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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:

In the excerpt from "The Masque of the Red Death," certain passages highlight the insensitivity of the wealthy towards those suffering from the disease. Key segments show the emotional detachment of Prince Prospero and his court, illustrating their disregard for the external plight around them. Poe uses these contrasts to critique the apathy of the powerful during tragic times.


Explanation:

Identifying Insensitivity in Poe's Excerpt

In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," several passages depict the insensitivity of the powerful and wealthy towards the suffering caused by the Red Death. The following segments emphasize this theme:

  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 statement illustrates the disconnect between the wealthy and the afflicted, highlighting how the visible signs of the disease isolate victims from society.
  2. "The Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious." - This line depicts the Prince's emotional state, which suggests an obliviousness to the tragedy that surrounds him. His happiness contrasts sharply with the suffering outside his walls.
  3. "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think." - This quote further emphasizes the Prince's indifference and dismissal of the reality faced by those suffering from the plague. It underscores his choice to ignore the​ plight of the people in his dominion.

Through these excerpts, Poe critiques the apathy of the affluent, who prefer to indulge in pleasure while the world outside suffers greatly from the devastating effects of the Red Death.


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