"The Masque of the Red Death" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the May 1842 edition of Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine as "The Mask of the Red Death". The story was adapted in 1964 by Roger Corman into a film, The Masque of the Red Death starring Vincent Price.

Plot summary

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The story takes place at the castle of the "happy, dauntless, and sagacious" Prince Prospero. Prospero and several hundred other nobles are taking refuge in the castle to escape the Red Death, a terrible and gruesome plague that has been sweeping the land. The symptoms of the Red Death are gruesome to behold: the victim is swept by convulsive agony and sweats blood instead of water. It is said to kill within half an hour. One night, Prospero holds a masquerade ball to entertain his guests, but late into the night, he notices one figure in a grey robe resembling a funeral shroud, with a mask depicting a victim of the Red Death, which all at the ball have been desperate to escape. Gravely insulted, Prospero demands to know the identity of the mysterious guest. To the horror of all, the guest is revealed to be the personification of Red Death itself. Once this is revealed, all the guests suddenly contract and succumb to the disease. The theme of this story is how, eventually, nature punishes the proud that believe themselves invulnerable, and that no one, no matter how hard they try, can escape death, as it comes unexpectedly, "like a thief in the night."

The "Red Death"

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The nature of the disease actually depicted as the Red Death is uncertain. Some scholars feel that it is tuberculosis (or consumption, as it was known then). Poe had already lost two of his female relatives to this disease. The onset of the disease was usually heralded by coughing up of blood. The infected person then went on to develop worsening blood loss as the disease progressed to fatality.

External links

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• "The Masque of the Red Death" at EServer.org
• "The Masque of the Red Death" with annotated vocabulary at PoeStories.com
• Sabrina Laurent (July 2003). "Metaphor and Symbolism in The Masque of the Red Death", Bohème Magazine Online.

Edgar Allan Poe short stories | Selected Shorts

Die Maske des Roten Todes | La máscara de la muerte roja | Le Masque de la Mort Rouge