Red Death plague

E733850

The Red Death plague is a fictional, gruesomely lethal disease in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death,” symbolizing inescapable mortality and the futility of wealth and isolation against death.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional disease
literary symbol
appearsInWork The Masque of the Red Death NERFINISHED
associatedColor red
associatedWith blood
decay
terror
characterizedBy profuse bleeding
red stains on the body
sharp pains
sudden dizziness
swift progression to death
climacticAppearance masked figure at the masquerade ball
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
createdBy Edgar Allan Poe NERFINISHED
defeats Prince Prospero NERFINISHED
Prospero's guests
embodiedAs figure shrouded in grave-like garments
figure with mask resembling a stiffened corpse
tall and gaunt figure
fictionalUniverse The Masque of the Red Death universe
firstPublicationYear 1842
firstPublishedIn Graham's Magazine NERFINISHED
genreContext Gothic fiction
horror literature
hasAdaptation film adaptations of The Masque of the Red Death
hasVictims Prince Prospero's courtiers
inhabitants of Prince Prospero's dominions
influenced later depictions of personified plagues in fiction
inspiredBy real historical plagues (interpretation)
interpretedAs allegory of cholera epidemics
allegory of social inequality
allegory of tuberculosis
languageOfOrigin English
medium short story
mortalityRate nearly 100 percent
narrativeFunction to defeat attempts to escape death
to penetrate Prince Prospero's abbey
opposedBy Prince Prospero NERFINISHED
partOf Edgar Allan Poe's body of work NERFINISHED
symbolizes divine or cosmic judgment
futility of isolation
futility of wealth
inescapable mortality
inevitability of death
memento mori
themeRelation illusion of safety through seclusion
inevitability of death regardless of social class
limits of human control
timeToDeath about half an hour

Referenced by (1)

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

Prince Prospero deathCause Red Death plague