"The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy", is an 1842 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ballwithin seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die in turn. Poe's story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading. Many different interpretations have been presented, as well as attempts to identify the true nature of the titular disease. The story was first published in May 1842 in Graham's Magazineand has since been adapted in many different forms, including a 1964 film starring Vincent Price.

A sexy, post-Apocalyptic reimagining of Poe's gothic horror story of the same name. It's 1870 and a deadly virus has decimated the population of North America. Masked corpse-collectors roam the streets, removing the bodies before the contagion can spread. Though Araby tries to escape it all with drugs and parties, even at her most intoxicated she can't forget her brother's death - or her guilt for causing it. But things begin to change when William, the fascinating proprietor of The Debauchery Club where she searches for oblivion, and Elliott, nephew of the insane dictator, enter her life. One wants her heart, and the other her name. Convinced that he has won over his uncle's army, Elliott believes that having Araby on his arm will charm the populace into supporting a new government. After all, her father is the inventor of the mask which prevents the spread of the plague and saved civilisation - for those who can afford it... But Araby's greatest interest is that his plans will make protective masks available to all citizens and, in particular, to Will's young siblings, whom she has come to love despite herself. But nothing is what it seems. A new contagion called the Red Death is sweeping the city and a shocking revelation about the origin of the new virus puts Araby's life in danger. The mob wants her. The rebels want her. And both boys want her. In this superb two-book series, what and whom Araby chooses may just decide the fate of humanity...

Bethany Griffin continues the journey of Araby Worth in Dance of the Red Death—the sequel to her teen novel Masque of the Red Death. Lauren DeStefano, author of the New York Times bestselling Chemical Gardens trilogy, called Masque of the Red Death "luscious, sultry, and lingeringly tragic." In Dance of the Red Death, Araby's world is in shambles—betrayal, death, disease, and evil forces surround her. She has no one to trust. But she will fight for herself, for the people she loves, and for her city. Her revenge will take place at the menacing masked ball. It could destroy her and everyone she loves . . . or it could turn her into a hero. With a nod to Edgar Allan Poe, Bethany Griffin concludes her tragic and mysterious Red Death saga about a heroine that young adult readers will never forget.

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, Humboldt-University of Berlin (Amerikanistik/Anglistik), course: Paradigms of American Literature: E.A. Poe, language: English, abstract: In this paper, I will examine the numerous symbols of transience Poe uses in "The Masque of the Red Death" and analyze what they represent and how they contribute or influence the plot of the story. Therefore, I will refer to the work of various literary and social scientists and critics such as Jeffrey Meyers and Sabrina Laurent, but also other scholars from different fields. In addition, I will depict that the events within the short story are intended to give an insight into the negative behavior of humans in order to serve as an example of what morally reprehensible behavior can result in. Nowadays it is common knowledge that Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most famous representatives when it comes to the involvement of personal experiences and the placement of hidden symbols in short stories and poems. The Masque of the Red Death is no exception and also represents one of Poe's most popular tales. It first appeared in Graham's Magazine in May 1842 and, due to the time it was written, was part of the so-called "Masquerades" along with three other of Poe's stories. The short story contains a decent amount of symbolism and has therefore often been interpreted differently by many literary scholars over the past years. It was investigated where the origins of the story may lie, which parallels can be drawn to the real world, what basically inspired the story and what morals can be derived from it. But many attempts have also been made to identify the true nature of the disease of the same name. Therefore, the variety of publications on this work is very broad and thus offers different answers and analysis approaches. Still, it is certain that the short story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death.

Twelve-year-old Mattie wrestles with her crush on Gemma as they participate in their school production of Romeo and Juliet in what School Library Journal calls “a fine choice for middle school libraries in need of an accessible LGBTQ stories.” Twelve-year-old Mattie is thrilled when she learns the eighth grade play will be Romeo and Juliet. In particular, she can’t wait to share the stage with Gemma Braithwaite, who has been cast as Juliet. Gemma is brilliant, pretty—and British!—and Mattie starts to see her as more than just a friend. But Mattie has also had an on/off crush on her classmate Elijah since, well, forever. Is it possible to have a crush on both boys AND girls? If that wasn’t enough to deal with, things offstage are beginning to resemble their own Shakespearean drama: the cast is fighting, and the boy playing Romeo may not be up to the challenge of the role. And due to a last-minute emergency, Mattie is asked to step up and take over the leading role—opposite Gemma’s Juliet—just as Mattie’s secret crush starts to become not-so-secret in her group of friends. In this funny, sweet, and clever look at the complicated nature of middle school romance, Mattie learns how to become a lead player in her own life.

A new selection for the NEA’s Big Read program A compact selection of Poe’s greatest stories and poems, chosen by the National Endowment for the Arts for their Big Read program. This selection of eleven stories and seven poems contains such famously chilling masterpieces of the storyteller’s art as “The Tell-tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and such unforgettable poems as “The Raven,” “The Bells,” and “Annabel Lee.” Poe is widely credited with pioneering the detective story, represented here by “The Purloined Letter,” “The Mystery of Marie Roget,” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Also included is his essay “The Philosophy of Composition,” in which he lays out his theory of how good writers write, describing how he constructed “The Raven” as an example.

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3 (A), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (American Studies), course: Edgar Allan Poe, language: English, abstract: "The Masque of the Red Death" first appeared in May 1842 in Graham's Magazine. It is generally grouped together with three other of Poe's stories, namely "King Pest", which first appeared in the Southern Literary Messenger in September 1835, "The Cask of Amontillado", published in Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book 33 in 1846, and "Hop-Frog", published in The Flag of Our Union in 1849. Since all these stories take place dur-ing the carnival season, they are called "The Masquerades". In her book "The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe. A Psycho-Analytic Interpretation", Marie Bonaparte takes a Freudian approach to Poe's stories, Sigmund Freud himself wrote the preface, and claims that all the above tales are connected to Poe's father com-plex [Bonaparte; 507]. In her interpretation of "The Masque of the Red Death", the figure of the Red Death is an incorporation of the father who returns to punish the son. This is just one reading of the story. Much has been published about "The Masque of the Red Death", one of Poe's most read tales. Scholars have tried to find its roots, like Burton R. Pollin, who assumes that Poe used his own "Shadow - A Parable" as a source for "The Masque of the Red Death". Others attempted to compare the story of Prince Prospero and his followers to other great works of art, for example Christopher Brown, who saw parallels between "The Masque of the Red Death" and Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady. A lot of research has also been done on the narrator of the tale - I will only elabo-rate on the most plausible theories on who it is that is telling this tale. Equally important, "The Masque of the Red Death" is said to contain one of the most exact definitions of the grotesque in the literary sense. Finally, as almost all of Poe's ta