High School

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. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself."

3. "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:

The detailed answer identifies three excerpts from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" that demonstrate the insensitivity of the wealthy toward those suffering from a devastating plague. These excerpts highlight the detachment and moral failures of the powerful characters as they indulge in pleasures while ignoring the crisis around them. Poe critiques this indifference through vivid descriptions of the characters' actions and sentiments.


Explanation:

Highlighting Insensitivity in Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"


In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," the insensitivity of the wealthy towards the outbreak of the disease is starkly illustrated in several excerpts. The following three parts of the passage emphasize their disregard for the suffering caused by the "Red Death":



  2. "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."

  4. "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think."

  6. "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..."


These excerpts reveal a chilling detachment from the realities of the plague; the wealthy and powerful characters in the story ignore the suffering of others while indulging in their own pleasures and distractions. Poe uses these descriptions to critique the moral failing of the elite who prioritize their own comfort over compassion for the afflicted.


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