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
Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales are included, each in its own 32-page booklet, called "Red Tide", "Red Jack", and "Red Death" respectively. "Masque of the Red Death and other Tales" is an "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" game supplement for the Ravenloft setting, published by TSR, Inc. as a boxed set containing one 128-page book, three 32-page books, one three-panel referee screen, one 21" X 32" map sheet, one 21" X 32" poster. Design was by William W. Connors with D.J. Heinrich, Colin McComb, and Shane Hensley; editing was by Anne Brown, Jonatha Ariadne Caspian, and Richard Pike-Brown. Illustrations were by Stephen Fabian and Ned Dameron,