Edgar Allan Poe – The Masque of the Red Death
Recall questions
1. What was happening around the kingdom that caused Prince Prospero to gather
1,000 of his subjects into his castle?
2. Which details prove that the “Red Death” was a horrible plague?
3. How many rooms were in use during the masquerade? List them and their respective
setting and colors.
4. What causes the orchestra to stop playing? Why?
5. How long do the revelers party? Once the masked figure enters, how long until
they’re all dead?
6. Why did Prospero get angry at the masked figure’s entrance?
Science in Literature
What was the “red death” or consumption and why were people so afraid of it?
Interpreting
7. Compare life outside the palace to life inside during the masque.
Outside
Inside
Symbolism
6. What could each room in the castle represent? EXPLAIN!
7. What does the masked figure represent in the story?
8. What does the ebony clock represent in the story? And fire? Explain.
9. How does this story relate to Poe’s life?
10. What is the significance of the number seven in the story? (LOTS!)
Irony
11. Explain the irony regarding Prince Prospero.
12. Explain the irony regarding the story itself.
Theme
13. What is/are the themes in the story? Explain.
Deeper meaning
14. Why is everyone avoiding the black room with the red window? What makes
everyone go into that room at the end of the story and what happens to them?
15. “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.” Explain what this means.
Tone
17. Poe sets the tone of the story right away. Find words (seven) that help you figure out
the tone of the story, list them, and then choose a word that you think describes the
overall tone of the piece and tell me (explain) why you think so.
Allusion (references to important people or places from the Bible, mythology or
history)
16. Does that line about the Red Death coming "like a thief in the night" sound familiar?
Where does that line come from and how does that reinforce the tone of the story?
Author’s purpose
18. "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all"
Is Poe working at telling us something? What is it?