May 7 Class

Hey, it's Erin.

Today we talked about "The Masque of the Red Death." First off, the "Red Death" is a historical reference to cholera (not the symptoms but the idea of a plague). We started off the discussion with the rooms, and what they represent. The rooms are set up in a straight line starting in the east and ending in the west, so it's like going from sunrise to sunset (with sunset in the black room, meaning death). However, the colors don't really work in the order of day. Since there were 7 rooms, we talked about associations with the number 7 - 7 days in a week, etc. Grace brought up the seven deadly sins (which I believe are lust, gluttony, greed, envy, pride, sloth and wrath). We then considered whether Prince Prospero was guilty of all seven sins, and decided he was. Another association with the number seven is creation - God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. However, this is the opposite of creation, because everyone is destroyed in the end.
Then we discussed whether justice was served at the end of the story (with Prospero and all of his guests dying) because even though his whole kingdom was dying, he locked himself and his friends away. We also discussed if the responsibility was simply Prospero's or if the guests were guilty too. Paige brought up that although everyone was afraid of the black room (death), they all ended up there in the end. Donna brought up that this was Poe's second use of a masquerade. Mr. Lazarow pointed out that since Poe was a Gothic, he was interested in human psychology, and a masquerade was essentially people wearing a deceptive exterior. Finally, we talked about the title, where "masque" is short for masquerade. In essence, the Red Death is the guest of honor, although Prospero has no idea.
Don't forget - rough drafts due Wednesday!