10 Memorable Vincent Price Characters
6. Prince Prospero - The Masque Of The Red Death
For all its psychedelic dream sequences and surreal moments, The Masque Of The Red Death essentially boils down a good old-fashioned “just desserts” story, with a sybaritic Prince using his castle as a refuge against the plague sweeping the land being taught the error of his ways by a hooded figure who “has no master.”
Whether forcing a man to fight his father-in-law or refusing protection to villagers from the Red Death, Prince Prospero is amused by everything. Not content with having two dwarves dance for him and his guests, Prospero allows one of them to dress a friend in an ape costume and set him ablaze, which so amuses the Prince that he gives the little man a reward.
Having made a pact with the Devil, he fears neither violence nor disease, and when Death finally appears to claim him and his guests, Prospero calls the figure “Your Excellency”, mistaking it for an ambassador of Satan. When he finally figures out the stranger’s true purpose, the man tells him, “Why should you be afraid to die? Your soul has been dead for a long time.”