The Masque of The Red Death

Which statement best identifies a major theme in the story?

• Death is more powerful than life or growth.

• Death is unavoidable regardless of one's wealth or power.

• People must confront their problems rather than try to hide from them.

• Fear is a strong tool that leaders can use to increase their power.

Which of the following quotes best supports the answer to part A

• "The external world could take care of itself, in the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think."(para 2)

• "while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball." (para 3)

• "Who dares?' he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers that stood near him--'who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery"? (para 11)

• "And Darkness and Decay and the Read Death held illimitable dominion over all." (para 16)

What does the phrase "untenanted by any tangible form" in paragraph 14 suggest about the intruder?

• The intruder has no physical form and therefore cannot be restrained, which make it similar to death and disease.

• The intruder is able to vanish when attacked, which implies that it comes from another world.

• The intruder conveys the extreme violence which the revelers.

• The intruder's body consists of disease-ridden vapors, which the Prince and other unwittingly release by attacking it.

The narrator describes the courtiers as resolving " to leave means neither of ingress or egress" in paragraph 2. What does this description reveal about the courtiers' attitudes?

• The courtiers' decision to allow people to leave the abbey but never re-enter shows that they value collective security over individual freedom.

• The courtiers believe that the plague will never make it into the abbey, and in their ignorance they leave no option to escape.

• The courtiers have no desire to ever reconnect with the outside world and wish to build a new society in complete isolation.

• The courtiers take advantage of the rule that all homes be locked up in times of plague because it gives them an excuse to ignore people's suffering.

How does the description of the clock contribute to the development of the story's theme (s)? Cite Text evidence in your answers.

The clock is a ________________that _______________. According to paragraph_, "____________" This connects to the theme that _________because______.