Edgar Allan Poe is an experience writer who focused around the ideas of death and the emotions that come along with it. He used various examples of imagery to set the tone and mood to imply that death was upon the characters. He managed to incorporate death as a main theme into a great amount of his stories. Another element that Edgar Allan Poe commonly used was symbolism. Five short stories that all center around death are “Ligeia”, “Berenice”, “The Black Cat”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher. These stories help prove that fact that Edgar Allan Poe was infatuated with death.
“Ligeia” is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories revolving around death. This is a story about a man who had to deal with the death of two wives. He first had a wife named Ligeia. She was tall, pale, and had long black hair and he loved her dearly. Shortly after they were married she became ill and passed away. After Ligeia had died he moved to England where he met a women referred to as Lady Rowena. He quickly fell in love with her and they got married. Similarly to Ligeia, only a short period of time passed after their marriage before Lady Rowena fell ill as well. After a few days Lady Rowena appeared to be dead. The main character passed by her death bed and he saw that the color had returned back into her face. It only lasted a short period of time because next time he checked the corpse appeared to be dead yet again. The next day he was walking by and Lady Rowena seemed to be alive again because her corpse now moved to the center of the room. As her body was in the middle of the room the narrator saw a change in appearance and Lady Rowena now resembled Ligeia’s body. She was now paler, taller, and her hair was longer and black (Poe, “Ligeia”). This story is merging the ideas of both the strength of death and love. It is unknown whether Ligeia reappearing at the end was a figment of the narrator’s imagination or whether it truly happened. The main ideas of the story would still be true if it was either scenario. If it actually was Ligeia reappearing in the flesh it would have caused a great power to bring her back to the mortal world after being pronounced as dead. And if it was just the narrators mind playing tricks on him it would show the strong love for his first wife and how badly he reacted to her death. Another example of death in this story could even be the way Poe described Ligeia because her appearance seems to be similar to the grim reaper. She was very tall, slender, pale, and had dark hair which is also the image that comes to mind when one describes the grim reaper. This story defiantly is a representation of death because of the situations which the narrator had to go through and the encounter he had with Ligeia after she was dead. Another important piece of writing by Edger Allan Poe to prove his obsession of death is “Berenice”.
Poe doesn’t resemble death as obviously in this story as he did in the others. He chose to show it more through the setting and through the insanity of the characters. The story of “Berenice” is about a man named Egaeus and his cousin Berenice. At one point in time Berenice was beautiful and full of energy. She later fell ill and it took a toll on her mentally and physically. Egaeus had always been odd and full of gloom. One of his many idiosyncrasies was that he would find something and become obsessed with it. One evening Berenice came to the library in the home where Egaeus was and he couldn’t tell if she was dead or alive. Her hair was limp and her face was pale. But as soon as she smiled Egaeus became obsessed with her teeth. Once she died and was put into her grave Egaeus dug her back up and pulled out her teeth and kept them for himself in a box (Poe, “Berenice”). Death was represented physically when Berenice had fallen ill and lost off of her individuality. All the things that made her unique were gone once she became sick. She was once full of energy and happy then as time went on she grew limp and lifeless until she finally died. The library in the home where Egaeus spent a lot of his time also had a creepy feeling. It was described to dark, dreary, and full of mystery which are all also adjectives that death could be described by. “An icy chill ran through my frame; a sense of insufferable anxiety oppressed me; a consuming curiosity pervaded my soul; and sinking back upon the chair, I remained for some time breathless and motionless, with my eyes riveted upon her person”(Poe, “Berenice”). This is how Egaeus described the feelings he had once he saw his cousin after she had fallen ill and saw that death would be coming for her soon. Edgar Allan Poe did an amazing job at describing the emotions that are paired with death. “The Black Cat” is another story that s centered on death similarly to “Berenice”.
Yet another short story that Edgar Allan Poe wrote that was focused on death as the main theme was “The Black Cat”. This was a story about a man who at one point was kind and gentle to all beings. Those qualities he once had vanished. He was a raging alcoholic as well as insane. He had a cat named Pluto that made him crazy so he found the only logical way to deal with it was to hang it. The following night after he hung the cat their house burned down and him and his wife were forced to move into a cellar. It was only a short period of time after Pluto’s death before he came across another cat that had all the same characteristics as his first cat. Seeing this new cat made him fill with guilt and he could not stand it. One day it had made him so crazy he took an axe to it. His wife reacted and tried to stop her husband but he ended up killing her instead. He couldn’t figure out what to do with the body so he put it in to the wall. The police were searching for her and they finally tore down the wall and found her along with the cat (Poe, “The Black Cat”).The first example of death that Poe presented the reader with was the fact that Pluto was a black cat and black cats usually stand for superstition and witch craft. “It did not make its appearance during the night - and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul” (Poe, “The Black Cat)! The narrator was so insane that all he cared about was the cat being gone and even though he just committed his wife’s murder he slept more sound than ever. The cellar where the couple lived also created a disturbing setting. It was a dirty and dark and her body was sealed up into the wall along with the cat. Another story that helps support the fact that Edgar Allan Poe is obsessed with death is “The Masque of the Red Death”.
This is a story about a horrible illness sweeping the town and killing mass amounts of people. This illness is called the red death. Prince Prospero who is the prince of the town ignores all the common people who are getting ill and chooses to do nothing but worry about his own self. As a way to avoid coming in contact with the red death he locks himself along with a select few of his wealthy friends into his castle. Each night in the castle they throw constant parties and try to ignore the fact that death is right behind the doors. One thing the guests cannot ignore is a large chiming clock within the castle. It rings every hour and every time the clock goes off the guests become very uneasy and stop whatever they are doing. One evening a masked figure comes to the door and Prince Prospero tries to kill him. As a result at the attempt of murder the prince actually ends up dying. All the princes guest are horrified and take off the mask of this mysterious figure. When the mask is removed nothing appears to be there, the person has vanished (Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death”, 456). The murder of Prince Prospero is not the only example of death in this short story. Edgar Allan Poe makes many other subtle references that link the short story back to the common theme of death. The red death is actually a reference to the plague or otherwise known as the Black Death. It was a tragic disease in the 1300’s and killed millions of people. Another reference to death was the masked figure. He was dressed in all black which is the typical color of death or mourning. The mask which he wore was red and resembled the symptoms which a victim of the red death would encounter. When the masked person came to the door it resembled the fact that even though they were locked away death was something they couldn’t escape and it was only a matter of time before their life would come to an end. In addition to “The Masque of the Red Death” another one of Edger Allan Poes short stories is “Fall of the House of Usher”.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” signifies death through its tone and imagery. It is a story about a character named Roderick Usher who is physically and mentally ill and has his childhood friend come to help him. They live in a large decaying home which presents a very eerie setting. While living in the house Roderick’s sister falls ill and passes away. They decide to bury her underneath the home to avoid scientist digging up her body. Shortly after burying her they begin to hear noises and it drives Roderick insane and makes the narrator very paranoid. They soon realize that the noises are Madeline underneath the house and that they have accidently buried her alive. She finally makes her way out of the grave and comes back to seek revenge on them. She attacks Roderick and they both die. The narrator runs in terror from the house and as he is looking back he sees the house crumble (Poe, “The Fall of The House of Usher”, 474). This short story shows the most about how Edger Allan Poe was obsessed. He tried to find a way to make death have as large of a role in the story as possible. “I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, irredeemable, gloom hung over and pervaded all (Poe, “The Fall of The House of Usher”,478). These two sentences show what the house itself was like and that tone it set for the book. He made the setting sound like a sad, tiring, and mournful place. He didn’t only express death in people. The house was even experiencing death. Its walls were crumbled and it was decaying. Madeline being buried alive also shows death. The pain she went through would be one of the worst things that a human being could go through. When she attacked Roderick in the end she wanted to make him suffer just like she did when he buried her. She successfully made her wish come true and in the end he died. The most powerful piece was the ending when he looked back and saw the house just break into pieces. It crumbled right before his eyes. The fall of the actual house represented death the best and strongest. “Berenice” is another story written by Edger Allan Poe that shows his passion for death.
Death is a very complex concept and it is hard for some to grasp. Many people fear it and try to avoid it at all costs. On the other hand, there are people like Edgar Allan Poe who embrace it. He used death as the main focal point in a great deal of his writings. He realized that many people fear death and that actually benefited him. Edgar Allan Poe would play off of people’s fears and use it to his advantage to create a remarkable story. The constant referral to death in his stories showed that it was an obsession of his.
Bibliography
Allan Poe, Edgar. "Ligeia." Poestories.com. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/ligeia>.
Allan Poe, Edgar. "The Black Cat." Poestories.com. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/blackcat>.
Allan Poe, Edgar. "The Fall of the House of Usher." Online-literature.com. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/poe/31/>.
Allan Poe, Edgar. "The Masque of the Red Death." Online-literature.com. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/>.
"The Middle Ages for Kids - the Plague, the Black Death." Middle Ages for Kids. Web. 14 Mar. 2012. <http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/plague.html>.
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