Characteristic Of Prince Prospero in The Masque of The Red Death

Within Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Masque of the Red Death" story, Prince Prospero comes out as an immodest character. To this end, Prince Prospero decorates seven party apartments with large amounts of gold. Moreover, Prince Prospero attempts to attack a strange guest who shows up at a sealed off party event. In addition, even though he seeks to escape a calamity, Prince Prospero ferries a troop of entertainers to his abbey. This essay analyses "The Masque of the Red Death" to highlight Prince Prospero’s immodest personality based on the following behaviors: Prince Prospero decorates seven party apartments with large amounts of gold; Prince Prospero attempts to attack a strange guest who shows up at a sealed off party event; and Prince Prospero ferries a troop of entertainers to his abbey hideout.

Given that Prince Prospero decorates seven party apartments with large amounts of gold, Prince Prospero highlights his immodest personality. In light of this idea, it is instructive to bear in mind that these seven apartments are only meant to accommodate Prince Prospero’s party for a single day.

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This is because, even though Prince Prospero resides within his secluded hideout for at least five months, he only uses these seven apartments to host a single party event (Poe, 1842). Given this fact, a reader would validly argue that, by using much gold to decorate these seven apartments, Prince Prospero illustrates his immodest personality. Considering that he uses these rooms for a single party event, Prince Prospero does not need to use this much gold in making decorations.

The fact that gold decorations are scattered all over each of the seven apartments thus illustrates that Prince Prospero is unable to control his impulses. Consequently, Prince Prospero has an immodest personality.

In addition, Prince Prospero attempts to attack a strange guest who shows up at a sealed off party event, thus illustrating his (Prince Prospero’s) immodest personality. While appraising this situation, it is important to note that Prince Prospero has welded the gates to this party venue shut. Consequently, no one can leave or enter this party venue. Further, neither Prince Prospero nor the thousands of fellow revelers can identify this strange guest (Ibid.). It is thus clear that this strange guest is alien to Prince Prospero’s kingdom. Given this information, Prince Prospero should treat the strange guest with caution; this guest evidently has some supernatural powers. Nevertheless, Prince Prospero attempts to attack this strange guest; Prince Prospero draws his sword and menacingly walks towards this guest (Ibid.). Thanks to this behavior, Prince Prospero illustrates his immodest personality. If he were not immodest, Prince Prospero would treat this strange guest with caution.

Considering that, even though he seeks to escape a calamity, Prince Prospero ferries a troop of entertainers to his abbey, Prince Prospero illustrates his immodest personality. In this regard, a devastating plague has stricken Prince Prospero’s kingdom and killed half of his subjects. To evade this plague, Prince Prospero flees to his abbey together with a thousand favorite individuals. Despite this dire situation, Prince Prospero ferries dancers, clowns, and musicians to his abbey (Ibid.). In light of these circumstances, a reader would validly hold that Prince Prospero is immodest. Such immodesty causes Prince Prospero to disregard the fact that his presence at the abbey has been dictated by a troubling situation. Prince Prospero thus brings a troop of entertainers to this abbey hideout. If he were not immodest, Prince Prospero would not bring these entertainers to his abbey.

In conclusion, within, "The Masque of the Red Death”, Prince Prospero illustrates immodest conduct in several ways. For instance, Prince Prospero decorates seven party apartments with large amounts of gold. Further, Prince Prospero attempts to attack a strange guest who shows up at a sealed off party event. Moreover, Prince Prospero ferries a troop of entertainers to his abbey hideout. It would be prudent to find out why Poe depicts Prince Prospero, a royalty figure, as an immodest character.

Works cited

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