The short story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Mask of the Red Death, was first published in 1842. She brought her creator only 12 dollars. Who would have thought that a short story would glorify the author throughout the world? The fact is that this is an excellent example of high-quality and exciting mysticism.
Plot
The Mask of the Red Death tells the story of the happy, wealthy, and successful Prince Prospero. He locks himself with friends in his own castle to avoid a formidable disease. Despite the general fear and horror, the hero organizes a masquerade. People in luxurious and fancy costumes come to the celebration. However, the "feast during the plague" turns into a terrible disaster: a man in a dead man’s costume, struck by a red death, is upon him. The angry owner demands a response from the impudent guest, wants to tear off his mask and execute at dawn. However, the stranger does not listen to anyone. He slowly follows into a terrible black room, where he first kills Prospero, and then his carefree guests.
Scene
In the story of Edgar Allan Poe, The Mask of the Red Death, there are many elements of Gothic literature. For example, the place where the events take place resembles a medieval castle. It has many spacious rooms, decorated in different colors. Some researchers consider this a reflection of the human mind. Like, the colors of the premises symbolize the various aspects of life. Blue, red, green, orange, white, purple and, finally, black - can talk about a person’s state during periods of birth, growing up, fading and death. The black room is especially impressive. This is the only hall in which guests refuse to have fun. It has blood-red windows that cast ominous gleams on the black walls and floor. Here are ebony watches that count the moments of human life. Many consider Prospero's swift movement through a suite of colorful rooms to be a symbol of sudden death.
Mysterious disease
The "Mask of the Red Death" describes a terrible disease that affects a sick person in just half an hour. At first he is tormented by dizziness and tormented by convulsions. Then crimson spots appear on his face. In the end, blood begins to flow from the time of the unfortunate, and he dies in terrible torment. The disease is completely fictitious.
However, ominous symptoms remind of several serious diseases that plagued the United States at the time of writing the novel.
The first is tuberculosis. According to eyewitnesses, the wife of Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia, suffered from this ailment. And, like his hero, the author did not want to acknowledge the possibility of her death.
Secondly, it is cholera. She also killed many contemporaries of the famous writer.
And the third option is the bubonic plague. This hypothesis, according to researchers, is confirmed by the place of death of the heroes of the "Mask of the Red Death" - the black room.
The essence of the work
Edgar Allan Poe wrote a magnificent short story. It depicts not just a celebration, but a mystery, a theatrical performance. A feast that ends in tragedy. Many believe that a work has only one basic idea - the inevitability of death. However, Poe was a master at the subtlest nuances and allegories. That is why his novel can not be interpreted so clearly.
An interesting version is presented by A.P. Urakov in his work “Emptiness under the mask: an anthropological aspect of the story of E. A. Poe“ The Mask of the Red Death. ”She believes that the abbey, which Prospero ordered to surround with a stone wall and iron gates, is a symbol of the body , trying to protect himself from germs. And the events described in the short story embody the confrontation between illness and health, life and death. In the seemingly healthy body - Prince Absperos Abbey - there is a mortal threat. She hid in the last, seventh There are all the attributes of a sinister affliction: black draperies, blood-red glasses, and then the visual image of the disease appears as a phantom or a ghost - a red mask of death.
The description of the life of the prince and his cheerful guests is a projection of the internal sensations of the body. Dancing people symbolize dizziness. The hourly rhythm that organizes the movement of heroes embodies an uneven pulse, etc. A fancy dress, under which there was no "anything tangible," alludes to a disease that was always present in the castle, but was seen only at the fateful holiday.
The mask of red death hides many more secrets. To understand them, it is worth reading this work, imbued with its unique atmosphere and ominous beauty.