Question

The narrator describes the courtiers as resolving "to leave means neither of ingress or egress" in paragraph 2. What does this description reveal about the courtiers’ attitudes? A The courtiers’ decision to allow people to leave the abbey but never to re-enter shows that they value collective security over individual freedom. B The courtiers believe that the plague will never make it into the abbey, and in their arrogance they leave no options for escape. C The courtiers have no desire to ever reconnect with the outside world and wish to build a new society in complete isolation. D The courtiers take advantage of the rule that all homes be locked up in times of plague because it gives them an excuse to ignore the people’s suffering.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. The courtiers believe that the plague will never make it to the abbey, and in their arrogance they leave no options for escape.

Explanation:

The question above is related to "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. Many people say it was written as an allegory to what was happening to the society.

The upper class in the story (including Prince Prospero), locked themselves in the abbey in order to escape the "Red Death." This was the plague that was causing the death of the lower class. The abbey was very solid and strong. It also has gates of iron, thus, the upper class felt confident enough that the plague will never reach them.

The courtiers in the statement above refers to the upper class. They believe that they could escape death by staying inside the abbey and this would also mean that they couldn't go out of it. So, when Red Death arrived at the masquerade ball held in the abbey, it dressed similarly to its victims. Curious of who might be behind the dress, Prospero followed it and this led to his death. They soon found out by removing the disguise that no one was behind it. This was then followed with the other masqueraders dying. This shows that the arrogance of the courtiers resulted to their death in the end.

No matter how much they protected themselves, they still couldn't escape death.