Akers-Pecht 1

Dottie Akers-Pecht
EDIS 4882
14 November 2014

Lesson Plan 2

Context
Course name and grade level: Language Arts, 8th grade
Length of lesson: About 70 minutes
Current Unit in Curriculum: Strange and Mysterious
Lesson plan date: November 14, 2014

Virginia Standards of Learning

8.5 The student will read and analyze a variety of fictional texts.
a) Explain the use of symbols

Common Core Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot.

Objectives (KUD format)

Know:
1) Students will know the definitions of theme and symbolism.
2) Students will know the differences between a theme and a symbol.

Understand:
3) Students will understand that symbols can highlight important themes or ideas within a
literary text.
4) Students will understand that symbols can be interpreted in many different ways.

Do:
5) Students will be able to locate symbols within the text The Masque of the Red Death.
6) Students will be able to create a visual or written representation of their own
interpretation of a symbol in The Masque of the Red Death.

Assessment

Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know by

Participating in a discussion introducing the concepts of theme and symbolism. This assessment
is aligned to the following objectives:
KUD 1, KUD 2
Completing a Tea Party prereading activity in which they compare lines from the text to predict
what symbols and themes will be represented in the story. This assessment is aligned to the
following objectives:
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SOL 8.5a, KUD 3, KUD 5

Formative: Students will show their progress on todays objectives by

Completing an exit slip comparing their understanding of a symbol both before and after reading.
This assessment is aligned to the following objectives:
SOL 8.5a, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2, KUD 3, KUD 5

Summative: Students will ultimately be assessed (in a future lesson) on these standards
by
Creating a visual or written representation of their own interpretation of a theme or symbol in
The Masque of the Red Death. This assessment aligns to the following objectives:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2, KUD 4, KUD 6

Materials Needed:
Copies of the story The Masque of the Red Death or a text containing the story
Copies of the rubrics for their interpretations of a symbol
Slips of paper printed on different colors containing lines from The Masque of the Red Death
(I can bring these!)
Computer with sound to show PowerPoint presentation, and to listen to the audio recording of
the story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4iqBU3X4Ro
(or I can read the story aloud)

Instructional Steps (Procedures)

Beginning Room Arrangement

The students will initially sit in even rows facing the front of the classroom. During step 2 of
instruction, the students will be asked to move around to discuss their lines from the poem.
During step 3, students will reconvene in a whole class format again for the rest of the block.

I. Welcome / greeting
Good morning, everyone! Happy Friday! By now, you all are already pretty familiar with Edgar
Allan Poe and the tone that his stories take. Today, were going to read The Masque of the Red
Death, another scary and macabre, or dark, tale. Were going to discuss two literary terms,
theme and symbolism, along with this story because The Masque of the Red Death is famous
for its many symbols.

II. Hook / introduction to lesson (5 minutes)

To get us started, I want you all to think about one of your favorite movies or books, or maybe a
movie that youve seen or a book that youve read recently. Think about what the theme was for
the story. Then, think back to an important symbol shown in the book or movie. Ill give you just
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a couple of short minutes to think; you can write these down in your journals if youd like. The
students will then be given a few minutes to share their ideas.

II. Instructional steps (60-65 minutes)

Step 1: Guided Exploration of Symbols and Themes (10 minutes)

First of all, a theme is a major idea in a work that is repeated throughout a story. If we turn to
the PowerPoint now, I have some examples. We see the theme of love in Shakespeares Romeo
and Juliet, which is famous for being very romantic. Additionally, we see it in a lot of Disney
movies, including Sleeping Beauty. Now the broad theme of love is easily applied to both stories,
but we can also narrow down themes to be more specific. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the
theme is more along the lines of tragic love or forbidden love. Sleeping Beauty, in contrast,
might be better described as having a happy ending where, as they say in the movie, love
conquers all. I continue through the slide to discuss two more themes, war and revenge, within
other movies and works of literature, pausing for students to give examples of other stories with
similar themes.

The next term were going to explore is symbolism, where a single object or image represents a
larger idea. This larger idea gives the symbol much more importance and a deeper meaning than
you would think at first glance. We see symbols all around us everyday; for example, what does
this symbol mean? I display the play symbol on the PowerPoint presentation. Students will
likely immediately know to what this image refers. I continue to show students other symbols,
including a red rose and the mockingjay pin from The Hunger Games trilogy. Samples of the
class discussion included some of the following:

Student: I dont get it how is the mockingjay pin a symbol?

Me: Okay, lets try and answer that together. So what does a symbol actually do? Think
back to the definition I just showed you.
Another student: Oh, it stands for a larger idea or something bigger than just what it is.
Me: So if a symbol stands for a larger idea and has some kind of significance, what do
we think this larger concept is in The Hunger Games?
Student: Well in the new Mockingjay trailers, the president says hes banned anybody
from wearing the mockingjay pins anymore.
Me: I remember that too and why would he say that? Why would he need to ban the
pins?
Student: Because Katniss wears them, and shes with the other side, the districts.
Me: So the mockingjay pin is associated with Katniss side of the war, and so what
might they symbolize? What do these pins come to mean for the people who wear them?
Student: Well they wear them to show what side theyre on, that theyre rebelling
against the capitol.
Me: So weve just learned that the mockingjay has become a symbol of rebellion, that
people wear them to show that theyre fighting alongside Katniss and the districts. So on
its own, if we looked at the pin and had never read the series or seen the movies before,
wed think its just a bird with an arrow in its beak. But since we know the symbols
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larger significance, we know that the mockingjay stands for a rebellion and a fight for
freedom against the capitol.

Step 2: Tea Party Prereading Activity (15 minutes)

Now that weve discussed the importance of symbols and themes in works of literature and
movies, were going to participate in a little activity called a tea party. Tea party is a prereading
strategy thats meant to get you all predicting what events are going to unfold in the story, and it
requires you all to work together to figure it out. Right now, Im handing out slips of paper, each
of which contains a line from The Masque of the Red Death. I hand out one slip of paper to
each student. Youll notice that these slips are different colors. The slips of the same color
describe the same symbol within the story. Its up to you all to predict what the most important
symbols in the text are going to be. Whenever you hear this sound of a clock chiming I play
the sound on the computer so that the students can hear what it sounds like youre going to all
quiet down and look to me and the PowerPoint for more instructions, okay?

The first time you hear the clock chiming, youre going to find a partner to discuss your slip
with. You can partner up with any other person in the room; it doesnt matter what color slip you
have. I want you to compare your lines from the text and discuss what symbols they might be
describing. Youll have a few short minutes to discuss your predictions. The next time you hear
the clock chime, youre going to switch partners. Eventually, youll have the chance to talk with
three different people and compare your slip with theirs. The last time you hear the clock chime,
youre going to get back to your seats. Dont worry if you forget what you need to do next just
look up to the PowerPoint every time you hear the signal, and it will tell you what to do. I will
then chime the clock for the first time, and students will partner up. I will monitor students
discussion during this part of the lesson by circling the room. Following the tea party, I will list
up students predictions on the board of what symbols and themes will appear in the text. Student
discussion during this part of the lesson included some of the following:

Student, partner 1: We both have red slips, so we have the same symbol. Whats yours
say?
Partner 2: It says, The Red Death had long devastated the country.
Partner 1: Mine says, No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.
Partner 2: So, the Red Death sounds like people in this country are dying, maybe from
a disaster of some kind, but Im not sure.
Partner 1: What does pestilence mean?
Me: Well your partner is close a pestilence is a kind of disaster. Do you think you can
figure out what kind based on your slips right now?
Partner 2: Well my partner for the last round had a slip talking about bleeding and pain
it sounds like a disease to me.
Partner 1: Oh, that makes sense. The Red Death could be talking about blood or
something.
Partner 2: Yeah, thats what I thought too. Is that right?
Me: I think you all are on the right track for this symbol, but remember, its okay if your
predictions for now arent right when you read the story later on. Were going to find out
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a lot more when we read The Masque of the Red Death. For the next round, try and talk
to somebody with a different color slip from yours and see if you can figure out how your
two symbols might relate to each other in the story.

Step 3: Reading of the Story (30 minutes)

Now that weve made some predictions, we can read The Masque of the Red Death and see
what symbols really appear in the text. I play the audio recording at the following website. We
will pause the story to check for understanding at several points.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4iqBU3X4Ro

Discussion during the reading of the story included some of the following:
Me: So who can describe to me the setting of the story that weve just read about?
Student: So theyre in this castle, I think, or like a mansion. And each room is a different
color.
Me: I think you had it that theyre in a castle, because it belongs to whom?
Student: Oh, a prince. Prince Prospero.
Me: Did you all catch how many rooms there were in all?
Students, in unison: Seven.
Me: But one of the rooms is different from the others how so?
Student: The last room has black walls, and the passage talks about how people are
afraid to go into this last room.
Me: And what do you all think would happen if the guests went into this last room, the
black room?
Student: I think they would die or something like, the room seems haunted.
Me: Based on what weve read so far, what do you predict is going to happen to the
guests?
Student: I think someone is going to go off into the room with the black walls and get
murdered. This party isnt going to end well.
Me: And what in the text makes you think that?
Student: Well, the rooms got windowpanes that are blood-colored, so I think that
something bad is going to happen in there and thats why everyone is afraid of this
room.
Another student: Plus, knowing Poe, something bad is gonna happen.
Me: Thats an interesting observation Poes stories certainly are gloomy, so just based
on the author as well as what weve read so far, you all think theres going to be a
murder? Several students nod. Okay, lets keep reading to hear more about what
happens at the masquerade party.

Now that weve finished reading the story, Ill tell you whether your initial predictions about
your symbols were correct. I will go through the PowerPoint slides detailing the symbols in the
story.
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Step 4: Introduction to Summative Assessment (10 minutes)

Now that weve discovered the most important symbols in the text, youre going to have the
chance to create a representation of one of the symbols from The Masque of the Red Death.
Ive kept this assignment very open-ended so that you can take it in a lot of different directions.
You can choose any symbol from the story, including one of the seven rooms, the masquerade or
the people at the masquerade, the red death as an illness or as the figure who interrupts the ball,
and the clock. You can create a drawing or a collage, write a poem, or choose from other
activities I have some examples here in the PowerPoint. I show the students some examples of
possibilities they could use.

Even though this activity is meant to let you feel free to create whatever you want, I have just a
couple of guidelines for things you need to include. Lets go through the rubric together. I pass
out rubrics for the assignment. When you present these, youll need to tell us the following:
1) The symbol that youve represented in your visual or writing.
2) How this symbol ties into a larger theme of the story. So with my example of the acrostic
poem about the symbol of the masquerade, I might discuss the larger themes of
selfishness and the inability to stop death. The party-goers are selfish because there are
people outside Prosperos palace who are dying, although even in the palace, they cant
stop death from approaching them.
3) Include AT LEAST TWO quotations from the story that you referenced or used when
creating your representation of the symbol. You can write these on the back of your visual
or written work, just make sure that you mention them when you present. For my acrostic
poem, I might use the two following quotations:
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 the Red Death.
This quotation shows how decadent, or greedy and gluttonous, Prosperos guests
were being while everyone else in the kingdom suffers from the Red
Death.
There were delirious fancies such as the madman fashions. There was much of the
beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not
a little of that which might have excited disgust.
This quotation shows how fantastical the masquerade is its an escape from
reality and into fantasy, or delirious fancies. But they know they cant
run from the Red Death, who finally reveals himself at the end of the
story.
4) Tell us WHY you chose to present your symbol in this way. This can be as simple as
telling us you like to draw and decided that drawing a representation of the purple room
would help us to visualize the setting of the story. For example, with my acrostic poem, I
might say that I am not artistic, so I chose to write something. The acrostic poem allowed
me to touch on a lot of different ideas in a short poem, and each line describes one aspect
of the masquerade the central symbol. The acrostic poem allows you to visualize the
connection between the symbol and the details I added in the lines.
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IV. Closing
Feel free to ask me anything about your projects before I leave today. Additionally, if you think
of any questions later on, let Mrs. Kennedy know and she can email them to me. Ill respond as
soon as possible. Have a great weekend!

Attention to Individual Student Needs

The prereading strategy of the Tea Party allows students to first discuss their ideas in
smaller settings with a trusted peer or friend before sharing with the entire class. For English
Language Learners who may have trouble articulating ideas in English, they may first be able to
practice sharing these thoughts with a single partner, instead of being asked to respond on the
spot in front of many peers. Additionally, students who are shy or typically reserved to speak in a
larger format may be more encouraged to participate in oral discussion via the Tea Party strategy.
A couple of the students in this class have 504 plans to accommodate their difficulty with
focusing on tasks for a longer period of time. The mobile nature of the Tea Party strategy is
meant to give these students a chance to shake loose some extra energy as well as to move
around the classroom, as typically many classrooms require students to sit in a desk for the entire
day.
Additionally, I tailored the summative assessment for this activity so that students could
feel free to create products that would be personally interesting and fun for them to complete.
Thus, I left this activity very open ended, as students could write a poem or journal entry, create
a drawing, diorama, or collage, or come to me with other ideas that I hadnt previously
mentioned. When assigning performative assessments, I think that its especially important to
consider the fact that some students do not have the equal number of resources to others, or that
they do not receive as much help at home from parents. As a result, I wanted to emphasize that
students have a number of ways to complete this assignment successfully, without pressuring
them to create something overly elaborate or outside of their comfort zones.

Technology Use
I use a PowerPoint during this lesson for several reasons, although typically I do not
favor the presentation of information solely through PowerPoint, as many of my own classes
during secondary school have done. I wanted to present the students with pictures so that they
could have visual representations of images to refer to as well as my descriptions of what
symbols and themes mean. Additionally, inserting audio clips inside the PowerPoint allowed me
to compile them in one place to create quick transition time between activities. For example, I
embedded the link to the audio version of The Masque of the Red Death as well as the sounds
of the chiming of the clock that signal when students are to switch partners during the Tea Party
strategy. This audio aid was an important tool in the lesson plan, as I did not have to raise my
voice to get students attention, and they immediately knew to transition when the signal
sounded. Additionally, the sound of the clock allowed me to introduce the concept of the
masqueraders in the story having to pause each time the clock chimes.
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How this lesson incorporates specific insights from course readings and/or class discussion
I chose to use the Tea Party strategy as a pre-reading activity for several reasons. In When
Kids Cant Read, Kylene Beers cites several of its advantages: This pre-reading strategy allows
students to predict what they think will happen next in the text as they make inferences, see
causal relationships, compare and contrast, practice sequencing, and draw on their prior
experiences (p. 94-95). In my Teaching English course, weve discussed how pre-reading
strategies are particularly important to pair with texts that we anticipate will be difficult for
readers. Edgar Allan Poe includes dark, complex themes that I wanted to preface with a strategy
that was tailored to spark discussion of these themes and the symbols Poe uses to highlight them.
The students were able to compare and contrast their symbols with others based on my color-
coded system, and in addition, I heard several drawing on prior experiences to help them predict
the events of The Masque of the Red Death. For example, one student discussed the previous
stories the class had read within their Poe mini author study, and that based on Poes voice, this
story would likely also be gory and have a dark ending.
Additionally according to Beers, the Tea Party strategy encourages active participation
with the text and gives active adolescents a chance to get up and move around the classroom (p.
94). I thought this was particularly important with my own class of 8th graders, as Ive observed
throughout the semester that they are an active and excited bunch of students who need
alternative ways to express their energies throughout the block. Although many students are
eager to share with others, several students typically remain quiet, and so I wanted to ensure
active participation from everyone and not just the few who always have their hands raised
during full class discussion. In Bridging English, Milner, Milner, and Mitchell lament that
classrooms today do not attempt to incorporate much oral discussion alongside reading lessons in
order to collaborate in imaginative group effort with other students and to animate and deepen
their understanding of lives and literature (p. 91). By allowing all students the opportunity to
discuss the text beforehand, I wished to engage students in the text in a more meaningful way
before beginning to read.
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Materials Appendix

THEMASQUEOFTHEREDDEATH

by Edgar Allan Poe

(1842)

THE "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence1 had ever been so fatal, or so
hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp
pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet
stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut
him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress
and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless2 and sagacious3. 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 castellated4 abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the
prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates
of iron. The courtiers5, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the
bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress6 to the sudden impulses of
despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the
courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the
meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of
pleasure. 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 the
"Red Death."

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged
most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball
of the most unusual magnificence.

It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was
held. There were seven --an imperial suite. In many palaces, however, such suites form a long

1 Epidemic disease with a high death rate

2 Not vulnerable to fear or intimidation
3 Insightful or wise; having shown good judgment
4 Having or resembling repeated square indentations like those in a battlement
5 A person who attends a royal court as an adviser or companion to the king or queen
6 The act of coming or going out
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and straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that
the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was very different; as might have
been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed
that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every
twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each
wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the
windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance
with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the
eastern extremity was hung, for example, in blue --and vividly blue were its windows. The
second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The
third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted
with orange --the fifth with white --the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely
shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in
heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the
windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood
color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the
profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof. There was
no light of any kind emanating 7from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the
corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a
brazier of fire that protected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room.
And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy8 and fantastic appearances. But in the western or
black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the
blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the
countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot
within its precincts at all.

It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony.
Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand
made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen9 lungs
of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so
peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were
constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound; and thus the
waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay
company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew
pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie10
or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded11 the
assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly,
and made whispering vows, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce
in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three
thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the
clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.

7 Giving out or emitting

8 Extravagantly bright or showy; tastelessly showy
9 Bold and without shame
10 State of being pleasantly in ones thoughts; a daydream
11 Spread through
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But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel. The tastes of the duke were
peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His
plans were bold and fiery, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre. There are some who
would have thought him mad. His followers felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see
and touch him to be sure that he was not.

He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments12 of the seven chambers, upon
occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the
masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque13. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy
14
and phantasm15 --much of what has been since seen in "Hernani." There were arabesque
figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies such as the madman
fashions. There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something
of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven
chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these --the dreams --writhed16 in and
about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the
echo of their steps. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the
velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The
dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away --they have endured
but an instant --and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again
the music swells, and the dreams live, and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue
from the many-tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the
chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who
venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored
panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable
carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than
any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.

But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life.
And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight
upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers
were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before. But now there were
twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more of
thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of the thoughtful among those who
revelled. And thus, too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had
utterly sunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to
become aware of the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single
individual before. And the rumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around,
there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of disapprobation
and surprise --then, finally, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.

12 Decorative details or features added to something to make it more attractive

13 Distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal or hideous
14 Pleasantly sharp and appetizing flavor; tart or spicy quality
15 Something existing in perception only; not real, imagined
16 Moved in a twisting or contorted motion, especially when struggling
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In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordinary
appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade license of the night was
nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds
of even the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which
cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are
equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed,
seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor
propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the
habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage17 was made so nearly to resemble
the countenance18 of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in
detecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad
revellers around. But the mummer19 had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His
vesture was dabbled in blood --and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was
besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which with a slow and solemn
20
movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was
seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but, in
the next, his brow reddened with rage.

"Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him --"who dares insult us
with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him --that we may know whom we have
to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!"

It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered these
words. They rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly --for the prince was a bold and
robust man, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.

It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first,
as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder,
who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer
approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the
mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him;
so that, unimpeded21, he passed within a yard of the prince's person; and, while the vast
assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his
way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him
from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple --through the purple to the green --through
the green to the orange --through this again to the white --and even thence to the violet, ere a
decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero,
maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through
the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all.

17 A persons face
18 The appearance conveyed by a persons face
19 An actor who communicates entirely by gesture and facial expression
20 Dignified or somber in manner or character
21 Not slowed or prevented
 Akers-Pecht 13

He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity22, to within three or four
feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet
apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry --and the dagger
dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death
the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers 23at
once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure
stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at
finding the grave-cerements24 and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a
rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the
night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died
each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the
last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods25 expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red
Death held illimitable dominion over all.

Name ______________________________

22 Impulsiveness, without thought or care

23 Celebrants who share in a noisy party
24 Burial garments in which a corpse is buried
25 Three-legged racks used for support
 Akers-Pecht 14

Rubrics: Representation of a Symbol from The Masque of the Red Death

Criteria 6 points 4 points 2 points 0 points

Symbolism Students project Students project Students project Student does not
vividly and for the most part represents a represent a major
accurately accurately major symbol symbol within
represents a represents a somewhat the story.
major symbol major symbol inaccurately or
within the story. within the story. with a lack of
detail.

Theme Student clearly Student connects Student connects Student does not
connects symbol symbol to a symbol to a connect the
to a theme in the theme in the theme in the symbol to a
story; the story; the story that is theme in the
connection is connection may unrelated or story.
logical. be somewhat makes for a
unclear. confusing
comparison.

Quotations Student uses two Students uses Student uses Student does not
quotations that two quotations only one use any
strongly support that somewhat quotation, or quotations or
the support the uses two textual evidence.
representation of representation of quotations that
the symbol. the symbol. do not support
the
representation of
the symbol.

Presentation Student clearly Student Student does not Student does not
explains and somewhat explain why he make use of a
defends why he explains, but or she chose to creative
or she chose to does not represent the representation of
interpret the elaborate on, symbol in this the symbol.
symbol using this why he or she way.
particular chose to
creative represent the
representation. symbol in this
 Akers-Pecht 15

way.

Cross off the points on this checklist to make sure you have all of the pieces of the project.

Do I have
An important symbol that comes up several times in the text?
A theme in the story that I tie to my symbol?
AT LEAST TWO quotations from the story about my symbol?
An explanation for why I chose to present my symbol using a poem, drawing, etc.?