Masquerade

Who’s Behind the Mask?

Upon doing a search for romance novels that include a masquerade, I found that many romance novels include the word “masquerade” in their title, and Goodreads has a list of 1,147 books that include a masquerade in the story, but not all of the 1,147 have the word “masquerade” in their title. Many of them do not look like something I would read as I only read clean and/or Christian fiction, but I just wanted to point out how often masquerades are used in romance novels.

I remember reading only one book that included a masquerade, but I was very caught up in the masquerade and found it intriguing that the gentleman revealed his name to the woman from the start. However, she did not know him, but knew a bit about him as he was from a royal family. In addition, another man comes and interrupts their conversation to ask her for a dance. This man only reveals his first name to her, and so begins a battle for the female character’s heart.

I have heard of other romance stories where the romance begins at a masquerade as well, but neither character reveals their identity and each is left wondering who it is they have found an interest in, as they have no knowledge of the person’s name or what they look like. This begins the romantic plot of the story.

After finding so many romance books that include a masquerade, I have reached the conclusion that a masquerade is a popular romance trope. Because the masquerade often includes anonymity on the part of one character or the other, it brings to mind another popular romance trope—when one character or other has amnesia, usually temporary.

There is also a very famous romance story, the original being released in installments in a Paris newspaper over the course of five months, from September 23, 1909 through January 1910, before being published as a novel just two months after the last installment appeared in the Le Gaulois. This story also included anonymity because of a mask—Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera) by Gaston Leroux first published as a novel in March 1910, later made extremely popular by Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Broadway musical.

Another popular story that includes a type of anonymity between the male and female characters is Beauty and the Beast, where the man has become a beast because of an evil spell cast upon him. Most of us are most familiar with the Disney version of this story. However, there is speculation that it originated in 2^nd Century CE in an ancient Roman tale. Other claims say that the original Beauty and the Beast was written by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve in 1740, and the most popular Beauty and the Beast story is said to have been written by Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont in 1756. All three of these stories are different from each other and different from the Disney one we all know and love.

Tropes are very popular in romance novels and these are just some examples of how you can take a popular trope, such as a masquerade, and tweak or twist it a bit to still create a romance trope that begins with initial anonymity.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Website: kellyfbarr.com

MeWe: KellyBarr8

The Tarnished Glamour of Masquerades

If you watch movies or read fiction novels, your perception of masquerades is probably of elaborate parties among the wealthy elite people in old European societies. I know that’s always been my impression. So imagine my surprise when I decided to dig into the history of masquerades and found almost the exact opposite.

The word “masquerade” has its roots in the French word “mascarade” and the Italian word “maschera”. Masquerades actually originated among the poor people of medieval Europe. However, it didn’t take long for the higher classes, especially in France, to engage in masquerade balls. One such event is known as the “Bal des Ardents” or The Ball of the Burning Men. This particular masquerade ball was held by Charles VI of France in celebration of the marriage of the Queen’s Lady in Waiting. The king and five other men dressed in costumes made of linen soaked in resin and flax was attached to this, making the costumes highly flammable. When the king’s drunken brother threw a torch at one of the dancers, they all caught on fire and only the king was saved.

Soon the excitement of masquerades spread to Venice, Italy, where anonymity was hard to come by. During this same period, African ceremonial masquerades spilled into the Caribbean and southeastern United States where it developed into carnivals.

The main rule of the masquerade was the privacy and anonymity of all attendees.

Each person’s identity was to be kept quiet, and no one dared to reveal their identity until after midnight. The costume was meant to make its wearer unidentifiable and conversations were to begin with specific phrases, such as “I know you” and “Do you know me?”

Such anonymity gave people the courage to freely express their ideas, regardless of how foolish or wicked they were without fear of retribution. However, it didn’t stop with reckless verbiage. In striving for anonymity, men often dressed as women and women as men. In addition, masquerades became a place for unescorted women. Sexual behaviors, otherwise frowned upon in society, became part of these masquerades.

One masquerade ball even enabled the murder of a King. Gustav III, the King of Sweden had consolidated power in the country and led with an autocratic rule. In 1792, King Gustav III attended a masquerade ball where he was killed by a nobleman. This gave the people a fear of masquerade balls, and masquerade events began to decline.

Carnivals had been very popular among village folks in Europe and masquerades stemmed from the carnivals. Eventually, the masquerades became popular among the aristocrats and royals, as mentioned previously. So, in addition to masquerade events diminishing due to fear, the popularity of masquerade balls also dropped when the population of the aristocrats also began to decline.

You can find her online at:

Website: kellyfbarr.com

MeWe: KellyBarr8