The Masque of the Red Death published in 1842 by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short story filled with allegories and a fictitious presentation of societal norms during pandemics. Inequality is one of the main themes explored in the text.
Inequality in The Masque of the Red Death is expressed through the character of Prince Prospero and his guests. By illustrating the protagonist of the short story as a prince, Poe was successful in illustrating the superiority and authority of Prospero. This was further enhanced by the descriptions of Prospero as ‘happy and dauntless in the face of the ‘Red Death’ which was ‘so fatal or so hideous’ that ‘No pestilence’ like it has ever occurred. This arrogance and nativity expressed by Prospero are essential in understanding the inequality during a pandemic, where the wealthy or certain groups of individuals can offer better protection for themselves and means of creating fantasies that distract their fear of death. The hubris character of Prospero is illustrated by his fictitious control over the death of the courtiers, where ‘neither of ingress nor egress to the [ the court will create] sudden impulses of despair or frenzy from within'(1) the courtiers. This notion of despair and ecstasy through entering or rejection from Prospero’s court collates with the biblical reference of the last judgment, where supernatural figures decide whether the deceased are sent to ‘eternal fire prepared by the devil’ or ‘inherit the kingdom’ prepared by god（2）. The arrogance of Prospero pretending to be god and the obedience from the courtier’s presents suggests the contrasting position between the wealthy and the poor. Prospero’s thoughts of ‘the external world could take care of itself. In the meantime, it was folly to grieve or to think’ further emphasised the concept of inequality as he and his guests were able to diverge their fear of death by engaging in other activities inside an environment that they deem as safe, while the poor are excluded from the protections.
In the context of the current pandemic, the arrogance, and naivety of figures in authority parallel with the hubris character of Prince Prospero. One of the most evident authority figures in line with Prince Prospero is ex-president of United States, Donald Trump. At the time of the pandemic, Trump was the president of America thus was referred to as President Trump by the media. This parallels with Poe’s illustration of his protagonist Prince Prospero as both prince and president correlate with the notion of power and authority. In April 2020, Trump made a public announcement that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the US population to wear face-covering when entering public spaces, where right after the announcement he indicated that he will not be following the advice(3). Below is a video recording of that time.
This straight ignorance of advice by scientists and medical experts demonstrates Trump’s hubris and arrogant character during the Covid 19 pandemic. Like the couriers in The Masque of the Red Death, many Americans obeyed and followed Trump’s action in not wearing a mask during the starting month of the pandemic. These anti-mask individuals supported by Trump’s arrogance and naivety enhanced the severity of the pandemic as the researcher suggests a hypothetical scenario where if 80% of the population in Washington or New York state wore a moderately effective mask the projected death rate over two months could decrease by 17 – 45 %(4). Prospero’s thoughts of ‘the external world could take care of itself is also evident during the pandemic through the shutting of borders and evacuation flights worldwide, where each government is only concerned about the citizens of their own countries. In January 2020, evacuation flights were sent by the US, Japan, France, South Korea, etc. to evacuate according to citizens from Wuhan China(5). Inequality arises here as individuals that were allowed to board these evacuation flights are in some sense protected like the couriers that were allowed to enter Prince Prospero’s court, while those who were not allowed to board were left to defend themselves in Wuhan.
Reference
1.POE, E. A., RATHBONE, B., & SACKLER, H. (1988). The masque of the red death, and other poems and tales of Edgar Allan Poe. New York, NY, Caedmon.
2. Matthew 25:31-46, Holy Bible: King James Version
3. Dwyer, C, Aubrey A (2020), The Coronavirus crisis CDC Now Recommends Americans Consider Wearing Cloth Face Coverings in Public [online] Npr.org. Available at: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/03/826219824/president-trump-says-cdc-now-recommends-americans-wear-cloth-masks-in-public
4. Steffen E. Eikenberry, Marina Mancuso, Enahoro Iboi, Tin Phan, Keenan Eikenberry, Yang Kuang, Eric Kostelich, Abba B. Gumel,(2020), To mask or not to mask: Modeling the potential for face mask use by the general public to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic,Infectious Disease Modelling,Volume 5,Pages 293-308,ISSN 2468-0427, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idm.2020.04.001.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468042720300117)
5. Hancock, T., 2020.‘We see people getting ill around us’: the foreigners trapped in Wuhan. [online] Ft.com. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/4ebd0eaa-41c7-11ea-bdb5-169ba7be433d