The Masque of the Red Death - Generations Radio Theater Presents (NPR)

A Horror Fiction Story

Bloody party.


3.5 out of 5

A shame this is a short (really short) story. But it inspired one of the coolest characters in literature. A must read for Poe fans.

"The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous."

Edgar Allen Poe had a talent for the macabre and gothic, all wrapped up in beautiful prose. But more beautiful -- and macabre -- than most is "Masque of the Red Death," a short story crammed with symbolism, beauty, and the horror of a disease that no gates can keep outside.

A horrible plague called the Red Death (due to the bleeding from pores) is sweeping a country, killing half of the country's inhabitants in a brief time. Prince Prospero, thinking that the "external world could take care of itself," seals himself and a thousand of his closest friends inside a secluded abbey and prepares a lavish, luxurious party.

Five or six months pass, and still the prince and his pals enjoy the wild, strange parties he throws. But as a clock strikes midnight, a strange figure appears -- a blood-soaked mummer disguised as the Red Death. The enraged prince orders for him to be seized and unmashed... but the figure's true identity is more horrific than anyone can handle.

It's a simple story, and when Prince Prospero orders the doors to be sealed so they can't possibly catch the Red Death, you just know exactly what is going to happen. It's Poe's presentation that really makes the story come alive -- his lack of drama, and his sensually creepy prose.

And he takes time out of the plot to paint a beautiful, bizarre setting -- gilded, jagged, vividly colourful, with stained windows and flaming braziers, but no lights. Poe's writing is at its most exquisitely poetic here ("But the echoes of the chime die away... and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart"), and he builds up a sense of foreboding that lingers through the story.

Prince Prospero is one of those people who is always around -- because of his birth and money, he thinks he's immune. Big sense of entitlement, and he's pretty hedonistic. Yet the only compelling character in the entire story is the Red Death itself, a creepy figure who never speaks a word and who simply glides through the abbey.

"The Masque of the Red Death" is one of Poe's most unique, poetic stories, ditching your average chills in favour of a more aesthetically-pleasing kind of horror. A gothic treat.

I was on my way to pick up my parents at the train station when I turned on National Public Radio and caught this reading of "Masque of the Red Death." I was instantly mesmerized (remarkable for a station surfer such as myself). In fact, I immediately called my husband on the cell phone and made him turn it on at home. And, when my parents finally made it to the car, I shushed them and we all listened to it, with rapt attention, on the way back to my house. I can't remember the last time radio has caught my attention in such a fashion. I am going to buy several of these to play for my daughter when she gets older.

the book was awesome! I have a question to anyone out there who will answer it. In the story certain words are capitalized that really shouldn't be. Such as Time and Beauty. WHY? If anyone knows, drop me a line. NIKKICELLO@excite.com