History Literature / TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath

* MenacingMask: Nobleman Prospero holds a masquerade ball. At midnight, a mysterious reveller appears, wearing a "corpse-like mask" resembling "the countenance of a stiffened corpse". While everyone is disturbed by this, that is nothing compared to their horror when they realize it is the Red Death itself.

* OhCrap: The reaction of all the revelers when they learn that there is NoFaceUnderTheMask of the figure, and that the Red Death is now in their midst.
* ThePlague: The Red Death. It's so virulent that there's not even an attempt to cure or treat it -- anyone showing symptoms is just abandoned to their fate. (Whether that means ThereIsNoCure is left undetermined; Prospero comes out looking terrible in this story because he abandons his suffering countrymen and throws parties for his friends).

[[caption-width-right:350:''"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night."''[[note]]Art by Greg Hildebrandt.[[/note]]]]

* TheElitesJumpShip: Prospero and his guests are set to to wait out the plague in style and comfort as the rest of the land dies horribly. Too bad for them, the Red Death has other ideas...

* PostReleaseRetitle: When the first edition of the story was published in 1842, it carried the title "The ''Mask'' of the Red Death". When the revised final edition was published in 1845, the title was changed to the now-familiar "The ''Masque'' of the Red Death", taking emphasis away from the cloaked figure and onto the [[MasqueradeBall masquerade ball]] itself, probably to let readers know Prospero and his friends are supposed to be the evil ones here.

* NewSeasonNewName: When the first edition of the story was published in 1842, it carried the title "The ''Mask'' of the Red Death". When the revised final edition was published in 1845, the title was changed to the now-familiar "The ''Masque'' of the Red Death", taking emphasis away from the cloaked figure and onto the [[MasqueradeBall masquerade ball]] itself, probably to let readers know Prospero and his friends are supposed to be the evil ones here.

* MenacingMask: Nobleman Prospero holds a masquerade ball. At midnight, a mysterious reveller appears, wearing a "corpse-like mask" resembling "the countenance of a stiffened corpse". [[spoiler:It was the Red Death itself.]]

* NoFaceUnderTheMask: When the revelers finally rip off the figure's mask, there's nothing underneath except the disease.

Prince Prospero's home country isn't doing too well. A horrible plague called the Red Death is ravaging the countryside. The onset of the disease is marked by [[BloodFromEveryOrifice massive bleeding from the pores, especially the face]], followed by death within half an hour.

Not wanting to be troubled by the sight of dying peasants, Prospero sequesters himself and a thousand of his closest friends inside one of his secluded abbeys. Well stocked and with lots of entertainment, they plan to ride out the plague in style.

One night, Prospero decides to hold a masquerade ball in a procession of differently colored rooms. The final room is black, with blood-red windows, and has a large clock in it. Just at midnight, the guests notice a strange figure among them, costumed like a corpse who has died of the Red Death. Outraged at this show of poor taste, [[IdiotBall Prospero chases the figure into the final room]] -- and promptly drops dead. The frightened and angry revelers strip off the figure's costume to find nothing underneath it at all...[[AnthropomorphicPersonification except the Red Death, now in their very midst.]] [[EverybodyDiesEnding Then everyone dies.]] When the last guest expires, the clock stops, the lights go out, and "Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all".

[[caption-width-right:350:''"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night."'' [[note]] Art by Greg Hildebrandt.[[/note]] ]]

->''"The 'Red Death' had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour"''.
-->-- opening paragraph

* AssholeVictim: Prospero and his cronies certainly aren't good people; their response to the overwhelming human suffering caused by the Red Death is to hide themselves away and seal the doors so that the sight of death won't disturb their happiness, leaving everyone outside the abbey to fend for themselves. It's unlikely that any of them will be missed when their final fate befalls them.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Prospero's first instinct, upon seeing the figure dressed as a victim of the Red Death, is to hang it for reminding them of the plague going on outside.

* AssholeVictim: Prospero and his cronies certainly aren't good people; their response to the overwhelming human suffering caused by the Red Death is to hide themselves away and seal the doors so that the sight of death won't disturb their happiness, leaving everyone outside the abbey to fend for themselves.

* OhCrap: The reaction of all the revelers when they learn that there is NoFaceUnderTheMask of the figure that killed Prospero, and that the Red Death is now in their midst.

* AssholeVictim: Prospero and his cronies certainly aren't good people; their response to overwhelming human suffering is to hide themselves away and seal the doors so that the sight of death won't disturb their happiness.

--> ''And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.''

->''"The 'Red Death' had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour."''

One night, Prospero decides to hold a masquerade ball in a procession of differently colored rooms. The final room is black, with blood-red windows, and has a large clock in it. Just at midnight, the guests notice a strange figure among them, costumed like a corpse who has died of the Red Death. Outraged at this show of poor taste, [[IdiotBall Prospero chases the figure into the final room]] -- and promptly drops dead. The frightened and angry revelers strip off the figure's costume to find nothing underneath it at all...[[AnthropomorphicPersonification except the Red Death, now in their very midst.]] [[EverybodyDiesEnding Then everyone dies.]] When the last guest expires, the clock stops, the lights go out, and "Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

Prince Prospero's home country isn't doing too well. A horrible plague called the Red Death is ravaging the countryside. The onset of the disease is marked by [[BloodFromEveryOrifice massive bleeding from the pores, especially the face]], followed by death within half an hour

Prince Prospero's home country isn't doing too well. A horrible plague called the Red Death is ravaging the countryside. The onset of the disease is marked by [[BloodFromEveryOrifice massive bleeding from the pores, especially the face]], followed by death within an hour.

Not wanting to be troubled by the sight of dying peasants, Prospero sequesters himself and several hundred of his closest friends inside one of his secluded abbeys. Well stocked and with lots of entertainment, they plan to ride out the plague in style.

One night, Prospero decides to hold a masquerade ball in a procession of differently colored rooms. The final room is black and has a large clock in it. Just at midnight, the guests notice a strange figure among them, costumed like a corpse who has died of the Red Death. Outraged at this show of poor taste, [[IdiotBall Prospero chases the figure into the final room]] -- and promptly drops dead. The frightened and angry revelers strip off the figure's costume to find nothing underneath it at all...[[AnthropomorphicPersonification except the Red Death, now in their very midst.]] [[EverybodyDiesEnding Then everyone dies.]] When the last guest expires, the clock stops, the lights go out, and "Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Once the Red Death is revealed, no one can escape the abbey because they have welded the doors shut.

One night, Prospero decides to hold a masquerade ball in a procession of differently colored rooms. The final room is black and has a large clock in it. Just at midnight, the guests notice a strange figure among them, costumed like a corpse who has died of the Red Death. Outraged at this show of poor taste, [[IdiotBall Prospero chases the figure into the final room]] -- and promptly drops dead. The frightened and angry revelers strip off the figure's costume to find nothing underneath it at all...[[AnthropomorphicPersonification except the Red Death, now in their very midst.]] [[KillEmAll Then everyone dies.]] When the last guest expires, the clock stops, the lights go out, and "Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

[[caption-width-right:350:''And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night.'' [[note]] Art by Greg Hildebrandt.[[/note]] ]]

->''The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.''
-->-- '''Opening Paragraph'''

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/masque_5.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night.'' [[note]] Art by Abigail Larson.[[/note]] ]]

* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The figure in the Red Death costume turns out to be the Red Death itself!

* YouCantFightFate: The Red Death, like Time and Darkness, affects everyone -- not even the wealthy Prospero and his guests can keep a (malevolent) force of nature out of their festivities.