Finishing The King in Yellow: The Sign

One of the foundations of the King in Yellow is the titular sign that appears to be a strange question mark with several extentions in various directions. The short story starts with our narrator Mr. Scott and his relationship with his model, Tessie. One of the aspects I've noticed in the stories relating to the King is the subtle hints toward the character's fate. Scott is an artist who uses lauduam to dye his paintings. This might be an incorrect connection, but i thought i should put it in here. Lauduam has a yellow tint to it when light is shone through the bottle. The substance itself is rust brown. I don't know if the artists of the time would use this mixture on paintings but the yellow tint seems to a hint to the King's coming. It's like the characters have unknowingly doomed themselves. At the same time, the Food and Drug act of 1906 limited the use of the drug. Beforehand it was unregulated to a dangerous degree though I doubt Chambers was making a comment on the drug trade. 

Back to the story, Scott and Tessie notice a strange man carrying a hearse in a cart. The man is deathly pale and has a sickly look on his face. The man mutters a haunting phrase Tessie has heard in her dreams, "Have you seen the yellow sign?" Like "Repairer of Reputations," the story takes place in a dystopia America. I found little to connect the two stories besides the play book of The King in Yellow. The book is found in Scott's collection and leads the pair to their fate. Tessie gifts Scott with an impression of the Yellow Sign but what it looks like is left up to the reader. In the clan of the story, the pale man ascends the stairs of Scott's house, likely to collect them for the hearse. Tessie faints and Scott's narration cuts off suddenly.

I've noticed that the stories seem to weave the theme of the King back and forth. Some focus on the King while others only use aspects around him. It's difficult to find connections. If this were a collection by Lovecraft, all the stories would have to do with either his Dream or Cthulhu cycles, they would be focused on a central theme. Chamber's stories seem more vague and scattered, or perhaps I lack the knowledge to make the connections.

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