Description Assignment Content I've decided to make this assignment a bonus one, meaning it can rep ...

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Description Assignment Content I've decided to make this assignment a bonus one, meaning it can replace your lowest practice/participation or quiz grade for the semester. For this assignment, I'm asking you to determine the ambiguity for the questions below. Remember that the ambiguity is an area of uncertainty about a fiction work, generating the kinds of questions (or issues) resulting in the strongest claims and literary arguments. Be sure you've thoroughly and thoughtfully answered each question using evidence from Poe's story: 1) Is Prince Prospero an evil figure, or merely an eccentric, foolish one, like the paranoid millionaires of Neate's article going to extreme lengths to avoid COVID? Isn't he just reacting like any of us might, if possessed of the means to self-isolate in luxury during a pandemic? Does this make him sympathetic, or not? How else might he have responded? 2) Why such an emphasis on the ebony clock and the dramatic effect of the chime upon the revelers at the top of every hour? Why does the clock suddenly stop at the story's climax? Based on Poe's portrayal, is the clock a symbol of life (as in cherished time used to mark every moment) or death (since we are ultimately at the mercy of time, can do nothing to stop it)? Why would you argue this? 3) Is the masked and shrouded figure bearing the marks of the Red Death an actual character, or a fantastical figment of the revelers' (and Prospero's) imaginations, a psychic phenomenon so extreme they actually drop dead from fright? If he is an actual character, how is he able to get past Prospero's "strong and lofty wall"? Could he be one of the outside entertainers brought in (infecting the entire crowd of partygoers)? Explain your answer. 4) What is the greatest irony of Poe's story--the fact that 100% of these pleasure-loving isolationists are struck dead within their "sanctuary," while only 50% of the population outside the wall has perished; OR the fact these grotesque maskers suffer justifiable deaths at the hands of an even more grotesque mystery masker, who's committed no harm yet offended their sensibilities, so they rush to kill him (and are themselves killed)? Explain your choice.