Title: The Masque of the Red Death
Prince Prospero’s Abbey
It is dark, mysterious, sort of cynical
It talks about what the red death is and also talks about Prince Prospero and many other royal people going to his
abbey to try and avoid getting sick. It also describes the elaborate parties that the prince throws in his abbey.
Rising Action
Tells about the different colored rooms in the place, and how people fear the room with black decorations and red
windows and go silent when the clock chimes. It also goes into more detail about the parties that the prince throws.
Climax
At one of the parties that is thrown that is a masquerade ball, the people and the prince spot someone dressed as a
red death patient. The prince runs after the person to catch them because he is angered that they are mocking him.
When he catches it, however, he realizes that it is intangible because it is the red death itself, and drops dead almost
immediately,
Resolution
Everybody in the abbey dies soon after.
Flat/Round
Prince Prospero- he is a round character who is fond of extravagant possessions that are not necessarily something
he needs. He is sometimes thought of as crazy by people who do not know him well. He’s also selfish because he
only wants to share his amazing things with other people that are just as high in social status as he is.
The Red Death- it is a flat character, though it is not a person itself. It is highly deadly and an extremely ugly
disease, however, it does not do much more than that.
Dynamic/Static Prince Prospero- He is a dynamic character because at the beginning of the story he is so sure of his plan to escape
the red death, and all he is really interested in is how amazing his party is for all his guests. However, at the end of
the story, right before he dies he realizes that there is no possible way to escape death. Right after he realizes this, he
drops dead of the red death.
The Red Death- It is a static character because throughout the story it is the killer that people fear so much, and that
kills so quickly and easily.
Direct/Indirect The story describes directly how Prince Prospero is thought of by some as a crazy person and how he loves
somewhat extravagant and strange items, places, and events (I.E the rooms that were decorated according to the
color of windows, his parties, etc).
It describes indirectly how the the rooms were representing the stages of life and the last one was representing death.
Narrator
The story has a 3rd person limited narrator.
Tone
The tone of the story is sort of cynical and dark and gives the thoughts of how humans can be somewhat ridiculous
in that they believe that hiding away can help the escape what is inevitable to all, death.
Voice
The voice in the story is old-fashioned, descriptive, edgy, and mysterious.
Setting
Mood
Exposition
Title: The Masque of the Red Death
Irony
Symbolism
There is situational irony in that the people are trying to avoid the red death, but it comes to them and kills them
anyways. Prince Prospero’s name was verbal irony because it sounds like prosperous but in the end he dies.
The rooms symbolized the stages of life and death. The Red Death symbolized disease. Prince Prospero symbolized
the ruling class and how they sometimes think they are above getting the diseases that plague the lower classes. The
clock represented that time is running out for everyone because every second that we are alive, we get closer to our
death.