IV YEAR 2019

COMPULSORY READING: The Red Death

STUDY GUIDE

BACKGROUND: In the 5th century in a region of Europe there was an epidemic that attacked animals
and then people. A quick, bloody and painful death. The red plague (The Red Death or Bubonic Plague), as
people called it, was an epidemic that could not be controlled due to a lack of understanding and science.
People thought it was God's punishment.

IMPORTANT DETAILS
 SOCIAL STATUS
 THE CLASS DIFFERENCE
 THE PRIVILEGES OF THE RICH
 DEATH AND TIME

SCENARIO

1- 2- 3- 4- 5- 6- 7-
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
3) CLIMAX

5) ENDING
1) SETTING

1- The story was set in Europe in the 5th century. The story happens in an old town where poor people and rich ones lived. The social
classes were divided into those who were invited the castle and those who died outside.
The main characters are a prince and the epidemic. The protagonist of the story is the prince, called Prospero. And the antagonist is
the Red Death. Prospero is the protagonist because he makes all the decision to survive and helps the people invited. The death is
the antagonist because it interrupts the prince´s party.

2a. He invited to all his rich, strong and privileged friends to his castle.
2b. People decided to lock themselves out inside the castles.
2c. The rest of the people, the poor people remained outside with the death attacking them.
2d. People came and went from room to room, from number one to six.
2e. Everyone was dressed up. They danced en enjoyed themselves in the ball.
2f. The clock rang every one hour. Each time the sound of the clock was more frightening.
2g. The chime sounded at twelve, and a masked figure appeared in the ball. It was dressed in the colors of death wearing a mask of
a dead man.

3- The climax is when the prince saw the red figure. He got angry and desperate. He wanted to see the face of the figure. The prince
was in the blue room. Many friends started to run to the red figure, but everyone was afraid of touching him.

4a. The stranger went closer to the prince, in silence and mystery.
4b. The stranger passed all the rooms one by one.
4c. The prince crossed the rooms with a sword in his hands.
4d. Both were in the black room now.
4e. The stranger and the prince were face to face and there was a loud cry and the sword fell on the floor.
4f. Prospero was on the floor too.
4g. The friends of the prince pulled away the clothes and the mask and there was nothing behind.

5- There, each person in the black room understood that the Red Death was in the party too. Every one fell down dead. The clock
stopped ringing after the death of the last person. This is a resolute ending since the Red Death killed every person in the party and
outside the castle.
Symbols
The rooms
The rooms represent the moments and stages of life. All people traveled between rooms without being able to enter the last one, the black
room. The black room is death, and each person in the party would also have his or her moment of dying no matter how much money or how
privileged he or she was.

 Blue: birth
 Purple: adolescence
 Green: youth
 Orange: adulthood
 White: old age
 Violet: imminent death
 Black: death

The castle
 The castle and its fort represent the separation of class. As the rich can because of their privileges separate themselves from
society to save themselves without caring about others, in this case the poor people. Because of their money and prestige they
believe they can save themselves from problems without having empathy for the sufferings of society.

The prince
 Prospero represents the man with power who has in his hands the ability to save or do something for people. Because of his
selfishness he only saves people with money and his friends. The author uses the prince as a representative of politicians who do
not care about the welfare of the entire population but about his own interests.

The RED DEATH

 Red Death is a 5th century epidemic that attacked Europe's population. However, the author uses it to show that no matter when
isolated or locked up the rich were, they would die too and in the same way the poor died. No one is saved from death.

The POOR AND THE RICH

 The author shows the people of the castle and those who remain outside representing the social status of each one, and how the
poor always suffer more, and how the rich believe they are better and can always be saved from any tragedy just because they
have money. The rich are the cold, the bad and the selfish according to the author.