King Pest
König Pest (in the original: King Pest ) is a story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1835 , which deals with the topic of the threat of death and human freedom in a burlesque way.
action
It is plague time in 14th century London . Long, skinny Legs and stocky, fat Hugh Tarpaulin, sailors both of them, kick the bill in a London bar, flee from the innkeeper and, in their fear and drunkenness, save themselves in the forbidden restricted area where the plague rages. There they find themselves in the funeral home's hall above a large wine cellar , in which a strange company is gathered around a mighty punch vessel: a yellow-faced giant with a streak of disgusting kindness, wrapped in a black silk sheet and using a human thigh bone like a president ; a swollen water addictwith a mouth so big that her earrings fall in when she opens it, in a freshly starched shroud; a thin and small consumptive woman with a very long nose in a dying shirt made of the finest batiste; a little man in a tabard, also swollen and bursting with pride, with his bandaged leg, swollen from gout, on the table; a drunkard in the final stages, whose chin is already tied up like a dead man, whose hands are tied and whose huge ears only perk up when a bottle is opened somewhere; as well as a syphilitic person “clothed” with a coffin - holes for the arms have been cut in the side walls - who is characterized by huge bulging eyes, of which one usually only sees the white. A skeleton hangs from the ceiling above the six people who drink together from skulls, turning in the draft; A little fire burns in the skull and gives light to the gloomy scene. Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin are not particularly impressed, the latter even bursts into loud laughter, but they are asked to sit down and the chairman introduces himself and his fellow drinkers at Legs' request: He is King Pest, the dropsy is the one Queen Pest and the others are the Archduke Pestbeule (Pest-Iferous), the Duke Pest-Ilenz (Pest-Ilential), the Duke Buda-Pest (Tem-Pest) and the Archduchess Ana-Pest . And they would have gathered to promote the welfare of the all-ruling death with a wine, beer and liquor tasting. When Hugh Tarpaulin responds disrespectfully by mentioning the devil, the president condemns him and his companion to drink a gallon of port in one go for intruding. Legs says he can't, but Hugh Tarpaulin claims to make it, but mentions the devil again. "Treason!" Shouted the assembled and throw Hugh Tarpaulin into an enormous beer barrel, in which he drowns. Angry, Legs throws the King Pest down into the wine cellar and closes the door above him, tears the skeleton from the ceiling and lashes out with it so wildly that all the dukes of the plague are slain, Legs storms off with the fat lady in the death shirt, the beer barrel is upset, Hugh Tarpaulin has also saved himself and escapes with the Archduchess Ana-Pest.
The table of contents is based on the translation by Hans Wollschläger .
interpretation
As is often the case with Poe, the aim is to get rid of an apparent authority through murderous action. Here in the garb of burlesque, dressed almost like a student geek, it is King Pest with his councilors, like the fat king with his ministers in “Hopp-Frosch” 13 years later, who has to be overcome. As in “The Amontillado Barrel” in Fortunato, King Pest's fate is a wine cellar - even if he is not walled up there, but only thrown down and the trapdoor closed over him. And just as the hero escapes with his girlfriend Tripetta in “Hopp-Frosch”, here the two sailors split the two women present and escape with them to freedom. The narrative was published with the subtitle "A narrative that contains an allegory". It is an allegory of death and the diseases that cause it, but at the same time it is a parable of human freedom, which cannot be intimidated by so many horrific things. Poe takes his macabre humor to the extreme in this tale; by piling horror on horror, comedy finally arises.
The motto of the story comes from the tragedy "Gorboduc" (also "Ferrex and Porrex") by Thomas Sackville , Baron Buckhurst, and corresponds to the Latin proverb Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi . However, this view is not confirmed in the story, but refuted: King Pest and his councilors prove to be presumptuous bogeymen who are disenchanted by the two heroes by killing them and stealing their women.
See also
- Edgar Allan Poe (radio play series) , episode 23, adapted as a radio play