The Masque of the Red Death The Setting

“The Masque of the Red Death”

The Setting: An abbey

is an abbey, or The Setting monastery, converted by the rich Prince Prospero into a private palace and banquet hall. The time is the Middle Ages

The Setting: An abbey

The Setting: An abbey

The Plague is usually associated with the worst contagion to hit Europe before the 20 th century— the Black Death — which, in the mid-14 th century, killed roughly one-third of the

The Plague Its spread: 13471351

came from a The Plague bacterium now named Yersinia that normally lived in the pestis bloodstreams of fleas, which, in turn, lived on black rats.

The Plague When the rats died, the fleas had to find new homes — humans — and a new food supply —human blood. When fleas bit people, they passed along the bacteria — the same

in human hosts infected the (such as this modern victim) lymph nodes, causing black swellings, called buboes. From this symptom came the disease’s common names: Black Death and Bubonic Plague. The Plague

The Plague Once infected, without modern antibiotics, medieval victims stood a 90% chance of dying within a week.

The Plague Poe’s version of this illness — the “Red Death” — does not strictly correspond to bubonic plague. He combines it with tuberculosis, which killed several family members, and plays up the bloodiness of the disease. For dramatic

The Plague Poe’s version “… The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. ” From “The Masque of the Red Death”

in the Middle The Plague Ages had no effective cure. Doctors tried to treat it by lancing the buboes.

The Plague millions, , either way, killed

The Plague Prince Prospero, was not hanging around for the Red Death to take him. He had other plans…

The Plan Before the Red Death arrived, Prospero planned to be elsewhere — specifically, in his converted abbey, with all that extra room.

The Plan ”a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court. ”

The Plan … including the requisite musicians, jesters, jugglers, and other

The Plan . . . then the doors could be welded shut, and the abbey could become a fortress …

The Plan After five or six months, the Prince decided that the plan needed to be expanded — that what he really needed, as a diversion, was a fancy costume ball. He needed a masque.

The Masquerade So the guests prepared their costumes. . . “There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm …

The Masquerade “… There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, …”

The Masquerade . . . and the ball began. And it was a success — up to a point, anyway —

The Masquerade

The Masquerade

Comprehension Check Why does Prince Prospero close himself and his courtiers off in the abbey? 2. Why does the masked figure’s presence cause such a sensation? 3. What happens to the prince and the revellers? 1.

Summary Prince Prospero invites a thousand lords and ladies to escape death by living luxuriously in his castle until the pestilence passes. l To entertain his guests Prospero hosts a masquerade party that takes place in seven halls, each a different color. l

Summary At the stroke of midnight, a tall figure in a blood-splattered burial costume appears. l Prospero demands that his friends seize the intruder, but everyone is frozen with fear as the stranger slowly walks through the rooms. l Finally, Prospero rushes after him into the black seventh room. l

Summary l When the intruder turns, the host falls dead. l The revelers then grab the stranger but find the costume empty. l All soon die of the Red Death.

Literary Term: Gothic Elements Supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action High emotion, sentimentalism, but also pronounced anger, surprise, and especially terror Use of words indicating fear, mystery: apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror, fright, fainting

Literary Term: Allusion &Reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event &Best sources are literature, history, Greek mythology, and the Bible &Serves to explain or clarify or enhance whatever subject

Allegory: A Story Behind a Story An allegory is a narrative that is really a double story. One story takes place on the surface. Under the surface the story’s characters and events represent abstract ideas or states of being, things like love or freedom, evil or goodness, hell or heaven. l To work, an allegory must operate on two levels. On the level of pure storytelling, an allegory must hold our attention. Its characters must seem believable and interesting enough for us to care about them. On the allegorical level the ideas in the story must be accessible to us. As you read, you should find that the allegorical level of the story gradually begins to strike you. l See if you find that Poe’s story of arrogance and death hooks you on both levels.

Literary Term: Symbol ÑSomething that is itself and yet also represents something else ÑUniversal symbols embodying universally recognizable meanings ÑInvested symbols give symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work ÑSymbols are very common in literature

Symbols l Symbols are people, places, events, or things that stand for ideas larger than themselves.

Symbolism l What symbols do you see in this story?

The Seven Rooms l Blue- East, windows the same color l Purple- windows the same color l Green- windows the same color l Orange- windows the same color l White- windows the same color l Violet- windows the same color l Black- West, blood-red windows

Other Symbols & Meanings 1. 2. 3. 4. The Ebony Clock The Masquerade Ball Plague(The Red Death) The Uninvited Guest

The Seven Rooms: What do they symbolize? l Where l East l Which does the sun rise/set? & West color symbolizes death? l Black l. A day can represent a person’s life… l Sunrise is birth l Sunset(or night) is death

The Ebony Clock: What does it mean? l Time… running out? l Mortality in death – time running out eventually ending

The masquerade Wearing masks, anonymous… could represent everyone o People trying to hide themselves from the plague o

The Plague l The inevitability of death l The unknowingness of when death will occur l The randomness of death

The Uninvited Guest? l. A representation/personification of death (specifically The Red Death) that comes to kill Prince Prospero and the rest of the nobles.

This powerpoint was kindly donated to www. worldofteaching. com http: //www. worldofteaching. com is home to over a thousand powerpoints submitted by teachers. This is a completely free site and requires no registration. Please visit and I hope it will help in your teaching.