The Mask of the Red Death

The Mask of the Red Death Summary | The Mask of the Red Death Summary

A disease called the "Red Death" had been ravaging the country for many years. The Red Death was so named due to the way it manifests itself in its victims - first there were pains and dizziness, then bleeding from the pores. Red stains on the skin were the mark that alerted everyone to the diseased; death would come within half an hour.

Despite the rampant pestilence, there was a man named Prince Prospero who remained undaunted. As the Red Death swept the country, he gathered one thousand of his friends into his massive castle. He then closed off all doors to all means of entrance or exit. Prince Prospero provided all means of sustenance and of entertainment - within the castle walls, all of their needs were met.

Around the fifth or sixth month, the Prince threw a masquerade ball. The ball was to take place in a suite of rooms the Prince had designed himself. There were seven rooms forming an imperial suite. Unlike most suites, however, which form a continuous line of rooms, these rooms were arranged in such a way that one room was not visible to the other. Each room had one narrow window of stained glass, each a different color. In six of the seven rooms, the décor corresponded to the color of the window: the first was blue, then purple, green, orange, white, and violet. In the seventh room, the décor was black and the windows a deep red color, like blood. There was also in this room a giant black clock; it would toll its chimes in conjunction with the hour, and everyone would pause in their celebration to listen to the chimes. Always the revelers and musicians would vow not to be interrupted at the next hour, but always, they would pause.

Prince Prospero had been the one to direct the terms of the masquerade - he asked that the costumes be "grotesque" (pg. 188), and the partygoers did as he wished. They are described as follows: "There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust" (pg. 188).

The party raged on until midnight. When the clock chimed again everyone paused, but so many chimes of the clock gave the revelers more of a chance to look around. They notice a strange figure. Even amidst the hundreds of odd, fantastic, and disgusting disguises, this particular costume was too much. This guest had costumed himself as someone afflicted with the Red Death.

Prince Prospero demanded to know who the person was, so that they could hang him at sunrise. Though he was within reach of everyone, the guests all shrank from him as he passed through each room. The Prince finally descended upon him with a dagger, but as he entered the final black room, he fell dead. A crowd of guests rushed forward to unmask the stranger and found there was no mask:

"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death" (pg. 193).

In the end, everyone died, the clock ceased to keep time, and the castle succumbed to darkness.