The Masque of the Red Death

E38865

The Masque of the Red Death is a Gothic short story by Edgar Allan Poe that allegorically explores themes of mortality and the inevitability of death through a prince’s doomed attempt to escape a deadly plague.

Observed surface forms (3)

Surface form As subject As object
Red Death 0 1
The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film) 0 1
the Red Death figure 0 1

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Gothic fiction work
allegory
short story
adaptedAs The Masque of the Red Death self-linksurface differs
surface form: The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film)

The Masque of the Red Death (1989 film)
various stage adaptations
author Edgar Allan Poe
centralCharacter Prince Prospero
centralMotif Red Death plague
clock
masquerade ball
seven colored rooms
climax revelation of the Red Death at the masquerade
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
ending death of all revelers
firstPublishedIn Graham's Magazine
genre Gothic fiction
allegorical fiction
horror fiction
hasCharacter Prince Prospero
nobles at the abbey
The Masque of the Red Death self-linksurface differs
surface form: the Red Death figure
includedIn collections of Edgar Allan Poe's tales
literaryForm prose
literaryMovement Romanticism
literarySubgenre Gothic literature
surface form: Dark Romanticism
narrativePerspective third-person narration
narrativeTimeSpan several months of the plague
notableLine "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."
originalLanguage English
placeOfFirstPublication Philadelphia
publicationYear 1842
setting Prince Prospero's abbey
medieval-like unspecified country
structure single continuous narrative
symbol The Masque of the Red Death self-linksurface differs
surface form: Red Death

ebony clock
masked figure
seven rooms
theme decadence and corruption of the aristocracy
futility of wealth against death
human denial of death
inevitability of death
isolation and escapism
mortality
tone foreboding
macabre

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Masque of the Red Death adaptedAs The Masque of the Red Death self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: The Masque of the Red Death (1964 film)
The Masque of the Red Death hasCharacter The Masque of the Red Death self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: the Red Death figure
Edgar Allan Poe notableWork The Masque of the Red Death
Edgar notableWork The Masque of the Red Death
subject surface form: Edgar Allan Poe
The Masque of the Red Death symbol The Masque of the Red Death self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Red Death