mask of red death

The Masque of the Red Death Quiz

1. The events of this story are related to...

A. a popular ballroom dance

B. a spreading, infectious disease 

C. a nickname for Prince Prospero

D. costumes for masquerade balls

2. What is unusual about where the masquerade takes place?

A. There is a ballroom as large as the entire imperial suite in Prince

Prospero’s palace.

B. Musicians play in a curved hall while quests dance in colored

chambers.

C. It begins at sundown and does not end until an ebony clock strikes.

D. There are colored rooms that are not connected to each other or

situated along a straight hall.

3. “Gaudy and fantastic appearances” are created at the masquerade

ball by...

A. the prince who wears a frightening costume and dances in several

rooms

B. a man in a red mask who enters the various rooms and does a bizarre 

dance

C. flames that shine through red glass windows in each of many rooms

along a hallway

D. the guests who take turns putting on a red mask, which makes them

act in strange ways.

4. Few people dare to enter the black apartment because...

A. faces look frightening there, and an ebony clock makes a strange

sound.

B. without light, no one can see or dance without causing injury to

others.

C. it is the room where Prince Prospero wears the masque of the Red

Death.

D. in this room a strange voice can be heard whose origins no one can

trace.

5. Prince Prospero is a person who basically desires...

A. good company and entertainment

B. to face pain and suffering with courage

C. to be surrounded by people in simple clothes

D. others to share their feelings with him

6. When Prince Prospero confronts the strangely masked guest, the

prince...

A. challenges the guest to a duel and then draws his sword in order to

fight

B. demands that the masked guest leave since he or she was not invited

C. draws a dagger, then chases the masked guest by going from room to 

room 

D. asks for the mask and costume so that he can wear them

7. An allegory is a narrative story...

A. with an unexpected turning point and climax in its plot

B. told by a narrator who knows more about events than other

characters

C. that uses imaginary characters to tell about a historical event

D. in which characters and settings stand for abstract ideas or moral 

qualities

8. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the red mask probably stands

for...

A. the bubonic plague that had been killing much of the population of 

14th century Europe

B. the desire that all people had to become a prince or princess

C. Prince Prospero’s wish to be anything but ordinary

D. the people in 14th century Europe who survived the bubonic plague

9. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero stands for...

A. a terrible, deadly disease that had been spreading through Europe

B. a future people who learned how to fight infectious diseases

successfully

C. anyone who believed they could fool death by their cleverness

D. weak people who were easily infected by and died from bubonic

plague

10. Which statement expresses the theme of this allegory?

A. Money can buy you happiness.

B. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

C. Live life to the fullest.

D. Death can master life.

Masque of the Red Death Paragraph Activity

Chose to write from the perspective of one of the following

characters. Then, answer these questions in a paragraph form from

the point of view of that character:

~Prince Prospero ~The Partyers

~The peasants that are locked out

 ~The Red Death