 16, 2009 at 11:42 AM and tagged with poe, the masque of the red death.

Answers:


  1. scarletpimpernel Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Poe begins the story by writing that

    "THE 'Red Death' had long devastated the country."

    The phrase refers to a plague or epidemic.  It's a fatal, fast-advancing "pestilence" which causes its victims to bleed profusely from their pores--hence, the name of the disease.  When its victims show the symptoms of dizziness and red "stains" on their faces, neighbors shut their doors to them, and in a half hour the infirmed are dead.

    Poe, who normally uses insane narrators, premature burial, and torture chambers to horrify his readers, explores the fear of a more believable antagonist in this story.  While his readers would not have known about our more modern-day Ebola virus which causes the same type of bleeding as the red death, they would have truly been frightened by the thought of a biological villain such as a plague since many in Poe's time suffered from consumption (TB) or had knowledge of other plagues and pestilences.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/masque-red-death/summary

    Rate answer:

    Posted by scarletpimpernel on Wednesday September 16, 2009 at 12:20 PM