The King in Yellow is a collection of short stories written by Robert W. Chambers and published by F. Tennyson Neely in 1895.
The King in Yellow takes place in an alternative 1920s, and the events in the book are centered around a fictional play of the same name and its effect on the world. There are 4 stories contained within the book.
The first story, “The Repairer of Reputations,” follows a man by the name of Hildred Castaigne, who has had his psyche negatively impacted by a rather serious fall of his horse. His mind has been further corroded by his reading of “The King in Yellow,” which is implied to have driven him to madness, and hatches a plot to take the throne of a so-called “Imperial Dynasty of America” which relates to the figures found within “The King in Yellow.”
The second story, “The Mask,” takes place in France and is narrated by a painter named Alec, who is staying with his friends Boris and Genevieve, who is Boris’s girlfriend. Boris is a sculptor, who concocts a mysterious solution capable of turning living things into marble. At the same time, Alec has found and read “The King in Yellow,” and shortly afterwards, falls into a state of delirium, made worse by the tragedy that unfolds throughout the short story, resulting in Alec’s despair and madness.
The third story, “In the Court of the Dragon,” is written from the perspective of an unnamed churchgoer, who, while attending a service, notices something off about the organ being played. Angered by such an affront to the church, the narrator curses the organist as they view him leaving the church, but notes his very sickly appearance. At some point, the organist returns and takes a seat, staring directly at the narrator. The narrator then steps outside to calm themselves, but the organist follows, and, feeling as though this is retribution by God of some sort related to their reading of “The King in Yellow,” runs through town, all while being chased by the mysterious organist.
The fourth and final story, “The Yellow Sign,” follows Mr. Scott, a painter, and his model and lover Tessie. Scott is painting Tessie as she poses, but the painting turns a sickly yellow color, leading to him destroying it. He then notices the watchman of the church outside the window, and is disgusted by the watchman’s pale, seemingly dead appearance. Tessie and Scott then recall a shared dream in which the watchman was driving a hearse with a coffin with Scott inside it. Later, as Scott is returning home, the watchman asks him if he has found the “Yellow Sign.” At his home, Scott is gifted a black onyx with a strange symbol in gold, and soon both Scott and Tessie come to read “The King in Yellow,” despite Scott’s aversion to the play and vowing to never own a copy of it. Scott and Tessie then realize the black onyx is the Yellow Sign, and then hear the sounds of a hearse as it approaches.
The major conflict of The King in Yellow stems from human nature itself, that being mankind’s tendency to go against the rules which have been set in place, even if it is for their own good. Despite the nations of the world clearly seeing the danger that lies in “The King in Yellow” and banning the play, it seems this has only heightened people’s desire to read it for themselves. Chambers’s exploration of this aspect of humanity also contributes towards the plausibility of The King in Yellow. While the existence of a play capable of inflicting madness upon those who read it is unrealistic at best, the book’s plausibility does not necessarily rest in this, rather it lies with the characters. Supposing such a play as “The King in Yellow” existed, the situation would play out much like the book: play drives people mad, governments ban said play, people still read the play and fall victim regardless. So long as rules exist, man will break them. Chambers uses his audience’s understanding of human nature to deliver his message that mankind’s curiosity and hubris will only lead them to their destruction.
Chambers’s primary focus in writing The King in Yellow is psychological horror, mainly the madness aspect of it. Chambers begins “The Mask” and “The Yellow Sign” by writing the narrators as sane and sensible human beings who somehow come into contact with The King in Yellow, and in both stories the narrators are driven to delirium by the contents of the play, having become enthralled with it, unable to stop themselves from reading it. While this already sounds bad enough, this madness also means that “The King in Yellow” is capable of bringing about harm to those who haven’t even read it. In the “Repairer of Reputations,” Castaigne believing himself to be the rightful heir to his imaginary American dynasty, is prepared to commit murder to in order to attain the crown. Other aspects of psychological horror, such as anxiety and guilt, can be found in The King in Yellow, for example in “In the Court of the Dragon” where the narrator feels guilt for having read the maddening play. The play’s impact on the world is primarily psychological in nature, with its readers going mad, but the danger is most certainly not limited to the mind, a very real physical danger is also present.
The main characters of the stories contained within The King in Yellow are plain and unassuming. Hildred Castaigne is a man who betters the reputation of clients who have fallen from grace, Alec and Scott are simple painters, and the unnamed narrator of the third story is a mere churchgoer. The only things that truly stand out about these characters is their corroded mental state, causing them to think thoughts that don’t make sense and make decisions which are unsound. The rather plain, boring, even, nature of the characters is another way in which Chambers communicates the tragedy of the situation as a whole. These people are not monsters, but normal people who have been changed beyond recognition by a simple play they read in their misguided arrogance.
As The King in Yellow is written from the perspectives of those unfortunate enough to read the play, the language of the play is, understandably, nonsensical, and the narrators can’t be trusted on their accuracy. A prime example of this comes in the form of Hildred Castaigne, and his narration during his various interactions with Mr. Wilde, a strange man who is just as mentally troubled as he is due to his reading of “The King in Yellow.” In one interaction, Castaigne says, in relation to others’ perception of Wilde: “Many called him insane, but I knew him to be as sane as I was.” Castaigne, rather than being wary of Wilde, refutes these claims of insanity, while at the same time asserting his own sanity, in spite of his previous ramblings. While in many cases, the narrator serves a trusted representative from the world of the book to us, Chambers writes his characters in a way that the reader finds it difficult to determine whether or not something is actually true or a falsity crafted by a mind fueled by lunacy. This ambiguity allows the reader to immerse themselves into this horrifying reality, to understand the fear and uncertainty which grips the world in the wake of mass hysteria.
I could not recommend The King in Yellow enough. For those familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft and lovers of psychological horror and the bizarre, this book is perfect for you. The concept of a mundane, seemingly everyday object inducing some form of madness on a global scale is still quite a novel concept, even over a century after the book’s publishing. The King in Yellow is also rather short in length, my copy being only slightly over 150 pages in length. This in conjunction with the separation of the book into short stories means that the readers don’t necessarily have to carve out a lot of time from their lives just to dedicate them to reading the story. However, some readers may find it difficult to really get into The King in Yellow due to the instability and unreliability of some of the narrators. At the same time, psychological horror lends itself to unreliable perspectives due to facets of the genre itself, such as in this case, madness. It is completely okay to want a lucid narrator capable of accurately conveying to the reader the events of the book they’re reading, but readers should also do their research and know what they’re getting into. Regardless, Chambers’s telling of an unbelievably horrific universe separate from ours, while also keeping readers engaged via their anxiousness to find out what happens to the human narrators as their stories progress solidify The King in Yellow as a book with high literary significance for those willing to embrace its absurdity.
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