The Masque of the Red Death

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the sets of questions given. Include details from the story as examples to support your points.

1. Did Prospero bring his death on himself? Why or why not? Explain with references from the text.

• Is it Prospero’s own fault that he died? (topic sentence)
• What quotes/moments in the text best support your response to the prompt?
• In conclusion, could Prospero have avoided his death?  

2. Choose one of the following symbols: mask or clock. Describe its role and significance in the text, with references.

• What is the clock or mask’s symbolic meaning? (topic sentence)
• What quotes/moments in the text best support your response to the prompt?
• What does the writer seem to be saying by his use of the mask or clock as a symbol?

3. Throughout the story Poe switches between first- and third-person narration. Identify two examples of each type of narration in the text and describe their significance to the passage and the story at large.

• What is significant about Poe’s switches between the first- and third-person narration? (topic sentence)
• What are two examples of the first-person narration in the text?
• What are two examples of the third-person narration in the text?
• How does the switch from one narrative point of view to the other affect the impact of the story?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Scholars are undecided about whether Poe’s story is an allegory, and if so, to what exactly the allegory might be referring. Where do you stand on this question? Is the story an allegory? Do you think it has a moral message, and if so, what is it? Explain with references from the text.

2. Poe tells us that “there are some who would have thought [Prospero] mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not” (741). Do you think Prospero is mad? Why or why not? What is the significance of being able to touch him to prove his sanity? If he is mad, how is that significant to the story?

3. Contemporary readers probably encounter Poe’s style of writing as highly ornate, with its longer and more complex sentences than most writing of today. Does his style detract from or enhance the horror that it attempts to convey? Explain, and be sure to cite multiple examples from the text to support your argument.