“And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
Edgar Allan Poe
Every October, I read “The Masque of the Red Death” out loud to my hubby by candlelight. It is my favorite Edgar Allan Poe story (many others are a close second.)
As I read it this year, I couldn’t help but feel that it was a tale for 2020, for we have also been locked in our homes. I hope your decorations are a little less garish, but none the less, I could hear the similarities as I read.
This is good.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Masque of the Red Death” in 1842. The macabre tale shows us that this is not the first time humans have confronted a pandemic, and it won’t be the last. We have weathered calamities in the past, and we will get through this as well.
Even though “The Masque of the Red Death” is a tale about how you can not escape death, I find hope in its timelessness.
I hope you will read this short story this October. I have it on my shelf, but you can find a copy here for your reading enjoyment. If possible, read it out loud, with or without the candle. There is beauty in its spookiness, sort of like life.