MovieChat Forums > The Masque of the Red Death (1964) Discussion > Prince Prospero still won,. Francesca wa...

Prince Prospero still won,. Francesca was corrupted.

posted 11 years ago by mousalope
7 replies | jump to latest

The seeds of depravity he had planted clearly took root in her as illustrated by her placid acceptance of the burning murder, her declaration she gave herself to Prospero (and by extension Satan), and the kiss to Prospero as she leaves the Masque.

Poe should have done a sequel of her life with the boyscout. I don't believe he would have lasted long before she found him too boring. She would need to seek elsewhere for someone more stimulating as per her new outlook. If he needed to be eliminated for this to happen, she now could like with it.

Put another way, how you gonna keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paree.

[–] mikebos 11 years ago

"Poe should have done a sequel of her life with the boyscout"

She didn't exist in Poe's story. Most of this film didn't exist in Poe's story.

[–] doubl3 7 years ago

I was going to say.... I am pretty sure I read this in an English class and I liked it a lot and I do NOT remember it being very similar to this movie, so I started wondering if this wasn't what I read. I think it is, though, but just changed a lot.

I liked the movie quite a lot, though, despite changes.

[–] [email protected] 11 years ago

I didn't see that - more saw it as her becoming resigned to the fact that people can be cruel and violent. Prospero himself declared her belief rivalled his own and clearly showed her some respect at that point. When she kisses him, she does it as a kiss goodbye, regarding him with real pity - he looks puzzled and maybe a bit uncertain at that point.

Leastwise, that's how I saw it. Don't know if any others saw it the same, tho...

[–] DodgersRule 10 years ago

I didn't see corruption in her -- just a sadness at the evil she saw in men. She was willing to sacrifice herself for her loved ones but I never truly believed Francesca was corrupted.

[–] MystMoonstruck 10 years ago

I agree with the notion that she is in shut-down mode. The lives of the two most important people in her life are at stake, and she must be stoic. I believe she clings to her faith.

Her kiss to Prospero is a pure thing, perhaps a sign of forgiveness and pity, not a sexual thing.

*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***

[–] TheSolarSailor 10 years ago

I don't think she was corrupted as far as becoming some evil woman who is devoid of any morality, which is what Prospero had in mind for her. But I DO think that her faith was in question by the film's end. The whole theme of the film, at least to me, was that none of mankind's beliefs have any real influence. Prospero was just as much a victim of this as any person who believed in God. His faith in Satan was just as useless to him as the religious people's faith in God. He chose a different master, but was just like everyone else in his need to believe in a higher power which did him no good in the end. The Red Death and the other entities seemed pretty closed off from the influences of either good or evil. They are just forces of nature that serve a function. The Red Death tells Prospero that heaven and hell is what each makes creates for himself, which pretty well sums up this point and is something I think will have an affect on Francesca. I mean, there was truth in some of the things Prospero said to her throughout the film.

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] MidnightThud 9 years ago

Yeah, I didn't see her as corrupted but resigned to her fate, whatever that may have been - freedom with the lover or sexual captivity with Prospero. She had no power to decide.