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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?

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The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. 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.

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. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. 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. The abbey was amply provisioned. 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."

It was towards the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

Answer :

Final answer:

The excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" highlights the insensitivity of the powerful through their disregard for the suffering of others. Key phrases emphasize their detachment and selfishness during a public health crisis. Poe critiques the wealthy elite for prioritizing their own enjoyment over humanitarian concerns.


Explanation:

Analysis of Insensitivity in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"

In the excerpt from "The Masque of the Red Death", three parts distinctly highlight the insensitivity of the powerful and wealthy toward the suffering caused by the disease:

  1. "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 line emphasizes how the wealthy elite turn a blind eye to the suffering outside their walls, illustrating their lack of concern for those afflicted by the Red Death.
  2. "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think." This statement reflects their selfishness and detachment from the realities faced by the common people, as they indulge in pleasures while ignoring the plague that ravages their society.
  3. "But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious." This description of Prince Prospero reinforces the notion that the nobility are insulated from fear or loss, reinforcing their insensitivity to the tragedy occurring outside their isolated festivities.

Overall, Poe uses these examples to critique the callousness of the privileged class amid a public health crisis, showing that their pursuit of pleasure overshadows their responsibility to the suffering populace.


Learn more about insensitivity during crisis here:

https://brainly.com/question/50875807


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