Brandon’s Reviews > The King in Yellow > Status Update

The fourth story begins with a painter, painting a picture of a lady, who is a model. The man sees a strange, corpse-like person outside and both the man and the lady begin to have erie dreams about him. Eventually, the man and the woman begin to fall in love, when the woman finds an onyx necklace contained in a box with a yellow sign on it. The corpse-like man breaks in, steals the necklace, and the two die.

A middle-aged man is listening to a sermon at a church when he notices the organist leaving the church, he is thrilled at first, having not enjoyed his "wicked" music, however, he comes back not but a minute later, and gives him a vile glare, though he believes this glare to be just a product of his imagination. The young man leaves the church after the sermon is finished, however, the organist appears to follow him.

The protagonist of the third story, a simple man who does not often find any meaning or subtly in art or music, merely hearing the melody and seeing the colors, is in church, waiting for the sermon of the preacher, a man who goes by the name "Monseigneur C". It is revealed that the protagonist has endured some form of psychological distress due to reading The King In Yellow.

In the first story, Castaige tries to kill his cousin, believing he is part of a royal lineage and that in doing so will secure the crown. In his insanity, the cops are called and he is condemned to an asylum for the criminally insane, where he would eventually die. In the next story, Alec is shown an impressive chemical that Boris Yvan has developed that turns biological life into pure, perfect marble, killing them.

In the first short story, the year is 1920, and Mr. Castaigne explains the current situation in America. Castaigne is thought by most to be partially mental, though he hates any mention of words such as "crazy". He harbors a crown within a safe and believes he is of a royal lineage. Near the end of the story, he attempts to assassinate his cousin to secure his place as a royal, however, it backfires spectacularly.