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The Masque of the Red Death

by Edgar Allan Poe

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Prince Prospero's Character and Role in "The Masque of the Red Death"

Summary:

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," Prince Prospero is depicted as wealthy, arrogant, and naive, believing he can evade death by isolating himself and his aristocratic friends in a fortified abbey. Prospero symbolizes humanity's hubris and hedonism, as he indulges in lavish parties while ignoring the deadly plague ravaging his kingdom. His decorative rooms represent the stages of life, underscoring the inevitability of death, which ultimately claims him and his guests, proving that no wealth or power can escape mortality.

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What are Prince Prospero's character traits in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Aptly named, Prince Prospero is prosperous, or wealthy.  He is a "bold and robust" man whose wealth, strength, and power lead to his self-deception that he is powerful enough to defy the Red Death.  While Poe further describes Prospero as "dauntless and sagacious," his fearlessness and wisdom are, nevertheless, no match for the darkness and decay that the Red Death issues, an evil that holds "illimitable dominion over all."

When the "happy" Prospero learns that half of his kingdom has been decimated by the plaque, he summons to his "castellated abbeys" all the friends he has among the aristocracy of his kingdom, knights and ladies of the court.  There, behind ramparts that have been bolted, the guests and the prince seek sanctuary from the Red Death, and joyously hold a masked ball in a voluptuous scene.  However, Prospero, who has disregarded the requirements of good taste by creating rooms of dark and unusual colors, has given vent...

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to the grotesque and phantasmagoric, perhaps in defiance of the Red Death.  Into thisatmosphere a "spectral image" appears, and the prince at first shudders, but then being dauntless, "his brow reddened with rage."  Outraged that this spectre should dare to enter his fortress in what he believes is a "blasphemous mockery" of the Red Death, Prospero orders the impostor unmasked so that he can later be hanged.  When the courtiers hear this order of their prince, they hasten to see what is the cause, but they stop in horror as the spectre advances through each of the colored rooms. Angered at his momentary cowardice, Prince Prospero comes at this masked intruder with a dagger.  Suddenly, however, he cries out and drops the dagger; and, immediately after this, he falls in death, a victim to the invincible Red Death.  

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What does Prince Prospero symbolize in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

It could also be argued that Prince Prospero symbolizes hedonism and the human desire for pleasure. When the Red Death decimates his kingdom, Prospero's reaction is to gather together all of his friends in the abbey. As we see in the following quote, Prospero does not intend on ruminating about death or worrying at all about the plague:

The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine.

In other words, the Prince's priority is to have a good time and to not think about the realities of what is going on in his kingdom. All he cares about is entertaining his guests in the most splendid way possible.

At the end of the story, however, the Red Death catches up with Prospero and kills him. Through his death, Poe argues that pleasure is only a temporary distraction from the harsh realities of life. No matter how rich or how cultured, no man can escape death because death is an inevitability.

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Prince Prospero can also symbolize the superiority that man sometimes thinks he/she has.  Prince Prospero thought that by sequestering himself and his guests that he could somehow cheat death.  Only the higher social class was invited to his "ball," which represents how Prospero viewed this class as being more important than any others "below" it.  Prospero can also symbolize how out of touch the upper class was with the lower classes in society.  Perhaps Prospero and his revelers felt they deserved to live and the lower social classes did not simply because they had money and power.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.  Death affects all.

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Who does Prince Prospero represent in "The Masque of the Red Death?"

Prince Prospero represents humankind's pride, our arrogant and mistaken belief that we can somehow escape nature and cheat death.  The narrator says that "No pestilence had ever been so fatal [...]," and, yet, the prince believes that he is somehow above everyone else and can render himself (and his friends) immune to this terrible disease.  The Red Death has already claimed half of his kingdom, so "he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys."  He has the money and the ability to hide himself away, and so this makes him believe that he is somehow special, that he can remain immune to the disease.  His party is described as "voluptuous" with everyone in costume and rooms filled with "delirious fancies," "the beautiful," and the "bizarre."  The prince seems to think that he can hide from death by controlling his environment because he overestimates his own importance.

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What is Prince Prospero's solution to the red death in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Prince Prospero's solution to the red death is to run, hide, and ignore. He decides to take one thousand friends and lock them away in one of his fortified abbeys. This "castellated abbey" was surrounded by "a strong and lofty wall" with "iron gates." Once inside, the occupants, including Prospero, seal up the doors and weld them shut.

Inside, the structure had everything one could dream of, from food to entertainment. It seems Prospero felt if he locked himself away from the outside world, the red death could not get to him. From this moment forward, he chooses to pretend he is safe and that the red death does not exist.

However, this tactic does not work. One night during a festive ball, the crowd sees a masked figure walking through the colorful rooms. No one is able to recall where this person came from, and the sight of the mask, which looks eerily like the corpse of a plague victim, brings terror to the guests. At the end of the tale, it's revealed that this masked person is, in fact, the embodiment of the red death. One by one, the guests succumb to the disease and die.

Poe uses symbolism to convey Prospero's solutions. He uses the fortified palace to physically remove himself from the disease, believing that this barrier can protect him from death. He then uses the extravagant parties as a way to distract and avoid the reality at hand. However, the clock striking midnight reminds Prospero, his guests, and the reader that no one can run, hide, or avoid death.

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Why does Prospero decorate the rooms in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Poe's seven chambers in "Masque of the Red Death" symbolize the stages of life.  The first room is blue and is located in the east.  The sun rises in the east, signifying the birth of each new day as well as the birth of man.  Blue is a calming color that symbolizes the serene life of infancy.  The next room, purple, is a deepening of the blue hue mixed with the red of experience... this is childhood when the baby gains some experiences in life (learning to walk, talk, how to relate to the world around him).  As the child grows, the third (green) room could symbolize youth.  The child begins school, and his world experience grows and blooms.  The fourth room is the orange of angry adolescence.  The fifth is white, symbolizing new beginnnings as the adolescent begins his own life as an adult.  A wedding is a new beginning, and the bride traditionally wears white.  After the white room is the violet room, or a return to childlike ways in retirement and old age.  Retired people remember what it is to "play" now that they have earned the right after years of work.  At some point in old age, the person must be cared for much like he had been during his first visit to a purple room in childhood.  The final room (located in the west) is black, symbolizing death.  The clock in this room marks the passage of time, and its chimes can be heard in all the rooms, even in the east. This shows that death is ever present.

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Each room represents a stage in human life.  The colors begin bright and happy representing innocence and vitality and progressively become more somber to represent the slowing of body performance and function and the aging process.  It is similar to Shakespeare's poem "The Seven Ages of Man" where he describes seven typical roles—infant, schoolboy, lover (adolescent), soldier (young man), justice (middle age), old man, and finally the senile elder near death--for human life.  Colors all have meaning...check the following website to see how blues, greens, yellows, etc. might affect a person's mood and then compare it to the number in sequence to the seven stages of a man's life--does it make sense to you why the room is that color scheme?  How does it fit?

http://www.biopulse.org/color.html

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There are seven chambers in the abbey. Each room is decorated a different color and draped with lush fabrics and plush furniture. Some critics believe each room is meant to represent a decade from his life. The colors he uses for each room therefore would indicate his mental and physical health and attitude. The seventh room is black with red windows and a large clock. This seems to symbolize Prospero's death. Red is symbolic of blood and black for death. This room is in the west end of the house, as well, and the sun sets in the west. The clock could be symbolic of his lifespan. When the clock had stopped, everyone had died.

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Why does Prince Prospero hold a masquerade in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

A plague called the Red Death has taken lives for long enough that Prince Prospero decides that he must flee from the ravages of this disease. 

He gathers "a thousand hale and light-hearted friends" from among the knights and dames of his court, and they travel to one of his fortified abbeys where there are walls with iron gates. In this fortified place, the prince and his many guests surround themselves with as many distractions from the reality of death that they can.

In this allegorical tale by Edgar Allan Poe, the prince decides to have a masque in order to deceive Death and escape time. The guests dance and cavort wildly in a bizarre environment because the prince has "peculiar" tastes:

He had a fine eye for color and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric luster. . . There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm. . . much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible.

Yet despite these deceptions within rooms that are each of different color and decor, there arrives one whom none tried to arrest because a deadly terror seized the guests. Incensed that an intruder would dare to enter his abbey, Prince Prospero rushes through the six rooms to the last as the clock strikes midnight. When Prince Prospero looks upon the spectre, he convulses and utters a sharp cry as he falls in death, a victim of his own arrogance and pride. Death claims all--rich or poor.

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Why might some people think the prince is mad in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Prince Prospero is depicted as a bold, arrogant ruler who selfishly barricades himself and a thousand of his closest aristocratic friends inside his castellated abbey while the pestilence known as the Red Death wreaks havoc on the surrounding countryside. During the fifth or sixth month of their seclusion, Prince Prospero decides to hold an unusual masquerade in his seven-room imperial suite to entertain his guests. Poe proceeds to describe Prospero's affinity for the bizarre and grotesque as the prince specifically decorates each of the seven rooms in different colors, which symbolically represent the seven stages of life.

The atmosphere of Prince Prospero's masquerade is described as being gaudy, fantastic, and disturbing. The magnificent colors and effects of the rooms significantly contribute to the mood of the environment, which reflects Prospero's peculiar taste. Poe writes that the prince's conceptions "glowed with barbaric lustre," and some of his subjects thought that he was mad. Prospero gave specific instructions for his guests to appear grotesque and whimsical as they frequented the mysterious rooms during the masquerade.

The strange atmosphere of the ball and the unusual attire of the guests contribute to Prospero's reputation as a madman. Poe proceeds to describe the masquerade by writing,

There were 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. (6)

Overall, Prince Prospero's taste for the wanton, bizarre, and grotesque, which are on display during his unique masquerade, are the primary reasons some people view him as a madman.

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What decision does Prince Prospero make in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Prince Prospero decided to take a thousand of his closest friends and hole up in a castle to have a party.

The Red Death was a terrible disease.  It killed a person quickly and efficiently.   The disease was also highly contagious.  For this reason, Prospero’s people were dying left and right.  At this point, most leaders would have at least tried to help their people.  Prosopero was so selfish and arrogant that he had a better idea.

When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. 

He decorated the house garishly and magnificently.  What was happening was a constant party.  The castle was very well appointed and there was no reason for anyone to leave.  No one could get in, and no one could get out.

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

Prospero assumed that he was rich enough to escape death.  He gave no interest to his suffering people.  As their leader, he should have put his every effort into helping them, either by trying to end the plague or by aiding the sick.  Instead, he isolated himself and the wealthiest members of his kingdom and ignored his people.

The story demonstrates the arrogance of those who feel that they are above all consequences, including death.  Prospero cared only about himself.  He wanted to have a good time.  In the end, he died just the same.

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What is Prince Prospero's response to the crisis in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

In the story, the Red Death is a pestilence which has long plagued the country, leaving death and destruction everywhere it goes. Prince Prospero responds to this crisis by assembling one thousand of his friends from the surviving "knights" and "dames" of his court. Together with these friends, Prince Prospero travels to one of his "castellated abbeys," which is secluded enough to provide some sanctuary from the Red Death.

To ensure the most effective protection possible, Prince Prospero has built a strong wall around the abbey with a set of iron gates. The courtiers welded shut the bolts of the doors to make sure that nobody could enter or leave this place of sanctuary. It was, however, well-stocked with provisions to keep the Prince and his guests nourished and entertained.

The point of this extreme seclusion is to protect the Prince and his guests from infection, but, in an ironic twist, the Red Death is already inside and has come for the Prince himself. 

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Prince Prospero’s response to the plague is to have a big party for the wealthy in his kingdom, locking the poor suffering subjects out.

In order to distract them from the death and suffering outside their walls, the prince provides his guests with "all the appliances of pleasure,’’ and holds a masquerade ball after the fifth or sixth month. (enotes characters, third link)

The prince is “happy and dauntless and sagacious” (enotes pdf p. 4).  He does not care what is going on in the kingdom.  He is not sick, and as long as he can lock himself into his luxurious palace, his "extensive and magnificent structure” (p. 4), he is fine.  He spends his time and money on decadent parties instead of helping his people.

When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys. (p. 4)

The prince clearly saw the writing on the wall, and decided to protect himself and his friends and leave his people to die.

 Quotes from: http://www.enotes.com/masque-red-death-text

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What two words best describe Prince Prospero in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

If you are asking for two words that effectively describe Prince Prospero, the monarch who is the protagonist of this story, then it might be hard to narrow it down to only two. But if I were to choose only two words, they would be "arrogant" and "inventive."

Prince Prospero's arrogance is connected to his social position as a monarch who rules over the villagers who live nearby. He stages an elaborate ball in his fine castle, to distract the people of the kingdom from the fact that the horrible disease known as "the Red Death" is likely to infect and kill them all. The guests he invites are upper class and possessed of wealth, like the Prince himself. It is his arrogance that allows him to plan his social event without worrying whether anyone present is in danger of infection from the dreaded disease; because he believes that his wealth (and that of his guests), as well as his position of power, make him immune to the kinds of dangers experienced by people of lower social stature. This arrogance can be said to apply to the guests as well; on some level this story is a commentary on social class.

The prince is also inventive, because the event he creates is designed for dramatic effect and cleverly addresses the situation (i.e. the danger of the epidemic) without calling direct attention to it. Each chamber of his palace is decorated with a different color, and the walls, draperies and furnishings are all done in that color, including rooms entirely in green, blue, etc. The final room is done in blood red and is meant to remind the party-goers of the Red Death that waits beyond the castle walls, but that is presumably not present within the party itself. When a masked figure representing the Red Death arrives, Prospero angrily demands he be punished for his offense. However, even the rich and powerful cannot escape their mortality: the disease does indeed affect the guests and the event is marked by chaos and tragedy.

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What does Prince Prospero symbolize in Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"?

In this story, Prince Prospero seems to symbolize those people with wealth, status, or some kind of authority, who believe themselves to be somehow above or outside of those problems, such as the ability to die, that affect everyone else.  Despite the fact that there had never been such a deadly disease, a disease which had ravaged and taken half his kingdom, the prince still seems to think that he can somehow escape it.  The description of him as "happy, dauntless, and sagacious" is ironic when one considers that his happiness comes at steep a price (his integrity); further, one who runs away from one's kingdom and people can hardly be considered brave, and neither is he wise who believes that he can escape mortality.  

Prospero is rich enough to possess a castle far away to which he can retire and invite one thousand of his most carefree and healthy friends to attend him.  He can stock the abbey with all types of provisions, even welding the iron gates shut so that no one can get in or out.  However, his wealth and status cannot protect him from death; they do not entitle him to safety when everyone else is prone to disease and decay.  And in the end, he is not immune to death.

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Summarize "The Masque of the Red Death" from Prince Prospero's perspective. How does he view the red death?

If I'm Prince Prospero, as this character is described in Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Masque of the Red Death, I'm frightened of the plague sweeping the countryside, killing thousands of peasants. As Poe's unseen narrator notes, "No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous." The prince would know that those infected with this disease--a disease inspired by the real-life plagues of smallpox that ravaged much of Europe and parts of Asia in earlier times--would die horrible deaths. It is for this reason that Prince Prospero sought to isolate himself and 1,000 of his closest friends within the walls of his castle. It was his great mistake, however, to believe that stone walls could keep that pestilence at bay. Be that is it may, the prince was a "happy and dauntless and sagacious" autocrat who believed that he could 'ride-out' the plague in the comfort of his abbey, all the while being entertained and provisioned with copious amounts of wine. To quote the narrator, once again, "[t]here were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the 'Red Death'.” I, the prince, am convinced that I have cheated death.

I, the prince, am also a little eccentric, as evident by the design of my “imperial suite.” Each room is both shaped and decorated differently, with each assigned its own color scheme. There is one room that I have even decorated in black, with “scarlet window panes,” a particularly nice touch, if I don’t say so myself. That particular room, however, definitely gives off a more somber and even menacing vibe than the other, more gaily-decorated chambers. One could summarize the situation as follows:

“And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the firelight that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.”

After five or six months, I decide to host a huge ball for all of my friends and assorted hangers-on. There is, as expected, much merriment, as we have survived the plague that is causing millions now to die painful deaths outside my castle walls. In fact, we are doing quite well, and our revelry knows no bounds. Sure, there are those who may think me mad, but they’re pretty much at death’s door by now, as I wouldn’t deign to invite such critics into my sanctuary. The masquerade ball, however, is the ultimate in decadence:

“There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm—much of what has been since seen in “Hernani.” There were arabesque figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions.”

And, the big clock with the pendulum swinging back-and-forth and chiming at each passing hour even lends an air of mystique to the proceedings. It is strange, however, that, at midnight, the clock’s usual chime is met with a noticeable change in the tenor of the night’s entertainments. Something peculiar is happening. All of a sudden, my guests are noticing a “masked figure” who had previously “arrested the attention of no single individual before.” This strange figure is actually scary. Everyone is gazing upon him (it?) with expressions of “disapprobation and surprise—then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.” It actually appears as though this masked figure has disguised himself as the dreaded “red death” itself. Is he mocking me? Has my success in shielding myself from the plague inspired him to suggest that my impregnable fortress is anything but? This guy’s pissing me off. I have cheated the horrible fate that has befallen those beneath me, and this figure arrives to ridicule my guests and me? I shout at my minions, “Who dares . . . who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him—that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements!” I will not be mocked; I will attack him with a vengeance, my dagger I will plunge into his heart. He is heading into the seventh chamber, the one adorned in black, the image of blood streaming in through those specially-made window panes.

And, thus ends the prince’s narrative. As we know, having actually read Poe’s story, Prince Prospero drops dead then and there, the masked figure being revealed as the Red Death. How did the prince feel about the Red Death? He knew it for what it was, but he believed that, by walling himself off from the less-fortunate, who were dying by the million, he could survive, and survive in style. In a remarkable display of hubris, however, he convinced himself that the spread of a plague could be stopped by man-made enclosures. The problem, here, though, is that smallpox can be spread through bodily fluids, and through prolonged face-to-face contacts, and the prince and his friends were doing a whole-lot of that kind of stuff. My guess is that one or more of his guests unknowingly brought the virus into the castle and, what with all that debauchery, it spread through the morally-questionable use of those six chambers (not the black one, of course). The Masque of the Red Death is fiction, but the Red Death was not. Prince Prospero took it seriously, he merely underestimated its ability to spread within his castle walls.

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What is Prince Prospero's fate in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

Prince Prospero decides to respond to the frightening epidemic of the Red Death sweeping through the kingdom by holding a lavish masquerade ball and inviting the wealthiest inhabitants of the region. One of the guests is cloaked and masked as the Grim Reaper. This angers Prince Prospero, who wanted his ball to be a festive occasion. This mysterious guest causes discomfort and a vague feeling of horror among the guests.

The Prince had arranged for seven chambers of his palace to be decorated in rich colors, with draperies and furnishings matching the singular wall colors, with the last chamber of the seven being two colors: black walls and draperies with blood red windows. This last room gave the guests a chilling feeling of dread and many of them cannot even enter it without feeling unwell. It is in this last chamber where Prince Proposer meets his demise.

This occurs after he pursues the mysterious cloaked and masked figure. He finally corners him in that seventh chamber and raises a dagger; but then the prince collapses and dies. The guests learn the the mysterious figure does not even exist under the cloak and mask, and they too collapse and die, all consumed by the Red Death which Prince Prospero had hoped to shelter them all from.

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Why does Prince Prospero hide in his palace in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

A clue to the answer to this question can be found at the very start of this short story. The "Red Death", a hideous pestilence that causes bleeding, red stains, pain, and "dissolution" in its victims, has reached the Prince's country and is ravaging the inhabitants away. 

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious.

Here is the first important clue for your answer. Prince Prospero is someone who is aloof from reality and disengaged from his people. Therefore, he continues with life, as he knows it. In light of the devastation taking place, he decides to call up his friends from court and hide away from the disease in one of his abbeys. 

Prospero thought that the iron gates of the abbey, the provisions, and all of the precautions that he could possibly take were a way to avoid contagion. Moreover, since he was used to a plush and lofty life, he chose to make this a jolly occasion, complete with a masquerade to keep himself and the courtiers entertained. 

The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within.

In high contrast as to what was going on inside of the abbey, things were getting worse in the city. The pestilence had already been around for nearly six months, and was becoming worse than ever. 

Back inside, however, Prince Prospero had lavishly decorated the seven chambers of the abbey, and his eccentric and expensive tastes were evident in all of the sumptuous details that he considered. These included the large ebony clock, the drapes, costumes, and especially, the color of each room.

The lesson learned is that fate cannot be challenged, nor changed. Money and riches cannot be used to control life or death. Prospero used his power to escape from something inescapable. He thought that, by hiding from reality within the walls of a decorated abbey, he could escape it altogether. We know that, in the end, the Red Death comes for Prospero anyways. He will be a victim no matter what he tries to do. 

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What does Prince Prospero's death represent in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

In Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," although the "Red Death" has devastated the country, Prince Prospero feels himself "happy and dauntless and sagacious." In his arrogance of having wealth and position, the prince believes that he can girder himself and his court inside the ramparts of one of his "castellated abbeys."  Believing that this ancient fortress will prevent the Red Death from assaulting them, the court and the prince engage in revelries as they attend a masquerade.

Since the prince "loves the bizarre," seven rooms are each designed so that the guests cannot see into the other rooms; and, the stained glass windows are of the same hue as the room's decor.

The tastes of the duke were peculiar.  he had a fine eye for colors and effects.  He disregarded the decora of mere fashio.  His plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric luster....Ther were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm...There were delirious fancies such as the madman fahions.

Clearly, Prince Prospero is a unique man who fancies himself superior to others, his powers outside the range of others.  He is in control of the entire masquerade; that is, until he becomes aware of "a masked figure." But, is this figure who 'out-masks' the creative designer of the masque as the deception of the intruder is not marked until it is too late.  For, the enraged Prince Prospero who raises a dagger and arrogantly demands, "Who dares?" is assaulted by something more powerful: the Red Death. 

He who forbids the "ingress and egress" of his abbey; he who has created his own designs and merriment; he who is "dauntless and sagacious" is attacked by one more dauntless and knowing: the Red Death.  The death of Prince Propspero proves that nothing man-made can stop the terrible plague, not money or fortresses, or boldness.

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Why did Prince Prospero rush the masked figure in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

When the masked figure (whom I will now refer to as the Red Death as he is later discovered to be) first appeared, he struck fear into the hearts of all, including the heart of Prince Prospero. The Red Death's costume was almost an exact replica of a corpse - and not just any corpse, but one that had been killed by the Red Death. The appearance of the Red Death was horrifying enough to make Prince Prospero shudder either from "terror or distaste", though he soon became angry. He ordered the other people at the party to seize the Red Death and unmask him, intending to hang him in the morning, but even though people moved towards him, no one dared to touch him. This allowed the Red Death to walk right past the prince and continue on unhindered, so the prince, angered by his guests' reluctance and his own fear, rushed towards the Red Death with a knife. Unfortunately, his bravery ended with his own death, and then the deaths of all the other guests. 

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What is Prince Prospero's solution to the Red Death in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

The prince’s solution is to gather up all of his friends and have a big party.

Prince Prospero is in trouble.  There is a terrible plague ravishing his kingdom.  It kills quickly, often within thirty minutes.  By the time half of his people are dead, the prince decides to take action against the Red Death.  He throws a party for a thousand of his closest friends.

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

The prince locks himself and his courtiers inside his castle, and they all party.  They have celebrations of such splendor that everyone forgets about the horrible events occurring outside the walls.  The prince is so greedy and self-centered that he does nothing to try to save his people.  He just saves his friends.

Poe’s story of the embodiment of Death taking revenge on the greedy strikes a chord with modern readers just as it did when it was published.  Our leaders should protect us, lead by example, and sacrifice anything they can to help us.  When they don’t, they often get what they deserve.

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Is the Prince in "The Masque of the Red Death" a "madman" based on his actions?

There is a suggestion in the story that the Prince has gone mad due to the disease that he has contracted which has caused him to have a long detailed dream or hallucination which is the bulk of the story.

The Prince's hallucination in the midst of the desperate sickness which kills him, he imagines that he has escaped with his friends and gone to the country where they all remain healthy enjoying the fact that they have successfully locked the dreaded red death out of the dwelling.

The Prince is so happy that he gives a masquerade ball where all the rooms are decorated with different colors which are representative of the stages of life.

The Prince's behavior at this party, where he personally confronts the masked stranger, who happens to be the red death in disguise, this action alone suggests that he is mad, however when you look at this in the context of a hallucinatory dream it is easy to understand why the Prince would step up himself and play the hero, and here is the proof:

"The figure then retreats through all seven rooms of the abbey, pursued by Prince Prospero. When the figure reaches the seventh room, it turns to face the Prince, who falls instantly to his death. When the guests rush to seize the figure, they find that, beneath the corpselike costume, there is no "tangible form.''

The experience at the abbey with the 1000 friends must be a dream or hallucination that the Prince has due to his high fever.  How else do you explain the 1000 people being accommodated, fed and housed at the abbey?  It is not possible, not if the country is ravaged with disease, where would the food come from, the costumes, the decorations, how can he have a party in the middle of a serious epidemic?

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What is the character study of Prince Prospero in The Masque of the Red Death? Is he mad?

There is evidence that Prince Prospero is mad, and that he imagines the whole escape to the country with friends and the entire masked ball with the seven rooms.

He possibly is suffering from the red death himself and is delirious.

"It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad,that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence."(Poe)

If the whole country is suffering from a devastating pestilence, where did Prospero get the fancy food, the decorations and the unusual magnificence for the ball?  It would appear that it is a creation of his mind, decked out to his highest fantasy fueled by his feverish delirium from the disease that is taking his life.

Also, he passes through the rooms, and personally confronts the masked, uninvited guest, the Red Death.

"It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all." (Poe)

The fact that everyone dies at the ball, and that no one escapes the red death suggests that the Prince has dreamed his own death in an elaborate fantasy.

"And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all." (Poe)

The red death held dominion of all, even the Prince.

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What does Prince Prospero do to protect himself and his friends in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

In Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story "The Masque of the Red Death" the character of Prince Prospero, believing that he is capable of saving himself and his noble friends, "summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys." His intentions were to hide from the Red Death, a plague that had torn through the land and devastated the country. The Red Death was horrifying because of the way it killed its victims and the short amount of time it took between the victims' initial contraction of the pestilence to the time in which it killed them. Prince Prospero was essentially attempting to hide behind his wealth, thinking this could save him. He locked the doors to his fabulously bizarre fortress and tried to ignore the death that was taking place outside. 

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How does Prince Prospero invite death into his home in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

The Prince invites death into his home simply by virtue of his being mortal. Further, his proud belief that he can somehow render himself invulnerable to death is even greater reason for death to enter his home and take him.

When the prince retires to the abbey with one thousand of his healthiest and most amusing lords and ladies, he stocks the residence with enough supplies to last as long as necessary. "The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion." Thus, despite the fact that "no pestilence had ever been so fatal," the prince and his friends believe that they can hold themselves apart, that their fortune and position entitle them to life when half of the kingdom has already perished of this disease. The prince, especially, is incredibly proud and arrogant, and people who believe that they can escape death are always wrong. His pride makes him a ready target for death's attentions because death always wins, and it does not care about one's position or wealth.

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In "The Masque of the Red Death," how do Prince Prospero and his friends try to escape?

In The Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero gathers one thousand of his friends and flees with them to an abbey—and not just a regular abbey, but one that has battlements and protections against anyone (or anything) that might try to get to them while they are inside. It is also protected by a large wall with iron gates, which the guests weld shut so that they cannot get out, should they suffer from cabin fever. It was also filled with ample supplies; that way they would not have to leave and no one would have to come—thus minimizing their chance at being infected by the disease.

Inside the abbey, the prince had provided his guests entertainment in the form of jesters, comics, dancers, music, and wine. He also threw the masque that is the focus of this story: a masquerade ball of “the most unusual magnificence”. So, while his people were being terrorized by the fatal plague, he and his friends were living a life of blissful luxury, sequestered away from the Red Death.

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What measures does Prince Prospero take against the red death in "The Masque of the Red Death"?

In "The Masque of the Red Death," by Edgar Allan Poe, Prospero, the prince, despite the Red Death killing many of his subjects, feels as though he can protect himself from it. He brings into one of his "castellated abbeys," which is surrounded by a strong wall, a thousand healthy, "lighthearted" friends. The gates of the wall are made of iron, and Prospero has his courtiers weld the bolts shut so that nobody can enter or leave. He has enough food and drink to last a very long time, and among the people he has invited, he made sure to have musicians and dancers and jesters to keep everyone fed and entertained.

Prospero felt that with all of these precautions, he would keep the Red Death out and away from those who were inside.

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