The Mask
of the Red Death
By Ana, Emma and Clara
What was the Red
Death?
The Red Death was a terrible plague that was
everywhere in the land, that killed many people.
The symptoms were: first you felt a burning pain
in your stomach, then everything began to turn
round and round inside your head. Then blood
began to come out through your skin, but most
of all through your face.
How did people react when they saw you like
that? : they left you immediately, nobody
wanted to help you. Your horrible red face told
everyone that it was too late.
Prince Prospero’s idea
Prince Prospero was a brave, happy and wise prince, when
half of the people in his land were dead, he chose a
thousand healthy friends and took them to a house in the
middle of the forest, far from the city. It was a very large and
beautiful house, with a high, strong wall all round it. The wall
had only one door, a very strong metal one. Prince Prospero
locked it and threw the key into a lake, so nobody could
come in or out of the house. And there was plenty of food.
The big house was decorated with colorful rooms, each
representing a different time of day. But one room was
different, it was black and decorated with symbols of death.
The Rooms
Prince Prospero’s castle has lots of room, but some of them were
decorated with different colours:
1. Blue - morning
2. Purple - midday
3. Green - afternoon
4. Orange - sunset
5. White - night
6. Wine (red) - midnight
7. Black - death
These rooms show time passing from morning to death.
The Red Death appears in the black room. This means death is
always there.
The Death Night
At midnight, everyone was dancing and talking, when a
clock rang and everyone stood still, but then returned to
normal, and so on when a mysterious figure wearing a red
mask appeared. Everyone thought it was a bad joke, and
Prince Prospero was angry and wanted to know who it was.
He approached the mask, but when he tried to remove it,
there was no one underneath. The prince realized that the
red mask was Death itself. He and his guests were shocked
and scared. One by one Death touched each guest with its
red cloak, and they died instantly. The prince also died.
The story ends with everyone dead, showing that death is
unavoidable.
.
