Protagonist Versus Antagonist in Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”
Prince Prospero (from eNotes)
Prince Prospero is the central character of "The Masque of the Red Death.’’ Despite the plague of the Red Death
which rages throughout his country, the Prince ignores the suffering of others and invites ‘‘a thousand friends’’
from his court to seal themselves in an abbey of his castle in order to protect themselves from the pestilence. 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. In all of his
arrangements, Prince Prospero's taste is extravagant and "bizarre." When the mysterious figure bearing the
masque of the Red Death appears at his masquerade ball, the Prince demands that he be unmasked and hanged
‘‘at sunrise.’’ Yet, while his guests shrink in horror from the figure, the Prince, carrying a dagger, pursues it
through the first six rooms to the seventh. When he confronts the figure, the dagger drops from his hand and he
falls to the floor, dead.
(from text)
Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. (Poe, 1)The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a
fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery, and his
conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers felt
that he was not. (Poe, 2) He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the seven chambers,
upon occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the
masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. (Poe, 2) Prince Prospero…was a bold and robust man… (Poe, 3)
The Masked Figure (from eNotes)
The ‘‘masked figure’’ that appears at Prince Prospero's costume ball is the most illusive ‘‘character'' in the story.
Upon the stroke of midnight, the guests first notice this ‘‘masked figure,’’ who is ‘‘tall and gaunt, and shrouded
from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave,’’ and looks like the corpse of a body afflicted by the Red
Death, its face ‘‘besprinkled with the scarlet horror.’’ Prince Prospero orders that the figure be unmasked and
hanged at dawn, but his guests refuse to unmask him. 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 masked figure turns out to be The Red Death itself. It had crept into
the sealed abbey "like a thief in the night.'' The last line of the story indicates that the Red Death has triumphed
over life: "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.’’
(from text)
The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which
concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest
scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not
approved, by the mad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume the type 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. (Poe, 3)