In “The Masque of Red Death,” it is ironic that Prince Prospero locks himself in the castle, hoping to seal his dreaded death, but ends up trapping it in. Poe writes, “There was a sharp cry- and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon of which, instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero”(60). By trapping death inside his castle, Prince Prospero dies just as quick as the others. Despite the fact that his name is Prince Prospero, coming from prosper or prosperous, he doesn't prosper from anything. The prince also tried having a masquerade party in celebration of his heroic alacrity, but everyone died from the disease while in his isolated castle. “The Tell Tale Heart,” describes the old man, the narrator targets to murder, locking himself in his own home trying to keep out evil. He attempted to shut out the evil from the outside,“... His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers)...”(75). But, the old man kept the evil inside, the narrator. No matter how much the victim tried to keep the corruption outside from attacking him, it still got to him. The old man locked up his house, closed all windows and shutters, making it pitch black so that he could feel safe. Fear was more disadvantageous than