The Masque of the Red Death
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Masque of the Red Death" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in 1842.
[edit] About the Plot
The story takes place at the abbey of Prince Prospero. Prospero and one thousand other nobles have fled to a walled abbey to escape the Red Death, a terrible plague that startet in the country. The symptoms of the Red Death are terrible: the victim has convulsions and sweats blood instead of water. The plague is said to kill within half an hour. Prospero and his court show their indifference to the sufferings of the population and intend to await the end of the plague in luxury and safety behind the walls of their abbey.
The development of the plot shows that their attitude is wrong.
[edit] Publication history
Poe first published this story in the May 1842 edition of Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine as "The Mask of the Red Death." A revised version was published in the July 19, 1845, edition of the Broadway Journal under the now-standard title "The Masque of the Red Death." The story has been published in The Gold Bug and Other Tales as well as in many later collections of Poe's stories.
[edit] External links
- "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.
- Analyzing Poe's Work Biographically and Psychologically Illinois State University
