The Cruel Prince

A vehicle for the combined themes of identity, truth, and lying, Masks feature prominently in The Cruel Prince, especially at the end of the book. Masks are a symbol for protection, since shielding one’s face allows true emotions and identity to go somewhat undetected. Masks are literally part of the landscape of Faerie: There is a Lake of Masks, which Jude visits twice.

However, the most meaningful use of masks is during the banquet at which Balekin kills Dain and the rest of his family except Cardan. During the party afterward, Cardan appears wearing a fox half-mask. Jude calls it “flimsy” (251), suggesting that she has begun to “see through” Cardan’s adopted persona that he uses to protect himself. Shortly afterward, Jude steals a mask from another partygoer to wear herself, deciding that “covering my face is safer than not” (254). This accentuates the danger in which Jude is placed and echoes the adoption of her own persona that she has taken on as the book progresses. She draws on Cardan’s own callousness as she tries to act like a captor toward him: “I keep my expression as mask-like as I know how, as cruel and cold as the face that reoccurs in my nightmares” (259).

Furthermore, Jude and Cardan aren’t the only ones who use figurative masks—stoic or deceiving expressions—to hide their true feelings and motivations. The face of one of their supposed allies “remains unreadable, a mask” (343) at the banquet near the end of the book. And when Jude fights Madoc and she finally reveals her new self to him, he is shocked, but she is exhilarated and triumphant: “He stares at me as though I am a stranger, but I have never felt less like one. For the first time, we are both unmasked” (350). Jude realizes she can slip her “mask” on and off as she needs, a sign that she has learned to successfully navigate the politics and power hierarchies of Faerie.