The Connection Between Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of The Red Death and Coronavirus Epidemic

In the short story of The Masque of the Red Death written by Edgar Allan Poe, he tells a story about a deadly plague that suddenly spread across the kingdom and resulted in many deaths. In order to be safe from the disease, Prince Prospero along with a few of his knights, took precaution and locked everyone inside his kingdom. Just like the story, COVID-19 has spread across the world. This essay will compare the similarities of both, the short story and the Coronavirus. To begin with, the spread of this recent pandemic called COVID-19, was first founded in China. This began to spread around the world and has caused many illnesses and deaths to the public. Not only has it brought deaths and illnesses, but it has also caused people to fear. Although there have been many pandemics throughout the years, COVID-19 has had the most impact on society. It has led individuals to go wild and become greedy with supplies that are unnecessary to them.

This virus can be passed from one person to another from just a simple cough or sneeze. Coronavirus has been detected in many people all over the world, and is now considered a pandemic. The best prevention against coronavirus infection is to limit contact with infected persons. Hand hygiene, including washing hands or cleaning them with hand sanitizer, is an important task of preventing the virus. People who have been infected should cough or sneeze into a tissue or into the arm to limit beads and airborne particles. Since coronavirus is contagious, one ought not share food and drink, utensils, or individual supplies. Family zones, including door handles, counter tops, and different surfaces, ought to be cleaned with disinfectant. Just as we are taking precautions to avoid being infected, Prince Prospero did the same thing. In the short story that Edgar Allen Poe wrote, The Red Death, has also spread through the kingdom, therefore killing half of the population. The Prince and some of his knights lock themselves up in The Abbey castle, which is in a secluded area. They think that if they hide in the castle and lock it up without people coming in and out, they can prevent getting the virus.

Many people today have not brought into consideration what other people are in need of; they seem to only care for themselves. For example, people have been emptying grocery stores and leaving nothing for elderly people. Instead, people have been taking everything in various amounts that are absolutely unnecessary, we should try and help others such as elderly. People should at least be grateful with what they can contain and leave some stuff behind for the elderly, who cannot leave the house due to how fragile they are and how they can easily get contaminated with the virus. Much like we are being selfish with the amount of food we take, in the story The Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero is also selfish. He does not care about his poor, dying peasants and thinks the external world can take care of itself. In other words he does not care if his people are dying as long as his knights and him are safe from the Red Death. Although they thought they could hide from this pandemic, at the end of the story death comes for them.