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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?

"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 passage highlights the insensitivity of the powerful and wealthy in the story towards the outbreak of the disease and those who are suffering.


Explanation:

Three parts of this excerpt that highlight the insensitivity of the powerful and wealthy towards the outbreak of the disease and those who are suffering are as follows:




  1. The Prince Prospero's happiness and indifference: The passage describes how the Prince Prospero is happy and carefree despite the devastation caused by the disease. He shows little concern for the suffering of his people and instead focuses on his own pleasures.

  2. The precautions taken by the courtiers: The courtiers take extreme measures to protect themselves from the disease, isolating themselves in a secure abbey with no access allowed from the outside. This demonstrates their disregard for the plight of those affected by the disease.

  3. The extravagance of the masked ball: Towards the end of the passage, it is mentioned that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of unusual magnificence. This lavish event further emphasizes the insensitivity of the wealthy towards the suffering of others.


These three examples highlight the callousness of the powerful and wealthy in the story towards the disease and the suffering of others.


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