What mainly does the opening paragraph of the story make clear?
MASQAURE OF THE RED DEATH

"The “Red Death” had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour."

A. A band of marauders has been terrorizing a country for a long time.

B. All of the people in the country are selfish and motivated by greed.

C. A deadly infectious disease is wreaking havoc in a country.

D. All of the above

The opening paragraph makes it clear that a deadly infectious disease is wreaking havoc in a country, as is expressed by option C and explained below.

What is the opening paragraph about?

The paragraph we are analyzing here is the opening of the story "The Masque of the Red Death," by Edgar Allan Poe. At no point does it mention marauders or greedy people, which helps us eliminate option A, B, and D.

Option C is the correct answer. In the paragraph, the narrator tells us about an infectious disease that is scaring and killing people in a country, causing havoc.

Learn more about "The Masque of the Red Death" here:

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