Dance of The Dead

    The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe published in 1842, is a short story which follows the story of Prince Prospero, and his attempts to avoid a dangerous plague which is sweeping across the land. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous, a plague known as the Red Death.
    Prospero hides away in his castellated abbey, along with many other wealthy noble men and women who take refuge there, and caring nothing for the dying peasants outside his abbey.
    A masqued ball is held within seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated in a different colour. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure, dressed in red attire, enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting the figure, as does each of the revellers, one by one, suffering convulsive agonies and sweating blood instead of sweat. The illustration on the left is of The Masque of the Read Death by Harry Clarke in 1919.

 And now we turn out attention to the Dance of the Dead, which has been paralleled with The Masque of the Red Death, and had the televised episode followed the original script, then it would have been easy to see why. There is a Ball in the evening, held in the Town Hall. Guests wear masques, and costumes, save for No.6 who stands out from the revellers because he is not dressed as others. No.6 wears no fancy costume, but that of his own charcoal grey suit.
    Along a corridor No.6 goes from room to room, the doors of which are all locked against him, all but one, which eventually leads him to the mortuary. And that is what the Dance of the Dead is all about death. No.6 is sentenced to death at his trial. The people are charged with carrying out the sentence, but the original script has it , that in the frenzy of the dance, everyone dies, including No.2, everyone, that is except No.6, who had become death, a plague upon the village!
I'll be seeing you