Pages

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Masque of the Red Death

1. Describe the internal and external workings of the Protagonist (Prince Prospero).

2. Why does Prince Prospero voluntarily isolate himself?

3. Who does Prince Prospero invite to his great fete?

4. Describe Prince Prospero's great fete and the physical description of each of the seven apartments (chambers).

5. Who is the villian and how does he represent the "repressed emotions" of Prince Prospero?

14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allegra, Ari, Kuhen, Grigg

    1. He is paranoided about the "red death" or plague that is going around town. He is materialistic and a little full of himself. He only includes his rich best friends and leaves the rest of the town to die. He only wants save his friends. He wanted the party to be perfect and was really angry when the masked man interupted it, threatening to arrest and hang. In the story it says, "...Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious.

    2. Prince Prospero voluntarily isolates himself to escape the plague going around.

    3. All of his best friends that are rich and noble. He excludes the majority of his kingdom. In the story it says he included the courtiers.

    4. The chambers are described in the book: "It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade... There were seven-an imperial suite...The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened...The second chamber purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple..." Each room was completely covered in a single color so as you walked through the fete it looked like a rainbow. In the corridors: "there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly ilumined the toom." There was also a large clock in the last room that rang with every hour and made an erily sound.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Grigg-

    5. The villain is the masked figure, which symbolizes the red death, and he represents the repressed emotions of Prince Prospero by bringing to the Prince his worst fear, contracting the plague. The masked figure represents the plague by running through the halls and making a grand entrance, captivating alls attention, and then striking the Prince down in front of all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. grigg- more for question #5
    5. Prince Prospero is trying to repress his mortality because he considers himself larger than life. He wants people, including himself to think he is immortal. He is so arrogant that he thinks he can buy his immortality with all his money. He fears his own mortality. The red death represents this because it comes to prove to Prince Prospero and all the revelers that no one can escape death. It takes the Prince’s life, extinguishing any idea of immortality. The prince thinks he can outsmart death and the plague. He is testing the waters of death.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Grigg- addition to question #1

    He is very arrogant in the fact that he thinks he can buy his way to immortality

    ReplyDelete
  6. Allegra-Extended Answers for some of the questions



    1. Describe the internal and external workings of the Protagonist (Prince Prospero).
    Prince Prospero is a hedonist. A hedonist is someone motivated by desires. Prince Prospero is a hedonist because he believes that pleasure is a form of goodness. He ignores the fact that people are out dying and chooses to have a party. He would rather have fun and forget about reality and his mortality. Since he is a wealthy man, it is easy for him to be motivated by his desires and get what he wants.




    4. Describe Prince Prospero's great fete and the physical description of each of the seven apartments (chambers).
    The seven chambers start from the east (life) and end in the west(death). They are blue-blue because babies are blue, no oxygen, purple, green, orange, white-purity, white wedding, violet-calm color, content, and then black, darnkess and death and red windows. Because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the blue room in the east symbolizes life and youth, and the black room represents death and mortality. The black room has an ebony clock whose chimes quiet down the party because it reminds them that their lives are timed. Red Death is symbolic of mortality, when you’re in the blue room of youth you are not aware of death. The Red Death appears in the blue room because it represents youth and birth, where most everyone believes that they are immortal. When he faces the Red Death, the prince is enraged, and chases the Red Death with his dagger. He demands to know who the masked person is. When he drops the dagger he dies, therefore the dagger represents his power.


    5. Who is the villian and how does he represent the "repressed emotions" of Prince Prospero?
    The prince is trying to repress his mortality. The Red Death represents it because the Red Death is ultimately the thing that will rid the Prince of his power and prove to him that he is mortal. The Red Death takes his "power" from him.

    ReplyDelete
  7. More Answers to the Question by Arianna Amini

    2. Prince Prospero isloates himself from society to avoid the Red Death/ plague. He feels that the more he isolates himself from the common man the lesser chance he is to have the plague. he feels that he is superior towards all and that the plague will not get to him

    3. He invites his select rich and powerful friends to his ball.


    4. The chambers in the ball are of 7 different colors. The colors went from blue, to purple, to green(reach out and explore but still under parents watch), to orange(sun hovering over, hasn’t completely risen adolescence), to white (leave our purity marriage), and then to violet(grounded content life). The last color was a mix of black and velvet-red(death). The chambers to the beginning of the house with the purple, blue and greens colors seemed to accompany the most guests. It is believed the guests wanted to avoid the colors of red, black and orange due to there dark meaning and symbols of the bubonic plague. If you keep thinking about it the chambers can also represent the circle of life. It symbolizes the beginning days of youth and innocent to the red and black days where death flashes before your eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Grigg, Kuhen, Ari, Allegra
    Final analysis of the 5 questions:

    1. Prince Prospero is arrogant and selfish, as he mocks the red death. He thinks he is very prosperous and higher than the rest of the community. He is bizarre. His friends do not like him for his personality but for his money. He strives to achieve immortality. He feels the red death is a joke and he pokes fun of it by throwing a masquerade ball, having all the guests wear masks. In the text it says, “…Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious” (pg. 256).
    2. Prince Prospero voluntarily isolates himself because he believes he is better than the rest of his dominion. He strives to reach immortality and locks himself in his kingdom, for fear he will catch the plague revealing his mortality. He throws a masquerade party making fun of the red death, having all the revelers wear masks because the plague scars victim’s faces. The farther he isolated himself the less of a chance his mortality would show.
    3. He threw a huge masquerade ball inviting noble courtiers and revelers. He surrounds himself with people of nobility and wealth just like himself. He excludes the majority of the kingdom, leaving them to die of the plague. He is very selfish in his pickings.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Grigg, Allegra, Ari, Kuhen
    Final of the 5 questions

    4. The chambers in the ball are of 7 different colors. The colors went from blue, to purple, to green(reach out and explore but still under parents watch), to orange(sun hovering over, hasnít completely risen adolescence), to white (leave our purity marriage), and then to violet(grounded content life). The last color was a mix of black and velvet-red(death). The chambers to the beginning of the house with the purple, blue and greens colors seemed to accompany the most guests. It is believed the guests wanted to avoid the colors of red, black and orange due to there dark meaning and symbols of the bubonic plague. If you keep thinking about it the chambers can also represent the circle of life. It symbolizes the beginning days of youth and innocent to the red and black days where death flashes before your eyes. The seven chambers are meant to symbolize the life cycle. The first room is blue and is meant to be like a baby when it first comes out of its mom, blue. The rooms immediately after this are all bright and vivid colors such as purple, green, and orange. These all symbolize childhood and young adult life. This is where most of the party takes place because all the guests want to be young again. The later rooms are white, violet, and black; these symbolize the demise of life and mortality of man. The green room is when you are a child just exploring the world; the orange room is like the sunrise and in adolescences almost to the adult world. The white symbolizes adult hood and the giving up of childhood (marriage). The violet is a peaceful state right before death, such as retirement. No one wants to enter these rooms and this is where Prospero chases the red death and eventually dies, in the black room. The Blue room is also farthest eastward whereas the black room is facing the west. This is in also the directions the sun raises (east) and sets (west) also greatly depicting life’s circle. There is an ebony clock in the black room, ticking down the lives of the revelers. This shows that mortality is temporal and everyone is going to die. Farthest away in the blue, purple, green, and orange room it is harder to hear that tick tocking of death and as they get closer they are more aware of their demise.
    5. He is trying to repress his mortality. The red death represents it because it is ultimately the thing that will rid the Prince of his power and prove to him that he is mortal. The red death takes his “power” from him. Prince Prospero is trying to repress his mortality because he considers himself larger than life. He wants people, including himself to think he is immortal. He is so arrogant that he thinks he can buy his immortality with all his money. He fears his own mortality. The red death represents this because it comes to prove to Prince Prospero and all the revelers that no one can escape death. It takes the Prince’s life, extinguishing any idea of immortality. The prince thinks he can outsmart death and the plague. He is testing the waters of death.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Grigg, Allegra, Ari, Kuhen
    Final analysis of 5 questions

    4. The chambers in the ball are of 7 different colors. The colors went from blue, to purple, to green(reach out and explore but still under parents watch), to orange(sun hovering over, hasnít completely risen adolescence), to white (leave our purity marriage), and then to violet(grounded content life). The last color was a mix of black and velvet-red(death). The chambers to the beginning of the house with the purple, blue and greens colors seemed to accompany the most guests. It is believed the guests wanted to avoid the colors of red, black and orange due to there dark meaning and symbols of the bubonic plague. If you keep thinking about it the chambers can also represent the circle of life. It symbolizes the beginning days of youth and innocent to the red and black days where death flashes before your eyes. The seven chambers are meant to symbolize the life cycle. The first room is blue and is meant to be like a baby when it first comes out of its mom, blue. The rooms immediately after this are all bright and vivid colors such as purple, green, and orange. These all symbolize childhood and young adult life. This is where most of the party takes place because all the guests want to be young again. The later rooms are white, violet, and black; these symbolize the demise of life and mortality of man. The green room is when you are a child just exploring the world; the orange room is like the sunrise and in adolescences almost to the adult world. The white symbolizes adult hood and the giving up of childhood (marriage). The violet is a peaceful state right before death, such as retirement. No one wants to enter these rooms and this is where Prospero chases the red death and eventually dies, in the black room. The Blue room is also farthest eastward whereas the black room is facing the west. This is in also the directions the sun raises (east) and sets (west) also greatly depicting life’s circle. There is an ebony clock in the black room, ticking down the lives of the revelers. This shows that mortality is temporal and everyone is going to die. Farthest away in the blue, purple, green, and orange room it is harder to hear that tick tocking of death and as they get closer they are more aware of their demise.
    5. He is trying to repress his mortality. The red death represents it because it is ultimately the thing that will rid the Prince of his power and prove to him that he is mortal. The red death takes his “power” from him. Prince Prospero is trying to repress his mortality because he considers himself larger than life. He wants people, including himself to think he is immortal. He is so arrogant that he thinks he can buy his immortality with all his money. He fears his own mortality. The red death represents this because it comes to prove to Prince Prospero and all the revelers that no one can escape death. It takes the Prince’s life, extinguishing any idea of immortality. The prince thinks he can outsmart death and the plague. He is testing the waters of death.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Grigg, Ari, Allegra, and Kuhen
    Final analysis of 5 questions

    4. The chambers in the ball are of 7 different colors. The colors went from blue, to purple, to green(reach out and explore but still under parents watch), to orange(sun hovering over, hasnít completely risen adolescence), to white (leave our purity marriage), and then to violet(grounded content life). The last color was a mix of black and velvet-red(death). The chambers to the beginning of the house with the purple, blue and greens colors seemed to accompany the most guests. It is believed the guests wanted to avoid the colors of red, black and orange due to there dark meaning and symbols of the bubonic plague. If you keep thinking about it the chambers can also represent the circle of life. It symbolizes the beginning days of youth and innocent to the red and black days where death flashes before your eyes. The seven chambers are meant to symbolize the life cycle. The first room is blue and is meant to be like a baby when it first comes out of its mom, blue. The rooms immediately after this are all bright and vivid colors such as purple, green, and orange. These all symbolize childhood and young adult life. This is where most of the party takes place because all the guests want to be young again. The later rooms are white, violet, and black; these symbolize the demise of life and mortality of man. The green room is when you are a child just exploring the world; the orange room is like the sunrise and in adolescences almost to the adult world. The white symbolizes adult hood and the giving up of childhood (marriage). The violet is a peaceful state right before death, such as retirement. No one wants to enter these rooms and this is where Prospero chases the red death and eventually dies, in the black room. The Blue room is also farthest eastward whereas the black room is facing the west. This is in also the directions the sun raises (east) and sets (west) also greatly depicting life’s circle. There is an ebony clock in the black room, ticking down the lives of the revelers. This shows that mortality is temporal and everyone is going to die. Farthest away in the blue, purple, green, and orange room it is harder to hear that tick tocking of death and as they get closer they are more aware of their demise.
    5. He is trying to repress his mortality. The red death represents it because it is ultimately the thing that will rid the Prince of his power and prove to him that he is mortal. The red death takes his “power” from him. Prince Prospero is trying to repress his mortality because he considers himself larger than life. He wants people, including himself to think he is immortal. He is so arrogant that he thinks he can buy his immortality with all his money. He fears his own mortality. The red death represents this because it comes to prove to Prince Prospero and all the revelers that no one can escape death. It takes the Prince’s life, extinguishing any idea of immortality. The prince thinks he can outsmart death and the plague. He is testing the waters of death.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kuhen

    1. He is selfish, self centered, rich, loves to abuse his power, and he is moral less.

    2.He thinks he is better than all the other people therefore he should not be around when the plauge spreads. Also he feels that he should not have to see all the sick people.

    3. He invites his closest friends and the only people he sees as worth saving. Also though these people are ones that will suck up to him and tell him how great he is therefore he wants them around him.

    4. His great feat is "trying" to avoid the Red Death however it still gets him in the end because he finds out he really is moral. The rooms are blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black.

    5. The vilian is the Red Death and he brings out the repressed emotions because he is the oppisite of the protagonist so he feeds on what makes Prospero uncomfortable and what he doesn't want to think about in relation to himself.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Arianna Amini
    FInal Analysis on Remaining Questions
    1. The prince's name, Prince Prospero is a play on words due to the fact that the Prince really does think he is prosperous. He thinks that since he is so wealthy he could never get the plague because sickness is for the poor and he is very rich.

    (Questions 2,3,4 ) are in an earlier post

    5. The villain being the red death brought out the fact that Prince Propero in reality was just like everyone else. He did not have super powers thta could save him from being sick, and when he did come about with The Red Death his repressed emotions were brought out making The Red Death the antagonist.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 2. He isolated himself to avoid the plauge but also he wanted to look like someone who was there for his friends and some they could count on.

    3. He invites his closest friends and people he thinks he would want to be alone with. Also i think he was hopeing that by haveing other people there the chance of him getting the plauge would be less.

    ReplyDelete