Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” was first published in 1842. It is the tall of an eccentric Prince who tries to secure his and other upper class citizens’ safety of a plague devastating his country’s populace.
The short story begins by detailing, in the most Edgar Allan Poe style, the severity of the disease they call, “The Red Death”. The symptoms are a sign to others to stay way as the disease will very shortly kill the carrier, painfully. “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.”
This disease however seemed an affliction to the poor. As many suffer, the Prince Prospero invites society’s upper class to a great castle where they can be secured by gates of iron. No one would be able to enter or leave. Here they intended to keep from becoming sick themselves. The Prince made sure that they had plenty of food, wine and even entertainment available, so that they could wait out the passing of the disease beyond their gates. For months “The Red Death” continued to infect and kill many outside of the castle.
The Prince decides to hold a masked ball. He had very unique tastes, as the castle was build and decorated to his exact design. Even the masks worn by the guests were of his decision. The ball was held within seven connected apartments. Each apartment was similarly decorated. Each was a specific unique color from floor to ceiling, including all decorations. They were lighted by large torches which were positioned outside of stained glass windows. The color of each room’s window matched the unique color of that specific room. There was one exception to this rule; in the seventh room the walls and décor were black velvet but the stained glass was red. “There flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and blackness of the sable drapery appalls.” The effect caused many guests to occupy only the first six rooms and avoid the seventh.
Against the far wall of this seventh room there was a large black clock. Each hour as the minute hand reached the twelve, the clack’s chimes rang out. Their melody was so extremely odd that on the top of every hour the entire party came to a stop and waited for the clock to finish. The sound brought on nervousness throughout the guests.
At the stroke of midnight, the chimes sounded their longest tone and with it the ball again paused. During this long pause, guest became aware of a presence of one they hadn’t noticed earlier. The costume and mask of this one guest astonished everyone into fear and terror. It resembled one who was forsaken by the Red Death. “His vesture was dabbled in blood- and his broad brow, with all the features of the face was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.”
When the Prince first lays eyes upon this, he becomes overcome with anger. He demands that the mask be removed and he who wears it to be punished. The mask of the Red Death passed by him and continues on, moving through each room. While all others were struck with fear, the Prince himself runs after this figure with a dagger in hand. As he nears the figure stops and turns to face the Prince. With a scream, the Prince drops to the floor, dead. The other guests run to seize the retreating figure and catch him under the shadow of the black clock. However they find no one hidden under the costume or mask of death. They become aware that the Red Death is among them and it kills them one by one until they have all perished.
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