History Literature / TheKingInYellow

%%* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: The later short stories - ''Prophet's Paradise'', ''Street of the Four Winds'', ''Street of the First Shell'', ''Street of Our Lady of the Fields'', and ''Rue Barrée'' have little to no involvement with the King in Yellow or the play mentioned in the book.

* PreInsanityReveal: Hildred Castaigne was a fairly normal, cheerful gentleman-about-town before a fall from a horse caused some sort of brain damage, resulting in his madness. (Or, in his own view, was a shiftless layabout before his accident led to him gaining his newfound focus.)

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: The later short stories - ''Prophet's Paradise'', ''Street of the Four Winds'', ''Street of the First Shell'', ''Street of Our Lady of the Fields'', and ''Rue Barrée'' have little to no involvement with the King in Yellow or the play mentioned in the book.

* TheUndead: "The Yellow Sign". It is linked to the eponymous play.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Anyone who reads the play.

* BerserkButton: Hildred becomes particularly agitated when people mention his time in an asylum or refer to him as crazy.

** Carcosa is a city on a distant planet, or in one of several regions on Earth. It is also either where the play takes place, or ominously nearby.
** The identities of the Stranger, the Phantom of Truth, the King in Yellow, and Hastur (as a god) are frequently conflated. Sometimes the Stranger and the Phantom are the same person, or are two different, minor antagonists in opposition to the King in Yellow. Sometimes, the Stranger, the Phantom, and the King are all the same entity, and often the King in Yellow is an avatar of Hastur.
** The Pallid Mask is associated with the Stranger in the original materials, but frequently the King in Yellow is shown wearing it.
** The Yellow Sign is never described in detail in the original stories, and each depiction is usually trademarked, forcing new versions in new visual media.

* WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture: "Government Lethal Chambers" are introduced so that any citizen who desires it can end their lives.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Chambers' "[[CrapsaccharineWorld utopian]]", reformed United States in the far-off year of our Lord... ''1920''.

* AnimalsHateHim: In ''Repairer of Reputations,'' Mr. Wilde loves his cat. The feeling is not mutual, and she eventually kills him.

* BrightIsNotGood: Hastur.

* DrivenToSuicide: "The Repairer of Reputations," "The Mask" and "The Yellow Sign".

* DuringTheWar: "The Street of the First Shell"

* GenreBlindness: [[OncePerEpisode In many of the stories]], somebody picks up a copy of ''The King In Yellow'' and reads it, even though they should know, both from the genre and from ''in-universe sources'', that the book is horrific and should never be read, no matter how artistic it is. Despite this, everyone keeps a copy on their shelf where anybody can read it and go insane. One character even mentions seeing it in bookstores...

** Implied with the Stranger in the play itself. See NotAMask, below.
* KindheartedCatLover: Severn.
** Averted by Mr. Wilde.

* NoodleIncident: Mr. Scott's love affair with Sylvia ended with him concealing an unnamed secret within the forests of Brittany.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Although [[spoiler:the evil cat is killed (and that's not even a sure thing, given that Hildred's an UnreliableNarrator putting it mildly)]], animal lovers will be pleased to note that [[spoiler:the bunny and the goldfish in "The Mask" are restored to life and the fish are immediately re-homed]].

* CatsAreMean: The titular character not only almost lives in fear of his, but also seems to enjoy it.
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation It may have just realized]] [[EvilDetectingDog its owner was a psychopath.]]

* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:We don't even know if the CrapsaccharineWorld is real or not; the tales featuring the King in Yellow play are interconnected, but this is the only one which explicitly depicts such a world.]]

[[folder:The Prophets' Paradise]]

->''"If but the Vine and Love Abjuring Band\\
Are in the Prophets' Paradise to stand,\\
Alack, I doubt the Prophets' Paradise,\\
Were empty as the hollow of one's hand."''
----

*
* ManipulativeBastard: In ''The Throng'', Pierrot convinces the narrator that the mirror was stolen rather than their purse.
*
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Street of the Four Winds]]

->''"Ferme tes yeux à demi,\\
Croise tes bras sur ton sein,\\
Et de ton cœur endormi\\
Chasse à jamais tout dessein."\\
\\
"Je chante la nature,\\
Les étoiles du soir, les larmes du matin,\\
Les couchers de soleil à l'horizon lointain,\\
Le ciel qui parle au cœur d'existence future!"''
----

* KindheartedCatLover: Severn
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Street of the First Shell]]

->''"Be of Good Cheer, the Sullen Month will die,\\
And a young Moon requite us by and by:\\
Look how the Old one, meagre, bent, and wan\\
With age and Fast, is fainting from the sky."''
----

* UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar: This short story takes place in Paris during the siege of Paris in 1870.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Street of Our Lady of the Fields]]

->''"Et tout les jours passés dans la tristesse\\
Nous sont comptés comme des jours heureux!"''
----

*
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rue Barrée]]

->''"For let Philosopher and Doctor preach\\
Of what they will and what they will not,--each\\
Is but one link in an eternal chain\\
That none can slip nor break nor over-reach."\\
\\
"Crimson nor yellow roses nor\\
The savour of the mounting sea\\
Are worth the perfume I adore\\
That clings to thee.\\
The languid-headed lilies tire,\\
The changeless waters weary me;\\
I ache with passionate desire\\
Of thine and thee.\\
There are but these things in the world--\\
Thy mouth of fire,\\
Thy breasts, thy hands, thy hair upcurled\\
And my desire."''
----

*
[[/folder]]

** [[spoiler: Hildred apparently sent a blackmailed client to kill Hawberk and Constance. We don't know what happened there but both seem to be alive at the end. Of course Hildred being [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness not exactly in touch with reality]] we can't even be sure he actually sent the guy.]]

%%* {{Anaphora}} / {{Epiphora}}: The poems in ''The Prophets' Paradise'' tends to repeat verses in each poem.
%%* ManipulativeBastard: In ''The Throng'', Pierrot convinces the narrator that the mirror was stolen.

* ManipulativeBastard: In ''The Throng'', Pierrot convinces the narrator that the mirror was stolen.

* UsefulNotes/FrancoPrussianWar: The setting of this story takes place in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

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* {{Anaphora}} / {{Epiphora}}: The poems in ''The Prophets' Paradise'' tends to repeat verses in each poem.

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