The Oval Portrait is the rhythmical creation of beauty, and that the most poetical topic in the world is the death of a beautiful woman (see "The Philosophy of Composition"). "The Oval Portrait" suggests that the woman's beauty condemns her to death. Poe suggests in the tale that art can reveal the artist's guilt or evil and that the artist feeds on and may even destroy the life he has modeled into art. "The Oval Portrait" was first published as a longer version titled "Life in Death" in "Graham's Magazine" in 1842. "Life in Death" included a few introductory paragraphs explaining how the
The Masque of the Red Death (play) The Masque of the Red Death (play) The Masque Of The Red Death was an original theatre production by British theatre company Punchdrunk, in collaboration with the Battersea Arts Centre that ran from September 2007 to April 2008 The Masque of the Red Death was a major theatre production by British company Punchdrunk, following their production of Faust in 2006 and echoing the format of that show. It played for a 7-month sold-out run, and was seen by more than 40,000 people, involving a cast of around 35 and utilising almost all of the space within the Battersea Arts Centre