Masque of the red death - Essay Example

11 Writing Workshop Ms. Anderson Blinded A lot of people think that the dark blinds us but the reality is, people are more blinded by the light than the dark. Wealth, happiness, and success are some of the things that hinder people from seeing the more important things in life and cause an isolation of a person into a small bubble, away from the real world who needs a hero. In the article “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author uses allegory to argue that Prince Prospero and his friends are blinded by benefits and pleasure, which cause them to neglect things that they should really be concerned about – The Red Death.

During that time, the Red Death is like a plague, killing half of the town’s population. People are starting to be hopeless and forlorn because of the numerous people being slain in their own homes. However, instead of being a responsible prince who would use his fortune and power to find a solution to stop this, Prince Prospero has turned a blind eye on the reality of the Red Death. He reacted with denial to this reality by ignoring it and continued to live the life ideal to him as he started a masked ball in the abbey.

Here, all the things of pleasure was provided for him and his friends to enjoy (1). This points out how Prince Prospero turns to pleasure to distract and deceive himself and his friends to facing the reality that they were faced with a serious problem.However, denial can only go so far. Prince Prospero finally came to see what was happening with his own eyes. Indeed, the pleasure and fame can no longer contain his fear: he was first seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; soon, his brow reddened with rage (3).

He realized that no matter how he builds a wall of pleasure and denial to protect him and his friends, they would not be able to escape the effect of the red death seeping to get in their life. Also, he recognizes that the more he ignores the Red Death, the more he is unprepared and far off from finding a way to solve it. These two points—how Prince Prospero creates pleasure and happiness and how he tries to fool himself from admitting the existence of the Red death—show how Prince Prospero was blinded by pleasures, which led him to lose sight of the Red Death.

Bibliography:Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Masque of the Red Death." Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. .