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The Masque of the Red Death

149 statements
28 feature instances
13 referencing feature instances

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The Masque of the Red Death	label	The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death	page	TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath
The Masque of the Red Death	comment	"The Masque of the Red Death" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous short stories, first appearing in Graham's Magazine in May 1842 as "The Mask of the Red Death". Poe rewrote and revised the tale before publication in Broadway Journal in July 1845 with its now-familiar title.Prince Prospero's home country isn't doing too well. A horrible plague called the Red Death is ravaging the countryside. The onset is marked by massive bleeding from the pores, especially the face, and the disease is inevitably (and rapidly) fatal; anyone showing those symptoms will be dead within the hour.Not wanting to be troubled by the sight of dying peasants, Prospero sequesters himself and a thousand of his closest friends inside one of his secluded abbeys. Well stocked and with lots of entertainment, they plan to ride out the plague in style.One night, Prospero decides to hold a masquerade ball in a procession of differently colored rooms. The final room is black, with blood-red windows, and has a large clock in it. Just at midnight, the guests notice a strange figure among them, costumed like a still-bleeding victim of the Red Death. Outraged at this show of poor taste, Prospero chases the figure into the final room — and promptly drops dead. The frightened and angry revelers strip off the figure's costume to find no person in it...only the Red Death, now in their very midst.Then everyone dies. When the last guest has expired, the clock stops, the lights go out, and darkness, decay, and the Red Death hold "illimitable dominion over all".On the surface it appears to be a relatively simple, straightforward story compared to the heavy likes of The Fall of the House of Usher and "The Pit and the Pendulum". However, close reading of the text reveals a story chock-full of symbolism and thoughts on the nature of death and life.Sounds like a regular trip down Poe avenue, no?
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_3e2d68db	type	Menacing Mask
The Masque of the Red Death / int_3e2d68db	comment	Menacing Mask: Nobleman Prospero holds a masquerade ball. At midnight, a mysterious reveller appears, wearing a mask resembling "the countenance of a stiffened corpse". While everyone is disturbed by this, that is nothing compared to their horror when they realize it is the Red Death itself.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_4603ea49	type	Mystical Plague
The Masque of the Red Death / int_4603ea49	comment	Mystical Plague: At least suggested, given that the Red Death personally visits Prospero and his friends to dispel their illusion of safety.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_471c46f8	type	Allegory
The Masque of the Red Death / int_471c46f8	comment	Allegory: Some scholars read the tale as one of these for the progression of life, with each successive colored room representing another stage (fittingly, Prospero dies in the final chamber, which is draped in black). On the other hand, Poe was noted for his disdain of over-analysis, so others advise just taking it as a straightforward horror story. It's worth noting when Masque was first published in 1842 it carried the subtitle "A Fantasy", which seems to indicate Poe didn't want anyone digging too deep into the meaning.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
The Masque of the Red Death / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: The Red Death successfully infiltrates the abbey and kills everyone. The last lines of the story are particularly chilling:
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_50b05d30	type	Disproportionate Retribution
The Masque of the Red Death / int_50b05d30	comment	Disproportionate Retribution: Prospero's first instinct, upon seeing the figure dressed as a victim of the Red Death, is to have them seized and hanged from the battlements for reminding them of the plague going on outside.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_5bc2106	type	Your Costume Needs Work
The Masque of the Red Death / int_5bc2106	comment	Your Costume Needs Work: The guests at the ball are all shocked by the tastelessness of someone dressing as a corpse who died of the disease they're all trying to ignore. Then someone rips the mask off and finds there's nothing under it...
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_5e4312b9	type	Tick Tock Terror
The Masque of the Red Death / int_5e4312b9	comment	Tick Tock Terror: The seventh room features a looming and ominous black clock whose tone is so peculiar and intimidating that each time it chimes, everyone pauses and feels uncomfortable. When the clock strikes midnight, the Red Death arrives. It even stops ticking when the very last person succumbs to the disease, as if it was inextricably linked to the tragedy.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_61a503a7	type	Hell Is That Noise
The Masque of the Red Death / int_61a503a7	comment	Hell Is That Noise: The clock in the black room, to the revelers. When it chimes the hour, the sound is so disconcerting that everyone stops what they're doing to listen.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_6bda9a30	type	Meaningful Name
The Masque of the Red Death / int_6bda9a30	comment	Meaningful Name: About the only thing we learn about Prospero is that he has wealth. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to save him.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_7241785e	type	You Can't Fight Fate
The Masque of the Red Death / int_7241785e	comment	You Can't Fight Fate: The Red Death, like Time and Darkness, affects everyone — not even the wealthy Prospero and his guests can keep a (malevolent) force of nature out of their festivities.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_7286e96d	type	Idiot Ball
The Masque of the Red Death / int_7286e96d	comment	Idiot Ball: You'd think Prospero would be more concerned about the strange figure who appeared out of nowhere during the party rather than what he was wearing.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_7ffc688	type	No Face Under the Mask
The Masque of the Red Death / int_7ffc688	comment	No Face Under the Mask: When the revelers finally rip off the figure's mask, there's nothing underneath.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_81c23aae	type	Bloody Horror
The Masque of the Red Death / int_81c23aae	comment	Bloody Horror: The calling card of the Red Death. We are reminded of this in one of the story's final lines:
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_851dda8f	type	Humanoid Abomination
The Masque of the Red Death / int_851dda8f	comment	Humanoid Abomination: The unknown reveler is revealed to be the Red Death itself, before it disperses and kills everyone present.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_88c6e936	type	Masquerade Ball
The Masque of the Red Death / int_88c6e936	comment	Masquerade Ball: The events of the story takes place during one of these.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_8ed5c6e4	type	Asshole Victim
The Masque of the Red Death / int_8ed5c6e4	comment	Asshole Victim: Prospero and his cronies certainly aren't good people; their response to the overwhelming human suffering caused by the Red Death is to hide themselves away and seal the doors so that the sight of death won't disturb their happiness, leaving everyone outside the abbey to fend for themselves. It's unlikely that any of them will be missed when their final fate befalls them.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_90d44f44	type	Karmic Death
The Masque of the Red Death / int_90d44f44	comment	Karmic Death: Prospero and his revelers die of the very same disease that they had sought to escape and had condemned everyone outside to.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_97e48376	type	The Elites Jump Ship
The Masque of the Red Death / int_97e48376	comment	The Elites Jump Ship: Prospero and his guests are set to to wait out the plague in style and comfort as the rest of the land dies horribly. Unfortunately for them, the Red Death has other ideas...
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_9bee1a7f	type	Eldritch Location
The Masque of the Red Death / int_9bee1a7f	comment	Eldritch Location: Prospero's abbey is played up to be this, what with its maze-like design and the highly stylized rooms complete with gothic windows and overwhelming color palettes.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_a8f905e3	type	While Rome Burns
The Masque of the Red Death / int_a8f905e3	comment	While Rome Burns: Prospero and his buddies try to party and have a good time while the Red Death ravages the rest of the country. The narrative even makes clear that they feel proof against the disease; they just don't want to watch the peasants dying.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
The Masque of the Red Death / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: The reaction of all the revelers when they learn that the costumed figure has No Face Under the Mask, and that the Red Death is now loose in their midst.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_b52355aa	type	Dying for Symbolism
The Masque of the Red Death / int_b52355aa	comment	Dying for Symbolism: As the story illustrates, no one, no matter how rich and well connected, is proof against death, nor can walls keep out a disease.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_b72b12cf	type	Blood from Every Orifice
The Masque of the Red Death / int_b72b12cf	comment	Blood from Every Orifice: The most notable symptom of the Red Death is profuse bleeding from the pores, especially the face.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_d397657d	type	Hoist by His Own Petard
The Masque of the Red Death / int_d397657d	comment	Hoist by His Own Petard: Once the Red Death is revealed, no one can escape the abbey because theyâ€™ve welded the doors shut.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_d52d28b6	type	Hypocrite
The Masque of the Red Death / int_d52d28b6	comment	Hypocrite: Prospero, most notably when he sets up the black room to have red windows to troll his guests (the sight of each other's red faces is so unnerving that most guests stay out of there) but is outraged when he sees a guest costumed as a corpse with blood on its face.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_f1a77879	type	Plaguemaster
The Masque of the Red Death / int_f1a77879	comment	Plaguemaster: Played With. The figure in the Red Death costume appears to just be a form the disease took on to spread itself into the abbey; it dissolves once it's done its job.
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The Masque of the Red Death / int_f76b8969	type	Anthropomorphic Personification
The Masque of the Red Death / int_f76b8969	comment	Anthropomorphic Personification: The figure in the Red Death costume turns out to be the Red Death itself.
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