Have you ever wondered how Edgar Allan Poe died? Many people believe he died of rabies or alcoholism. Only one of these theories are true. These two theories that has been up for debate since the day he died. However, Poe died of alcoholism because there is more evidence supporting this theory. Poe showed the signs of being drunk before he died. Many people believe Poe died of rabies, however, doctors have said Poe did not contract rabies before he died. "Dr. Benitez admits the primary weakness in his theory, the lack of evidence of a bite or scratch" (New York Times 189). Therefore, no one has found evidence of Poe contracting rabies. Burton Pollin and Robert Benedetto, who are professors of English at the City University of New York, state that on Poe's fourth day at the hospital he became belligerent and confused. After a while, he quieted down and died (189). This was a classic case of rabies. When you have rabies, it is too painful to drink. Poe drank water. Therefore, this could not be rabies. "Rabies was well known to causes or symptoms, …show more content…
"Poe may have been too drunk to care about protecting himself against the wind and rain" (Kenneth Silverman 186). According to Burton Pollin and Robert Benedetto, Poe was found outside a Baltimore saloon on December 3rd,1849, in an alcoholic stupor and died four days later (189). Right after Poe was found drunk, he went to the hospital. Poe ended up dying four days later. When many people get too drunk, they tend to not be able to take care of themselves or care for their well-being. Joseph Evan Snodgrass, Baltimore editor and physician, attributes Poe's death to lethal alcohol use, or congestion of the brain (186). Poe abused alcohol violently, not caring about if he could get sick. Drinking alcohol could have also caused the congestion in his brain. All of these reasons could have taken part in Poe's
Scientist had thought that Poe had a severe case of the flu, which is right but it is now known as Encephalitis and Meningitis. Poe’s symptoms are similar to rabies to but there is an explanation for that. Poe did have rabies, which later on progressed into an illness that had spread into his blood. Encephalitis can be caused by rabies from any animal including insects like mosquitos. By the facts that we know, rabies do not have to show a bite-mark, not all of them are visible to human eye, so therefor Poe could have had rabies. How likely is to get bitten from a tick or a mosquito out in the wilderness traveling? It is very likely so Poe did have rabies, but he didn’t die of rabies he died from encephalitis or meningitis. Twenty-six years later after Poe had died they had decided to honor Poe by making a monument for him. When they had reburied him they had found a chunk of his brain (or a lump), scientist had found out that brain tumors don’t decay. A tumor is swelling of the body caused by abnormal growth of tissue. The swollen brain would be an explanation for this because meningitis and encephalitis is a bacterial disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord. Another reason people believe Poe died was from alcoholism. Joseph Walker thought Poe was drunk and had consumed too much alcohol. Yes Poe was found outside of a bar, but you don’t have to go to a bar to just drink. Also impaired judgment is a symptom to meningitis and encephalitis, which can explains why Poe had looked drunk. We know that Poe was an alcoholic before, so we can state that Poe could have had some drinks before hand and had made his sickness progress. People with alcoholism are at more high risk when they get meningitis or encephalitis, which could even cause death. If Poe had been drinking while he had contacted rabies and had gotten meningitis or encephalitis this is
Now he could have died differently, some people think that Edgar Allen Poe could have died from rabies. The doctor that he went to had written a report and a doctor today compared the report and concluded that he had succumbed to rabies. The report had many symptoms of rabies but many other things too. Other doctors say that he could may have not died from rabies but from hydrophobia which is caused from rabies. It was reported that he didn’t drink any water at the hospital. Some people have been diagnosed with rabies but didn’t recall being bitten by an
This last theory is based on the fact that on November 5, 1848, he tried his hand in committing suicide with an overdose of Laudanum; an opium substitute. Poe is not a stranger to substance abuse and is more often found in gambling debts. He was an introverted character that seemed to have close to a few friends. This explains why only seven people were at his
Poe could have died of alcohol poisoning, but doesn't explain his five-day disappearance and his change of clothing. Since alcohol has been a big problem in his life, Edgar could have just been tempted to drink after not having it for a while and just got out of hand. The alcohol theory was propagated by Snodgrass after Poe's death. Snodgrass was a member of the temperance movement and gave lectures across the country. Snodgrass said binge drinking caused the death of Edgar Allan Poe.
Dementia is a disease that affects the brain’s function of thinking and behavior, and in some cases language and judgment. The disease was proven to interfere with the ability to control emotions and behavior, which explains Poe’s self-destructive mind that lead to his attempt of suicide preceding his wife, Virginia’s, death.(NINDS 1) Poe’s dementia was progressive, meaning that his condition worsened throughout his life. A combination of Poe’s drinking habits and a manic depression could have contributed to this. The slight differences in Poe’s writing demonstrate the progression of mental decline. For example, his writing progresses from his early writing’s appreciation of tragic mysteries of life to an almost pure obsession of death.(Merriman 1)
Substance abuse plays a role in more than one of Poe's works. In the black cat alcohol drives the narrator to rip out his cats eye with with a pen and then hang the cat in guilt of what he had done. The narrator was a kind hearted man who loved animals and would do nothing to hurt them until he started to drink. He became an angrier person, always getting enraged with the people and creatures around him and his personality changed for the worse. Substance abuse changed him and drove him to be a different person than he really was. After killing the cat he felt little to no remorse for the deed he had committed and went back to his drinking and partying.Eventually his drinking led him to kill his wife, substance abuse changed him into a cold hearted man who could rationalize killing his wife and getting away with it.
Alcohol intoxication was clearly the cause of death for Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was found delirious off in a ditch almost a week after he had gone missing. There is proof that Poe was an alcoholic the letters that were found between him and his cousin stated that though he wished he could, he wished that he could stop drinking but it seemed as though he needed alcohol in his life. Another cause for Poe’s addiction was definitely concurring due to the loss of his parents along with the loss of the love of his life, his cousin. Through out Poes’ writing career the highs and lows of the business really also may have contributed to the amount of alcohol that he consumed. It really wasn’t until the raven when he may have lost some stress due to the high amount of receive he got from all the people writing his piece. It was the book of the century everyone loved it. Most likely the newfound fame led to stress which induced more drinking and getting more drunk every time.
Once he returned to America, he enrolled at the University of Virginia to study languages. Sadly, his life started to take a turn for the worst again. Poe soon began to drink heavily and gamble. Poe dropped out from the university once his debt became too large and damaged his relationship with his godfather Allan because he refused to repay his debts for him. Allan and Poe endured many quarrels over his debts. It was finally concluded that it would be best for Poe to join the military. While in the military, Poe published his first book, Tamerlane and Other Poems. He returned to Virginia in 1829 when he found out Frances Allan passed away from tuberculosis. Poe also published his second poetry collection Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems during this
The life of Edgar Allan Poe, was stuffed with tragedies that all affected his art. From the very start of his writing career, he adored writing poems for the ladies in his life. When he reached adulthood and came to the realization of how harsh life could be, his writing grew to be darker and more disturbing, possibly as a result of his intense experimenting with opium and alcohol. His stories continue to be some of the most frightening stories ever composed, because of this, some have considered this to be the reason behind these themes. Many historians and literature enthusiasts have presumed his volatile love life as the source while others have credited it to his substance abuse. The influence of his one-of-a-kind writing is more than likely a combination of both theories; but the main factor is the death of many of his loved ones and the abuse which he endured. This, not surprisingly, darkened his perspective considerably.
Alcoholism is the addiction to the intake of alcoholic liquor or the psychological illness and neurotic behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. There is a time and place for alcohol consumption in every culture. It’s a growing problem in America’s society and culture today. Revenge and trust are an issue in this short story. In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado, Montresor symbolizes Poe’s alcoholism, whereas Fortunato represents himself, the man who is trying to reach satisfaction and eventually gets imprisoned by his minute habit. He is attempting to get revenge on someone else because of the insults he had been given. Revenge, trust, and alcohol are all apparent in today’s society, even though this was over 150 years ago, America’s population can still relate to it.
On September 28, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe arrived in Baltimore, Maryland to take a train to Philadelphia. What was supposed to be a brief stop over turned into an eternity. What caused the death of "the father of the detective story"? The possible scenarios surrounding the events that lead up to his death are the cause of many magazine articles, books, and even recent medical studies. Although no one really knows what happened to Edgar Alan Poe, there are over twenty different theories about what might have happened to him. I will discuss the four major theories of what Edgar Allan Poe's cause of death was.
I do not believe Poe died from carbon monoxide poisoning, heavy metal poisoning or rabies. Hair samples were taken and tested for both carbon monoxide poisoning and heavy metal poisoning. Carbon monoxide poisoning resulted inconclusive while the heavy metal test showed it was 30 times lower than Mercury poisoning. Rabies was not a likely theory as Poe had no animal bites found on his body. He remained thirsty and drinking water until his death while in the hospital and people who have been infected with rabies have hydrophobia. Because of these facts, those theories are easily disproven.
Rabies is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals. The symptoms of rabies are perspiring heavily, shouting at nothing, and hallucination. Poe's doctor, Dr. Henry Wilde, said, "[Poe] had all the features of encephalitic rabies." While in the hospital, Pow was very confused and belligerent, he soon died. He had no bites or scratches, however, rabies can take up to a year to show symptoms. He could have been infected by cats, since he was fond of and had many of them. However, if he did die of rabies, the doctors would have known automatically and wouldn't rule cause of death "unknown." In the 19th century, the rabies virus was very common, all dogs had to be
It states in biography.com Edgar Allan Poe’s writing is mystery and gore it brings up many distant yet profound things that no one really thinks about even including drugs. All his writing like this that created such a vivid picture, the multitude could not help but think that there was something going on in is mind or life that was making him delirious. Despite everyone's thinking he was mostly sane with the condition of depression this might have helped him think of things that would show up in one's nightmares but it is not all that
In "The Black Cat," the author, Edgar Allan Poe, uses a first person narrator who is portrayed as a maniac. Instead of having a loving life with his wife and pets, the narrator has a cynical attitude towards them due to his mental instability as well as the consumption of alcohol. The narrator is an alcoholic who takes out his own insecurities on his family. It can be very unfortunate and in some cases even disastrous to be mentally unstable. Things may take a turn for the worst when alcohol is involved, not only in the narrator's case, but in many other cases as well. Alcohol has numerous affects on people, some people may have positive affects while others, like the narrator in "The Black Cat," may have negative affects like causing physical and mental abuse to those he loved. The combination of the narrator's mental instability along with the consumption of alcohol caused the narrator to lose control of his mind as well as his actions leading him to the brink of insanity. Though the narrator is describing his story in hopes that the reader feels sympathy towards him, he tries to draw the attention to his abuse of alcohol to demonstrate the negative affects that it can take on your life as well as destroy it in the end.