King Pest, One of Edgar

King Pest, one of Edgar Allen Poe's least popular short stories, is set in the fourteenth century during the reign of King Edward III in England. With the Bubonic plague as a backdrop, and with a progressively more grotesque ambiance and set of characters, "King Pest" would remain simply another Poe tale of the macabre. However, "King Pest" is unique among the Poe repertoire because the short story is undeniably and unequivocally a political satire.

Poe warns his readers of his intent with his subtitle: "A Tale Containing an Allegory." Thus right away, Poe asks the reader to read more between the lines than they would when reading one of his less adulterated horror stories. Furthermore, Poe begins the tale with a three-line verse that reveals its theme: "The gods do bear and will allow in kings / The things which they abhor in rascal routes." That Poe sets out to satire contemporary politics is certain. However, Poe's target is not as clear.

On the one hand, Poe directs his satirical pen at the British monarchy. In fact, the most obvious reading of "King Pest" reveals distaste for monarchy because of his referring to "the chivalrous reign of the third Edward" as well as to the titular "King Pest." On the other hand, the depiction of the Pest family denotes Poe's similar displeasure with the political and social revolutions taking place during his lifetime, especially the American Revolution.

One passage from "King Pest" particularly reveals Poe's dualistic satire: after Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin feast their eyes on their frightful company, King Pest introduces himself. The identity of King Pest can either refer to a British Monarch or to an American president, and therefore Poe could be spoofing either one.

The title character directly proclaims himself a "monarch" who rules over an "undivided empire under the title of 'King Pest the First.'" Here it would seem that Poe is clearly taking stabs at the British Monarchy, even more so because the story is set in England, not in the author's native country the United States. The phrase "undivided empire" is a sarcastic jab at the United Kingdom, especially as it had recently lost the War of American Independence at the time Poe was writing.

King Pest speaks glowingly about the undertaker's apartment as the "Dais-Chamber of our Palace," and to his cohorts as "the councils of our kingdom." His "Serene Consort" is called Queen Pest, and the other members of the grotesque council are humorously named "His Grace the Arch Duke Pest-Iferous," "His Grace the Duke Pest-Ilential," "His Grace the Duke Tem-Pest," "Her Serene Highness the Arch Duchess Ana-Pest." Finally, King Pest refers to the council's "sacred and lofty purposes." Juxtaposing monarchic titles and regalia with gory imagery of rotting corpses and paralyzed mummies half alive in coffins, Poe is unquestionably snickering at the British monarchy.

The supposedly "sacred and lofty purpose" of drinking every sip of wine, ale, and spirit in the undertaker's apartment proves to be a powerful critique of arrogant British political maneuvers during colonization and the nation's egomaniacal self-aggrandizement. One of the table's characters, a woman who "wore in a graceful and degage manner, a large and beautiful winding-sheet of the finest India lawn," is a direct reference to what Queen Victoria called the "jewel in the Empire's crown," her then-colony of India.

However, the same passage can be read entirely differently, to refer not to British self-aggrandizement and self-delusion but rather, to America's. Only a few paragraphs after the title character introduces himself to Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, the narrator refers to King Pest as "president." King Pest never refers to himself as president, however, suggesting that he believes himself more powerful, lofty, and noble than he really is. However, the "president" presides over the meeting graciously, acting as a leader but a democratic one.

Pest pays respect to his council-members and honors their unique individual talents, in accordance with the American spirit of individualism, as each of the members of Pest's cabinet demonstrates a unique specialty. Poe attributes a grotesquely enlarged facial feature to each member of the "extraordinary assembly," suggesting that American culture may exaggerate the importance of individualism or, perhaps, that American politics may overemphasize the unique features of individual states.

During a time when the American government was still working out its kinks, Poe wrote "King Pest" to illustrate the shortcomings of both Federalism and Jeffersonian democracy. Poe depicts King Pest himself was a strong "elite" political leader who Hamilton and the Federalists would have supported. Yet the grossly exaggerated facial features of the individual council members indicate that Jefferson's concept of states' rights was also deeply flawed.

Moreover, the description of the group of six hoarding the town's liquor during a time of plague may also be a stab at America's sense of Manifest Destiny, newly discovered when Poe wrote the story. The boys' club/fraternity-type atmosphere and the drinking challenge also show that Poe is poking fun of American, not British, politics.

The ultimatum delivered to Legs and Hugh Tarpaulin, that they each drink a gallon of Black Strap, and the collective responses from the council members when Legs and Tarpaulin refuse, create an atmosphere similar to those created at fraternity club meetings. Poe also draws attention to the well-known fact that many of America's founding fathers were members of closed, secret societies like the Freemasons.

For instance, the six Pests meet in a basement apartment sectioned off and hidden from the rest of town; their undertakings are secretive and supposedly serious and important; and they use strict initiation rites to indoctrinate new members. Surrounded by skulls and bones, the Pests also employ symbols of real world secret orders. These two antithetical readings of the same Poe passage prove the power of deconstructive and analytical literary criticism. Neither of these readings are correct nor incorrect.

No literary critic and no scholar can possibly know exactly what Poe intended to do when he wrote "King Pest." However, literary critics can infer much.