Compare And Contrast The Masque Of The Red Death And Pan's Labyrinth

In the short story, “Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allen Poe uses characterization to illustrate the psychological destruction of the Prince. Throughout the story, Prince Prospero struggles with

    In William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero lives with his daughter Miranda on a deserted island.  On the surface, he appears to be a benevolent leader doing his best to protect and care for the inhabitants of the island, especially for Miranda.  On closer inspection, however, Prospero plays God, controlling and creating each individual to fit the mold he desires.  He takes advantage of his authority over the people and situations he encounters while wearing a facade of integrity and compassion to disguise his wily intentions and to retain love and respect.

inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape death. The prince's name, Prospero,

Prospero promotes both the mutual affections of Ferdinand and Miranda and the two regicidal conspiracies (Antonio's and Caliban's). Through the establishment of the graver conspiracy, and through the overwhelmingly magical nature of the island, he drives Alonso into a state of confusion

Originally, he was a fair duke that showed love to everyone he met; however, his love of magic gets him exiled by his own brother. Once on the island of his banishment, Prospero develops monstrous characteristics of greed and domination. He imposes his beliefs upon initial inhabitants by teaching them his own language so that they could communicate with him (Tempest. I.ii.352-364). Prosper felt he had the superior form of communication and higher level of intellect, so the previous occupants should have to learn his language. He also forced his self-proclaimed authority on this creature who was the birth-right land-owner. This creature, Caliban, is upset and claims, “This island’s mine by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me” (Tempest. I.ii.331-332). Just as Prospero’s kingdom was taken from himself, he retaliated by taking Caliban’s kingdom from him. To do this, Prospero enslaved Caliban as well as another he finds on the island through use of his magic and forces them to do his menial tasks. It is through his exploiting and dominating actions that Prospero is seen as a monster. He cultivated his supremacy over everyone to a malicious extent that he was a malevolent monster disguised as a

He encouraged two other men to join him, Stephano, a butler, and Trinculo, a jester. All three of these men shared one thing in common: a low place in society. In an effort to free themselves from society’s pressure, the men plotted to murder Prospero. Stephano says, “Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen, save our graces! and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys” (Act 3 Scene 2 Lines 106-108). Before they got the chance to kill, Prospero caught them, proving society’s power, once again, to be too strong. Many times, Stephano and Trinculo talked about how they would break from their low place in society. At the end of the story, however, they find themselves stuck under King Alonso’s power, just as they were before the shipwreck. Despite all of their efforts, Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban all were stuck in their low place in society.

It was once said that “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live”. Though this quote originally comes from a children’s book, the idea of fantasy being used to escape from a harsh reality is something found in numerous fictional works. The film Pan’s Labyrinth and the novel The Little Friend by Donna Tartt both incorporate the theme of escapism through fantasy as a method of coping with tragedy and show, through this theme, both the positive side of fantasy as well as the darker side.

Although Prince Prospero from “The Masque of the Red Death” has descended into madness just as much, if not more so, as Roderick Usher, his madness is represented in a different manner. Prospero’s madness is fueled primarily by ignorance. He believes as long as he and his guests remain within the confines of the abbey, they will all be safe from the “Red Death.” Due to this ignorance, within the abbey “there were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was

Prince Prospero does not care for the outside world and leaves them to die at the plague’s hands. Poe details Prince Prospero’s response to the plague with, “When his dominions were half-depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.” (Poe) Prince Prospero makes no effort to aid his people, instead, isolating himself and his friends to seek protection from the disease. Isolation plays a powerful role here in providing a means of protection that ultimately proves false when the Red Death itself comes into the abbey and all succumb to it. Isolation also serves to prove the failings of self-importance in that no one is above one another. In attempting to shield only themselves, those in the court exhibited a selfish importance that isolation fails to corroborate. Even isolating themselves, Prince Prospero and his courtiers fall victim to the Red Death the same as the rest of the world. As a theme in “The Masque of the Red Death”, isolation does not equate protection and to seek it with a self-important worldview is to bring destruction to yourself. In seeking isolated protection, Prince Prospero is thus exposed in his cowardice and is proven as equal to those dying outside the walls, for he falls victim to the Red Death as well.

the Red Death shows the futile attempts by a prince and his guests of a party,

Prospero uses his status as the father of Miranda to enact his own self-righteous deeds. Furthermore, Prospero uses his position of power within the patriarchal system with leisure. Prospero hides behind a powerful woman and declares all deeds in the name of his daughter. In actuality, all Prospero's actions are to advance his quest. Prospero uses Miranda to regain favor with the king and become Duke of Milan, yet again. Finally, Prospero is a symbol of all that is wrong with the patriarchal system, which is used to legitimate the deeds of evil men. Prospero inflicts great harm upon the female gender, who must live under its immense societal oppressive

With a kingdom in ruins and people dying of disease all around him, Prince Prospero is consumed with no worry except to throw a fabulous masquerade ball for his knights and maidens safely tucked away in his castellated abbey. Separated from the rest of the kingdom dying from disease, Prince Prospero is a coward, afraid of Red Death. Prince Prospero is not an admirable character because of his attempts to cheat death which make him a fool, and by leaving the people of his kingdom to fend for themselves.

Prospero’s plot has some very cruel aspect in it for example when he lies to Alonso about his son, Ferdinand, being killed by the storm. Alonso is made to think this throughout the entirety of the play and this shows to have very serious effects on Alonso for example when he talks about committing suicide by drowning himself, he says, “I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded, and with him there lie mudded”. Only a very barbarous oppressor would do this to his victims who in this case are the nobles and this agrees with the statement.

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the main character, Prospero is a very vengeful man, but he does not start out that way. His brother, Antonio, forced him out of his homeland without any resources, leaving him stranded with his three-year-old daughter. An event that traumatic can corrupt even the kindest human being. Prospero’s need for justice compels him to wreck his brother’s ship and strand him on the island. He tortures the ship-members with the thought of never returning home and the idea that some of their friends and family are dead. What his brother did to him turned Prospero into a plotting and an evil man, not the man who spent all of his

Making use of character Prospero, the author shows how the ideologies of an individual assume a different direction after suffering some of the transformation in the society. As the play kicks off, Prospero’s conduct displays a contradiction from the basic tenets of Christian forgiveness. Depending on his good fortune, the character seizes the opportunity to take vengeance of his enemy. The passage that presents the central focus of the book is one that "Prospero hopes that his plan to