Prince Prospero is portrayed as a wealthy, arrogant, selfish man who believes he can overcome and outlast the deadly plague by locking himself inside of his well-provisioned, magnificent abbey. Prince Prospero symbolizes mankind and its inability to deal with the realities of death. Prospero, like many men, thinks he can avoid death or at least put it off. When the Red Death begins to kill most of the people in Prospero's kingdom, he attempts to use his wealth and possessions to escape the fate of everyman.
