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    Masque of the Red Death
    Masque of the Red Death
    Masque of the Red Death
    Audiobook17 minutes

    Masque of the Red Death

    Written by Dan Ariely

    Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The Masque of the Red Death, a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, 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, has a masquerade ball within seven rooms of his abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. When Prospero confronts this stranger, he falls dead. The 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 disease of the "Red Death."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherListen & Live Audio
    Release dateFeb 1, 2010
    ISBN9781593165024
    Author

    Dan Ariely

    New York Times bestselling author Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University, with appointments at the Fuqua School of Business, the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Department of Economics. He has also held a visiting professorship at MIT’s Media Lab. He has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and is a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s Marketplace. He lives in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and two children.

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    Reviews for Masque of the Red Death

    4.5/5

    24 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Extremely relevant now, during the COVID-19 pandemic! Place Trump, or any other ugly, wealth and power hungry despot, in the place of Prince Prospero, and you've basically got the system we have now in the U.S.. The wealthy get protection the rest of us can only dream of. But in this story, the Prince and his 1,000 chosen ones enter a world that I could only dream of! Comeuppance! For me, in this context, the "spectral image" is a hero! Wish we had someone like him now..."And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death."

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This short story is hands down one of my favorite Poe stories! I love the symbolism and imagery in this tale. Basically, the "Red Death" is a plague that is wreaking havoc on the town in the story and Prince Prospero decides to lock himself, and many of his friends, away in his home. He ultimately ends up hosting a very grand masquerade party and while him and his people are lavishly partying it up within the confines of his sanctuary, everyone else is dying a terrible death. There are seven uniquely decorated rooms in his house where the party-goers roam while the celebrations never cease; and in the last room (decorated in black and red) there is an ebony clock which has a very eery and distinct chime that marks the end of an hour. When the clock chimes, everyone inexplicably pauses and the music stops until the clock is quiet. When midnight arrives, everyone is confronted with a terrifying figure, the "Red Death". As you can imagine, some very unfortunate and gruesome things follow the appearance of this figure. I feel like the main point in this story can really be up to anyone's interpretation. But for me, the message that is loud and clear is that you can't cheat death and that it will creep up on you (much like the "Red Death" figure) no matter what. The clock in the story is symbolic of our internal clocks that are ticking away. One thing in the story that I didn't entirely catch the meaning of initially was the seven rooms. Upon further research, I learned that some believe that the seven rooms that were featured in Poe's story are to be interpreted as the seven stages of life. To me, that makes sense after reading about the rooms in this tale. At any rate, no matter what Edgar was trying to prove, this story was an astonishing one that vividly plays out in my head every time I read it.
    • 3/5
      Rich in symbolism, a fast and entertaining read on the inevitability of death.
    • 5/5
      I love Edgar Allen Poe after I read thin in a class called great books. I have read this book like a 100 times and it still never gets old.
    • 5/5
      I have never read anything by Edgar Allan Poe before, and I've always been a bit worried about attempting to because of the hype around his writing and the reputation he has in literature.
      I found this short story amazing! It's beautifully written in a poetic, descriptive way, and even though there isn't really much of a horror aspect, the atmosphere created by the language used has you gripped from the beginning, expecting the worst.
    • 4/5
      Another one by a supreme innovator and true master. It's hard to find much of any of his work that disappoints. While he didn't invent the horror or gothic genres, I would contend he was the first and most influential in creating, shaping and sustaining such genres before the baton was later passed on to Lovecraft. Recommended, as always with Poe...
    • 4/5
      A hauntingly gothic tale showing that no one is safe from death and disease. Not the arrogant, the rich or the privileged can escape it's clutches. It's only a matter of time. Tick, tock.