Prince Prospero

"Can you look around this world and believe in the goodness of a god who rules it? Famine, Pestilence, War, Disease and Death! They rule this world."

- Prince Prospero

Prince Prospero is the ruler of an Italian province and the main antagonist of the 1964 adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death, played by famed horror actor Vincent Price.

Personality
Prince Prospero is devious, calculating and sadistic.

Prospero was born and raised a satanist, and has a very cynical, realist mindset on the topic of faith. He believes that God is the truly corrupt one and that Satan is the only God that truly lives on. He has a nihilistic mindset, completely apathetic to the suffering of others and even sees amusement in it. When he is offended by Gino, he orders the village burned and him executed. When Hop-Toad has Alfredo (who is the closest thing to a friend Prospero has) humiliated and killed, Prospero holds nothing against Hop-Toad and even pays him for the entertainment.

Despite all of these qualities, Prospero does have some qualities that humanize him. Despite the confidence he has on his belief in Satan's protection, he does hold mild fear of the red death, forbidding the use of red in his guest's attire. While he holds contempt for her faith, he finds a fascination and even a warped sense of infatuation towards Francesca, dressing her in lavish gowns and even releases her fiance out into the world upon her request, with the intent of converting her to his side in the end.