How long does it take to read The Masque of the Red Death?
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe takes about 35 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 35 minutes
An evening's read
First published 1922. 32 pages, about 8,800 words.
2 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 59 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 35 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 22 minutes |
The page count is the median across 85 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
"The Masque of the Red Death" (originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death: A Fantasy") is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1842. The story 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, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die in turn. The story was first published in May 1842 in Graham's Magazine and has since been adapted in many different forms, including a 1964 film starring Vincent Price. Poe's short story has also been alluded to by other works in many types of media.
Subjects: gothic fiction, horror, short story, plagues, abbeys, nobility
