The Masque Of The Red Death Isolation Essay

The Downfalls of Isolation
“The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them,” Antoine de Saint-Exupery said in a famous quote. “The machine”, whether an airplane, car, or something different, will never truly help man outrun or hide from problems. “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe also paints this picture. A prince named Prospero and his closest friends desired to escape the disease called Red Death, which plagued the town around them. To accomplish this, the group hid out in an abbey, but soon discovered that they could never truly keep the disease out and ended up dying. Prince Prospero could have reached out to the dying people in the town possibly with a medicine which

his advanced doctors concocted, if one existed, but instead he withdrew himself entirely from the scene. This tragic mistake shows up often in the world today. Much like Prince Prospero and his friends, Christians may cloister away from the needs they see around them because they fear physical and emotional persecution but also because they do not believe they can make a difference in the world.
Oftentimes, Christians withdraw themselves from the needs of those around them because of anxiety of physical persecution.

Fearing death and pain for themselves and their family, Christians tend to isolate their religious selves from the world and attempt to “fit in” with the rest of the population. “There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution… with such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion,” Poe writes at two respective spots in “The Masque of the Red Death, demonstrating the fear of pain possessed by Prince Prospero and his friends which caused them to draw away into an abbey. Similarly, when Christians nowadays take a stand in foreign countries, they risk death by Islamic terrorist groups or long-term prison sentences by the government. This actually mirrors a greater problem: God’s people not fully trusting Him. Whereas God’s children should act like the patriarchs, prophets, disciples, and apostles, trusting Him so much that they go blindly into what He wishes, fully the knowing the possible earthly consequences, they tend to shy away, as their human nature prompts them to. Instead of listening to the Holy Spirit and trusting their lives in the care of the only One who can keep it truly safe, Christians trust themselves and the world. Fearing physical persecution the children of God often draw away from the needs of those around

them.
Secondly, God’s people may choose to ignore the needs of the world since they fear a less physical and more emotional persecution. Facing rejection from unbelieving family and friends presents a great challenge for Christians. Unbelievers cannot take the Christian faith seriously because God has not opened their eyes to see what He has revealed to His own. Therefore, those people might not take a Christian seriously and may avoid association with and bad-mouth that child of God. This toys terribly with emotions because these people doing the ridiculing have gained close association with the Christian, and it hurts to hear them speak that way. Although Poe does not plainly write out the reasons for Prince Prospero abandoning the townspeople, some can suppose that that he hid out of fear that his friends would not think highly of him if he offered a helping hand to the rest of the people. However, problems do not just arise in close relationships but also with unbelieving strangers, especially outspoken celebrities. It hurts emotionally and spiritually to hear people discourage the faith and laugh at God. Terror of tousled emotions often drives Christians into isolation from the world.
Finally, not believing their lives could make any difference motivates Christians to isolate themselves from the world. This problem often arises when people take Biblical truths, such as predestination, out of context. Ephesian 1:4-5a reads, “According as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.” People take this to mean that God has chosen His people, so the rest of humanity can give up on the currently unsaved because if God wants them, He will call them. However, this problem arises because humans do not always view themselves as God’s tools as well as children. Through His people, God often works out His plans for salvation of a person, and because of that, God’s people can make a difference. In Poe’s story, Prince Prospero believed the townspeople had no hope of surviving with or without help, so he withdrew his resources from them, without realizing that Someone greater than he could use him to heal the people. Refusing to correctly believe what the Bible teaches, Christians hide away from the world, believing their seemingly insignificant selves cannot make a difference.
Christians tend to hide themselves from the needs of the world out of unease of physical and emotional persecution but also due to the fact that they do not believe they can stand and change the lives of those around them. Fearing death, prison, or insult, Christians decide to stay in their comfort zones and isolate themselves. Christians also may cloister away because they refuse to believe they can make a difference among unbelievers, those thoughts generally coming from improper Scripture interpretation. However hard God’s people may try to escape their troubles through isolation, the problems still prevail and one way or another will reach the Christian. Instead of hiding from troubles, Christians should stand on their Rock and follow out His commands: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven,” (Matthew 5:16) and “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). Only then can Christ say unto His people what He says in Matthew 25:23a: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”