The Women of Eleonora, Ligeia, Berenice, and Morella

1243 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Poe's writing style

The Women of Eleonora, Ligeia, Berenice, and Morella

"Eleonora", "Ligeia", "Berenice", and "Morella" are all tales of beautiful women who die, but they are hardly the same story. They contain many of the same elements and activities, but their genius comes in the unique and sometimes subtle differences and intense endings.

In all of the stories we have a narrator who is involved with a woman whose beauty entrances him. Some of the qualities of these women overlap in their description, but each narrator admires a unique quality that becomes their obsession. The death and resurrection of these women causes mental and emotional strain on the part of the narrator.

Berenice is described as "agile, graceful and overflowing with energy" with "gorgeous yet fantastic beauty". Some of her physical characteristics included a high forehead and pale skin with "hollow temples" and curly hair. In this story the narrator is focused on Berenice's teeth. "But from the distorted chamber of my brain; had not, alas! departed, and would not be driven away, the white and ghastly spectrum of her teeth". Why the narrator chooses her teeth to obsess about is puzzling, perhaps they represent purity (Griffin) or they are special because they are the only things that did not change when she became ill. Ligeia is described as tall and slender with a "lofty pale forehead" and "skin rivaling the purest ivory". "In the beauty of face no maiden ever equaled her". The narrator notices the "gentle prominence of the regions above the temples" and her raven black tresses. But it is her "large eyes" that haunt him. Eleonora is given the characteristics of "bright eyes" and a "sweet voice". The narrator says, "The loveliness of Eleonora was that of...

... middle of paper ...

...er intimate connection to nature?

Because all of these stories are told from male narrator's point of view we are only allowed to know these women as the narrators knew them. And whether by their own admission or by the style of their narrative voice all of the narrators' mental stability is brought into question. Will the reader accept the narrator's account or does Poe intentionally cast doubt on these men to let the reader know these women only exist in the minds of the narrators?

In all of these stories the women possess the narrators in life and in death. While Poe may appear to be recycling these women, they each have unique purposes and characteristics. The attention to detail and the intricacies that Poe weaves into his tales of these women and the men in their lives, relying on the mysteries of the supernatural, makes these stories intense.

Show More
Related

  • Poe's Narrators In 'Cask Of Amontillado' And 'Fall Of The House Of Usher'

    1977 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the most famous authors in American history is Edgar Allen Poe, thanks to his intricate and unsettling short stories and poems. One of the strongest aspects of Poe’s writing style is the allure and complexity of the narrator of the story. These narrators, ranging from innocent bystanders to psychotic murderers, add depth to such a short story and really allow Poe to explore the themes of death and murder which he seems to have an unhealthy obsession towards. Furthermore, he uses these narrators to give a different perspective in each of his many works and to really unsettle the reader by what is occurring throughout the story. The narrators, whether an innocent witness of death as in "The Fall of the House of Usher" or a twisted murderer as in "The Cask of Amontillado" are used by Poe to discuss the themes of death and murder within these stories and, depending on their point of view, give a different take on such a despicable act such as murder.

    Read More

  • Woman Character of The Odyssey, Medea, and Thousand and One Arabian Nights

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literature is the key to our world or language. Many writers have emerged from this subject such as Homer who wrote The Odyssey and Euripidies who wrote about the evil Medea. Also mentioned in this paper are the Thousand and One Arabian Nights which is a collection of folktales and stories that are compiled into one. Each of these works of literature has a woman character that has many similarities in solving their problems. In The Odyssey the woman character that will be in comparison is Penelope which is Odysseus’s wife. In the story of Medea, Medea is of course the character we will be discussing and Shaharazad is the woman character from the Thousand and One Arabian Nights that will also be in comparison. Each of these women find themselves in a particularly “sticky situation.” However, Penelope, Medea, and Shahrazad are three strong women whose perseverance and cleverness help them to attain their goals.

    Read More

  • Goddesses, Whores, Wives, And Slaves: Women In Classical Antiquity

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book then talks about viewpoints of women, both real and those who face tragedy. Women during this time were very secluded and silent, but the heroines contradicted that. This chapter talks about the images of women in the classical literature in Athens, and the role they had in society. Many tragedies were ones that formed by mythes during the Bronze Age. It showed the separation in what made women heroic, rather than average. While viewing other Scholarly sourcese, Pomerory writes her own theory, she used others

    Read More

  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe

    1812 Words  | 4 Pages

    Taylor, Frederick. "The Berlin Wall: A Secret History." History Today Feb. 2007: 43-49.SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

    Read More

  • Women Behaving Like Men in Antigone, Electra, and Medea

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, it becomes obvious by these three plays that for a woman to achieve kleos in ancient Greece, she usually had to become more man-like in her role. The murders committed by Electra and Medea, the bravery of Antigone—all three of these were fulfilled by what would have normally been considered a man’s role. A woman could rarely be considered a hero unless she became like a man in her actions. Otherwise, she would be only a simple woman.

    Read More

  • Women of the Iliad

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Iliad we saw women as items of exchange and as markers of status for the men who possessed them (Chryseis and

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.

    Read More

  • The Berlin Wall And The Cold War

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    For many, the fall of the wall proved the triumph of capitalism over communism. East German communist leaders were forced out of office. Negotiations began for the complete reunification of Germany.
West German Chancellor H. Kohl assured the world that a united Germany would be no threat to peace. In October 1990, he became the first Chancellor of a reunited Germany. The construction of the Berlin wall in Germany between the 13th of August 1961 – 1989 increased tensions to a significant extent as it was a sign of dominance portrayed by the USSR, was a follow up from the Bay of pigs and U2 spy plane crisis and the US were trying to combat the USSR by setting up the Berlin airlift and demanding peace in the east. The Berlin Wall was arguably the greatest source of tension during the Cold War due to the many significant events happening before and after the construction of the wall. Finally, the construction of the Berlin Wall created significant tensions between the two superpowers, USSR and the USA, which developed into other tensions arising in the Cold War Period. I have analysed the topic ‘To what extent did the construction of the Berlin Wall increase tensions during the Cold War period’ and developed 3 strong body paragraphs that support my

    Read More

  • Significance Of The Berlin Wall

    2168 Words  | 5 Pages

    In conclusion Berlin Wall was an important milestone in the growth of the Cold War. It was the expansion that represented the thinking of a determined Communist system. Western Capitalism, which was more powerful, eventually defeated the system. The massive wall that did so much harm to a country was finally destroyed, and the people of Germany could now live the way they all wanted to live. They could live the life of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall East Germany has went through a lot of changes, and it still is not easy for all of the people in East Germany. But no matter how hard it is for the people of East Germany now, it is better than being alone and separated from their families, friends and rest of Europe.

    Read More

  • Man's Need For Woman in the Works of Edgar Allen Poe

    2192 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poe's obsession with dying women stems from his own life.  His mother died when he was only three.  His first love, Elmira Royster was forbidden from associating with him by her father.  His child-wife, Virginia, who was also his cousin, died at the age of 24.  Just when he found Elmira once again, who was by this time a widow, he died of his own health problems.  These stinging losses, especially that of his mother, left a subconscious scar in his already convoluted psyche.  Poe's personal history compelled him...

    Read More

  • The Berlin Wall

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...s website explained facts about escape attempts from the Berlin Wall that I thought would be helpful to my paper.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe´s Literature

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.

    Read More

  • Comparing Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market and William Wordsworth’s The Thorn

    1707 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...seful miscommunication between men and women. Lastly, when looking through the imagined perspective of the thoughtless male tricksters, the reader is shown the heartlessness of men. After this reader’s final consideration, the main theme in each of the presented poems is that both authors saw women as victims of a male dominated society.

    Read More

  • The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Disintegration of the Soviet Union

    954 Words  | 2 Pages

    On Sunday, August 13th, in 1962 the Eastern German government began construction of the Berlin Wall (“Berlin Wall”). The Berlin Wall was built to divide the post World War II communist ran East Germany with the democratic West Germany. On that day families in Berlin were awaken to military machinery, barbed wire coils, and armed guards. The families that had crossed the newly made border the night before to visit friends and/or family were greeted to a wall and closed transit systems (“Berlin Wall”). For them this meant they were no longer going to be able to go home and be with their family however long this division of the country would last. As the day went on some government officials in East Germany feared that the citizens would start an uprising. However, contrary to their fears the streets of East Berlin stayed eerily quiet. Almost thirty years after that day the wall still separated friends and family only miles away. The wall was a physical division between the two superpowers of the time: the East controlled by the communist regime in the Soviet ...

    Read More

  • Fall Of The Berlin Wall Essay

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    When the Berlin Wall was constructed, East Germany went into a state of panic, fell into poverty, and adopted a communist government. The citizens of the GDR were filled with terror and anxiety when the border separating them from friends, family, and lovers was constructed. Many attempted to escape but every passing day, the wall became more and more menacing. Trapped, the people of East Germany were forced to cope with the shortage of goods, accept the fact that anybody could be a spy for the STASI, and follow the rule of an oppressive government. Although conditions were grim, the people of the East united together in order to survive. The wall is but a thing of the past, but it will always be remembered by every individual in Germany and the rest of the world.

    Read More

More about The Women of Eleonora, Ligeia, Berenice, and Morella

Open Document