Ebola In Poe's The Masque Of The Red Death

374 Words2 Pages
Edgar Allan Poe did not write about Ebola in his story "The Masque of the Red Death." He is not in the correct time period to know about the dreaded illness. There were no disease studies to be able to tell what the red death actually was. Finally, no one knew it was contracted, or where it was contracted from. Poe was not referencing Ebola. Here is why.

First of all, Poe wrote "The Masque of the Red Death" in 1842. Ebola was discovered in 1976. That is 134 years apart. Another type of time is the time it takes for each disease to kill you. The red death takes a mere thirty minutes to end your life. Ebola takes twenty one days to start showing symptoms. A little extra fact: the first symptoms of Ebola are those of a common cold.

The second