Fiction Reviews: The Masque Of The Red Death By: Edgar Allan Poe

 

The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal - the redness and the horror of blood.

The “Red Death” is a disease. Which leaves scarlet spots on the faces of its victims, the death is a matter of minutes.

The Prince Prospero, scared by this pestilence, decided to retreat in a castelled abbey with a large number of high-ranking people.

He took every measure to contrast the pestilence, he cared about the mental state of his guests knowing that  forced stay could last many months. For this reason, every kind of entertainment was available within the abbey.

The hosts defy the plague with endless parties, music, shows, they feel immune and they don’t care of the dying people outside the walls of the abbey.

In the abbey there were seven apartments with a dedicated color: Blue, Blue, Green, Orange, White, Violet, Black.

Inside this apartment there weren't any light sources. The light came from the enormous stained-glass windows overlooking the hallway, where there was a huge brazier. The purpose was to create a play of light within the apartment.

In the last apartment everything was dark, the windows were colored red. Due to optical illusions, it looked like the walls were bleeding.

On its wall there is an eerie ebony clock, its chimes can be heard throughout the abbey. Its deep and mournful toll interrupts the music and the dance every hour. Each time it chimes, the hosts stop uneasy and resume the festivities with nervous laughter.

 

Between the fifth and sixth month of forced stay, the Prince Prospero decided to organize a masquerade ball alongside the colored rooms.

It is set for midnight,  everyone must wear a mask., that cannot be red.

The hosts noticed a tall figure wrapped in funeral rags, with a mask imitating a corpse and bloodstained clothes, resembling a victim of the red death.

Prince Prospero is upset and angry, he decides to understand who was behind the mask. He chases him to the seventh room, the one where the walls seem to bleed.

The figure turns toward the Prince Prospero, then the Prince Prospero lets out a scream and falls dead to the ground.

The guests head towards the seventh room and see a tall, powerful figure. They decide to unmask him. To their surprise, the guests see that there is no one behind the mask.

The ebony clock stops, the braziers go out simultaneously, darkness reigns supreme.