Select the correct text(s) in the passage.

Which three parts of this excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" highlight the suggestion that the powerful and wealthy in the story are insensitive toward the outbreak of the disease and those who are suffering?

1. But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.

2. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress nor egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within.

3. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

Question

20-02-2025
English

College

Select the correct text(s) in the passage.

Which three parts of this excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" highlight the suggestion that the powerful and wealthy in the story are insensitive toward the outbreak of the disease and those who are suffering?

1. But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.

2. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress nor egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within.

3. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

Answer :

Final answer:

Poe's excerpt from 'The Masque of the Red Death' highlights the insensitivity of the wealthy through their disregard for the victims of the plague. Key phrases illustrate this neglect and their focus on pleasure despite the surrounding devastation. The excerpt serves as a critique of the affluent's detachment from social responsibility during a crisis.

Explanation:

Introduction

The excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" vividly illustrates the indifference of the wealthy and powerful to the suffering of those afflicted by the plague. Below are the three highlighted parts of the passage that emphasize this insensitivity.

Highlighted Texts

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. - This sentence indicates that the victims of the Red Death are isolated and abandoned by society, emphasizing how the wealthy ignore the plight of the afflicted.
The Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends... - This highlights how despite the devastation around him, Prospero chooses to celebrate and ignore the dangers, showcasing his disregard for those suffering from the disease.
In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. - By referring to mourning as "folly," it reflects an attitude of carelessness towards the tragedy outside the walls of their safe haven, showing further insensitivity to the suffering of others.

Conclusion

Through these excerpts, Poe critiques the wealthy elite’s insensitivity to the suffering caused by the plague, portraying their detachment from the reality of the human suffering occurring around them.

Learn more about insensitivity toward suffering in literature here:

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