Edgar Allan Poe is known for the horror and thriller in his stories. He has got special skills to make readers keyed up by his writing, presentation and special style of arranging incidents of any story. The author in his highly acclaimed story, Liegia has presented a new style of horror and thrill before the readers. The author is somehow very attached to the Ligeia as he addresses the story as the best among rest of his stories. This paper discusses the author’s work and further talks about one of the main themes of the literary work by the author.
Edgar Allan Poe keeps inventing new ways and introducing new techniques to thrill and entertain the readers by his writings. In Ligeia, the author has applied his special skills to make the story standing from other common literary works. Ligeia was written a long time ago somewhere around year of 1938. The story revolves around Ligeia, a beautiful yet intelligent woman and is narrated by an unnamed and unknown narrator who gives accounts about Ligeia and describes several other incidents. The narrator talks about his relation with Ligeia describe in detail, how beautiful she was, how intellectual she was and how she died. The narrator happens to be her husband and when she died he remarried another woman. When that woman died the narrator did not cremate her body but kept the body with him and suddenly she woke up but this time she was in the reincarnated as Ligeia. This scene of the story leaves the readers horrified.
The author wanted to show that narrator had a huge amount of affection with Ligeia. He used to rely on Ligeia for everything and trusted her like a kid. When Ligeia died, he became like an orphan but life does not wait or stop for anything and for this reason the narrator wanted to forget the name of Ligeia as once while narrating the story he forgets the name of Ligeia. He remarries another woman and tries to move on in his life but there are several things of his past life that prevents him at every step. Narrator was overwhelmed by her beauty as well as by her intelligence. He used to remember her with love, affection and whenever he felt alone at any point in his life. The author has tried to present the romanticism in a different way as he mentions two different women in the story. Through the instance of possession of Rowena by Ligeia, author has tried to indicate the external powers that exist in the world of humans. Author suggests that a person lives and dies as per his or her will powers. To remain in existence, the will power is not only necessary but it decides the way how a person lives or dies. Author has a bit exaggerated though that will power can cause a dead man to return in the world of humans.1
Edgar Allan Poe has further figured out the love of the narrator. Though he is a very practical man and tries to forget his beautiful and intelligent wife after her death. He also remarries another woman but he finds himself unable when it comes to forget his previous wife. He realizes that his second wife has come to know that he was unable to forget Ligeia. As soon as second wife realizes this thing, she feels isolated and the narrator again turns towards his first wife, his love Ligeia. He starts remembering her desperately and without caring about his second wife. When his second wife also dies, it was his love that brought back his first wife whom he loved more than anything in this world. This way author has stressed on the theme of Love and hate in a significant way.
Love and Hate:
The story Ligeia is knitted around emotion of love and hate. The narrator was deeply in love with his wife Ligeia and was not able to forget her even after her death. He was completely dependent on Ligeia for all his activities. After her death he tries to forget her. The author mentioned that narrator tries very hard to forget her as he was unable to recall her last name. The narrator had shown his hate against his second wife Rowena. He never paid attention towards her and always neglected her in some or other manner. Narrator’s behavior was main cause for death of her second wife Rowena. She dies due to fact that her husband is unable to forget his first wife and do not love her.
Edgar Allen Poe in his story presented that a person can not reflect the same behavior and emotions for all. If love someone it does not mean that he will love others too. In Ligeia narrator loves his wife first wife Ligeia so much but never loved his second wife. Narrators’ love for Ligeia was so strong that she develops strong will for rebirth. Ligeia was having strong will to comeback to his life due to his immense love for her. She enters in dead body of Rowena and take rebirth. 2
The story is very similar with the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” in which Madeline was possessing extraordinary superhuman power to live. In both the stories women were supposed to be dead who lived again because of their strong will to survive for love. The gothic fright created in the mind of narrator after re-birth of Ligeia was sign of love for him. the narrator loves Ligeia very much but after her re-birth, she created a fear in the mind of narrators. In that situation narrator love for himself was overridden on the love for Ligeia.
The writer in his stories depicted the complex physiological conditions by elaborating upon two different and conflicting emotions like love and hate. Poe very beautifully merges these two emotions as if they were related to each other. In all his stories Poe had shown an intense connection between love and hate. The way he converts narrator’s emotions from love to hate is amazing and brilliant piece of literary example for other writers. Poe’s stories are in some manner influenced by the theories of S. Freud, an psychoanalyst of 20th century. Poe in similar manner as S. Freud, elaborate both emotions that influenced by place, time and other related situations. As per Poe it is not necessary that a person will love or hate someone throughout the time.
The writer very effectively presented the love and hate relationship in all his stories. All the characters of his stories are involved and responsible for death of the person whom they loved. The narrator of the story “Tell-tale a heart” mentioned that he really loved old person but due his unstable mental condition and malevolence tendency lead him for his murder. Narrator mentioned that his evil eye was responsible for his murder. In the story narrator was very much in love with old person but still murdered. In the same way narrator of the story “The black cat” mentioned his affection for Pluto as well as for his wife. In story “William Wilson” Narrator’s love changed into hate and anger as the protagonists got addicted to alcohol and sink into crime. In another story “The Oval Portrait” writer depicted love and hate. The main character of the story was very much in love with his wife but his love was under shadow due to his devotion towards his painting. He was very committed towards painting and his love for art that he neglected his wife. His wife die because she felt that her husband don’t love her. 3
Poe also written on criminal protagonist like the main character Montresor of the story “The cask of Amontillado”. Since beginning of the story Montresor was full of hate for his enemies but at later stage his hate became more ominous and implacable. The reason for his hate was the mask of affection and love presented by his enemies. Montresor's fake counseling for Fortunato's wellbeing and health is eventually exposed as a strategy to entice Fortunato to his demise.
.Conclusion:
After having observed the abovementioned analysis of the subject matter, it is good to conclude that the author is a master in writing brilliant horror and thriller stories. He also manages to include different emotions in the stories wherever and whenever they are required in his own and a brilliant way. The story, Legia is a blend of love and hate along with several other emotional and entertaining factors that author intertwines together for the readers. All the incidents have been arranged in a very beautiful way that keeps the readers intact with the story line from beginning to the end. The story was written and published in the early of 1938 but it is still read with the same taste and passion as if it is a new account of the things that took place at any point of time in our neighborhood. Author succeeds in his mission and made his presence among the best storytellers of the world.
References
Horn, Jessica. Edgar Allan Poe's Short Story "Ligeia" as a Text of the Romantic Period. Saarbrucken: GRIN Verlag, 2009.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Ligeia. United States of America: United Holdings Group, 1994.
—. Tales of Mystery and Imagination. London: Collector's Library, 2009.
