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Setting In The Masque Of The Red Death

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In the Masque Of The Red Death, Edgar Allan Poe tells us about Prince Prospero, a man trying to escape death by secluding himself in his castle along with a thousand of his friends, while the deadly disease is ravaging his dominions. The setting is very crucial in the story because it affects each action happening. Every part of the setting makes the characters act the way they do. If the Plague wasn't an aspect of the setting of the story, Prince Prospero might not have had hosted the masquerade ball, his friends wouldn’t be isolated with him in hopes of avoiding sickness, and the rest of the population wouldn't be dying.

The Plague, also known as the black death, was one of the most fatal pandemics to ever happen. The disease started in Central Asia. It first infected fleas then rats. The rats started moving into cities, marking the start of a tremendous bloodshed. The disease infected sailors when rats immigrated into ships and kept finding its way through ports, spreading around in different continents. The fact that the plague was greatly contagious and spreads from person to person explains how the people in the …show more content…

The Plague greatly affected the medieval world. It killed 25 million people, including a third of Europe's population. One of the economic effects caused by the Plague was inflation. Trade was dangerous and local goods weren't being produced as much because the number of workers decreased greatly. The prices went through the roof.
It also affected the Society. The Church's power decreased, unable to solve what was going on and the angry peasants revolted because the government was just as powerless. The wealthiest didn't care much about the middle class and were too busy worrying about themselves, just like Prince Prospero. "The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime, it was folly to grieve, or to think." (page

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