In many ways, “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe is relevant to the history of mankind. Poe uses this story to show the divide between the wealthy and poor. This paper will focus on the short story’s theme of how wealth often leads to selfishness and low levels of empathy. Overall, wealthy people are able to avoid many hardships the lower-class is faced with, resulting in a lower level of understanding and empathy for people in the lower class. Beginning with Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, this paper will discuss instances of wealth leading to selfishness and less empathy. The main character in this short story, Prince Prospero, is extremely wealthy in comparison to people in his country. As the Red Death dominates Prospero’s country, he attempts to escape its harsh reality by cutting himself off from the rest of the people. He lives a lavish, isolated lifestyle to distract himself from the horrors of the disease, while townspeople must immediately come to terms with reality. Eventually, it is made clear that the Prince has little regard for the lives being lost. From the start, he attempts to exclude lower-class people from his castle because he believes he will get the disease from them. Large gates …show more content…
Extreme selfishness shows through this belief. It seems as if he has no regard for the lives being lost outside his iron gates. Without his fortune, Prospero would surely be more concerned with what was happening in the external world. Money allows for him to disconnect from the struggles of everyone else. Inside the gates, Prospero has extravagant parties. Outside the gates, the Red Death rages on. Throughout time, it is apparent that lower-class people are left to struggle while the elite selfishly spend fortunes on luxuries. Saddam Hussein, a past president of Iraq, presents the perfect historical instance of living in luxury while others