I have a “must-read” for occupants of the White House now that Covid-19 has invaded it. In 1850, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a short story, “The Masque of the Red Death.” Even though the piece is not very long, I have taken the effort to bullet-point the plot line for those whose time is so very valuable, or attention span so very short, they cannot spare/take 10 minutes. The plot goes something like this:
• The “Red Death” was a horrible plague afflicting an un-named country causing “profuse bleeding at the pores” leading to “scarlet stains” on skin and clothing.
• It had “long devastated the country.”
• Prince Prospero, ruler of the country, had secluded 1,000 courtiers (and himself) in a “castellated abbey.”
• Once inside, the courtiers had welded the gates shut, no one in or out.
• Toward the fifth or sixth month of seclusion, the Prince gets bored and decides to give a masked ball.
• The ball is held in seven rooms, each of a different color, with matching stained-glass windows.
• One of these rooms is all in black, but the windows are scarlet — “a deep blood color.”
• A huge ebony clock ticks in this last room, striking each hour of the evening. Everyone is having a great time.
• At midnight, the black room is empty, but there comes from this room a tall, gaunt, masked figure who strikes fear in the courtiers as it walks slowly from room to room.
• The figure is shrouded as “of the grave” with a face like a “stiffened corpse” and all “dabbled in blood.”
Now, I suppose most of us can guess the rest of the story, but I will continue.
• As it approaches the room with the good prince he shouts, “Who dares insult us with the blasphemous mockery,” etc.
• The figure approaches within three of four feet of the Prince and then returns to the black room.
• The prince grabs a dagger and follows the figure, but drops dead.
OK, that’s it. Poe leaves us to figure out who the gaunt figure was. Got it?
Richard Tillberg is a resident of Whately.