The Portrayal of Women in Edgar Allan Poe's Literature
Not only does Ligeia's unusual beauty represents the main theme throughout the story, but the text reflects Poe's rejecting the "ordinary", a common theme in literature. The writer rejects classical values and welcomes supernatural through unusual, mysterious beauty.
Ligeia was extremely beautiful, she knew a lot. A relationship with the narrator was a deep affection. He describes her very precisely as being afraid to omit any perfect feature: "I examined the contour of the lofty and pale forehead -- it was faultless (…), the skin rivalling the purest ivory (…), the gentle prominence of the region above the temples"… The speaker portrays his perfect spouse almost like a ghost : "She came and departed as a shadow. I was never made aware of her entrance into my closed study". He also thinks her beauty, more specifically her eyes, as a "strange mystery". The narrator sees a secret in his beloved eyes. Her eyes make her seem unreal because they are so "expresive" and the narrator cannot explain except that they "far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race". He even compares Ligeia's eyes to the stars: "Those eyes! Those large, those shining, those divine orbs! They became to me twin stars of Leda…". The narrator is impressed by her voice also: "which at once so delighted and appalled me -- by the almost magical melody, modulation, distinctness and placidity of her low voice."
At first it seems that the narrator is interested in Ligeia's body only, because the largest part of her portrait consists of her physical appearance. But later it appears that the narrator is also impressed by her knowledge, she was the first woman met by him who was so intelligent. And in some spheres she knew even much more than her husband: "In the classical tongues was she deeply proficient and as far as my own acquintance extended in regard to the modern dialects of Europe. I have never known her at fault".
Her beauty is very non-traditional: "features were not of that regular mould which we have been falsely taught to worship in the classical labors of the heathen".
Undoubtedly Artemisia made a big effort to rehabilitate from the story of the rape through a combined marriage, but especially through her career. Unfortunately, the episode clouded part of the artistic achievements of Artemisia, who was long considered a “curiosity...
After her initial encounter with Beauplaisir, Fantomina recognizes that merely changing her appearance will not be adequate. Her transformation into Celia takes place on multiple sensual planes, the first of which serves to confuse Beauplaisir’s hearing: “[A]ll the rest of her Accoutrements were answerable to these and joined with a broad Country Dialect, a rude unpolished Air, which she, having been bred in these Parts, knew very well how to imitate” (234). Though sight is the most powerful trope in the narrative, Haywood presents Beauplaisir’s sight as easily compromised by other sensual...
Zlotnick-Woldenberg, Carrie. "Edgar Allan Poe's "Ligeia": An Object-Relational Interpretation." American Journal of Psychotherapy 53.3 (1999): 403-12. ProQuest. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Known for his mystery, macabre and detective fiction genre, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most remembered poets of all time. Usually when people think of him, mind images of premature burials, murders, madmen, and mysterious women who are taken back from pure death like some zombie-like creatures comes to mind. In 1809, Edgar was born the second son out of three, two of which became actors. After the death of his mother and father at the age of three, John and Francis Allan raised him in Virginia. Edgar was sent to the best boarding schools and later on attended the University of Virginia where he was successfully academic. He was forced to leave due to refusement to pay his gambling debts. In 1827, he moved back to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army where his first poems titled Tamerlane, and Other Poems were published.
Finally, the third example that shows the painter is a monomaniac for that he obsesses over his painting with the respects to his painting. The painter’s obsession for his work of art that he basically abandons his wife for his art. “The painter had grown wild with the ardor of his work, and turned his eyes from canvas merely, even to regard the countenance of his wife” (Poe). The painter fixates on painting that he could not set aside time to devote to his wife. Therefore, the painter’s wife desired for him to stop painting for that she did not care for the art and commit time to her. “The painter grew tremulous, extremely pallid, aghast, and crying with a loud voice, this is Life itself! Turned suddenly to respect his beloved, but she
Throughout the life of Edgar Allan Poe, he suffered many unfortunate events and endured several difficult situations. Some speculate that it was these experiences that helped to formulate the famous writing style of Edgar Allan Poe. His dark tales such as "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" are horrific, and his poems such as "Alone" and "The Raven" show evidence that his life experiences influenced their dreariness. Poe's story plots and his own life are undeniably related and this relationship is intricately defined in many of his works.
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.
Cloris forms a hyper-masculine, godlike image of Lysander which places an immense pressure on him to live up to her expectations. Although she is simply in accordance with the ideals of men that have previously been formulated by others, her compliance with such images only creates unrealistic expectations that will likely end in disappointment. The narrator states of Cloris’ discovery, “Finding that god of her desires disarmed of all his awful fires,” (112-113) which dramatizes Lysander’s downfall. The once fearsome thing is now characterized as, “cold as flowers bathed in the morning dew,” (114) becoming an altogether feminine portrait of something that is intended to be idealized as the epitome of manliness. His premature ejaculation is the ultimate sign of his descent into a non-masculine figure and a disappointment on both ends. Both Cloris and Lysander are similarly chastised only by society’s expectations, Cloris being a woman with lust and Lysander a man without his erection, and are unable to experience guiltless or unpressured pleasure,
It is easily inferred that the narrator sees her mother as extremely beautiful. She even sits and thinks about it in class. She describes her mother s head as if it should be on a sixpence, (Kincaid 807). She stares at her mother s long neck and hair and glorifies virtually every feature. The narrator even makes reference to the fact that many women had loved her father, but he chose her regal mother. This heightens her mother s stature in the narrator s eyes. Through her thorough description of her mother s beauty, the narrator conveys her obsession with every detail of her mother. Although the narrator s adoration for her mother s physical appearance is vast, the longing to be like her and be with her is even greater.
However, this love like many in Poe’s stories wasn’t meant to last. Ligeia died young after woman falling victim to some unknown illness. This death by unknown illness is viewed to correlate directly with Poe losing so many women he loved to tuberculosis. After losing her, the protagonist finds a new love named Rowena and remarries. Rowena is opposite of Ligeia in every conceivable way. She is shorter in stature, her hair is blonde, and her eyes are of a vibrant blue. This new marriage was doomed from the start. In addition to being a couple plagued with constant fighting the narrator turns to heavy opium use to sooth his pain. The use of mind altering drugs is something Poe did in real life after the love of his life Virginia Clemm Poe: however, drugs never interfered with his writing. Both Fruzsina Iszaj and Zsolt Demetrovics explain how Poe turned to drugs to cope with his sadness with the quote, “His wife suffered tuberculosis and died an early death in 1847. Poe’s alcohol and laudanum use worsened this time, but he remained productive.” (4) In the story the holy matrimony of the narrator and Rowena and enrages the unholy spirit of the witch, Ligeia. At the end of the story Ligeig comes back to life to exact her revenge on the man who wronged her by resurrecting herself with Rowena’s corpse after she too fell victim to the
As stated by ‘The Duchess’, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s famous quote “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” As a result, beauty can describe as an inspiring view present in everything that can be seen. To begin, beauty can be viewed in a building as large and extravagant as the white house to the small hometown market or even in the sight of a single flower to a field filled with a million flowers. Also, beauty can be seen in the sunrise over the peaks of the mountains and also in the sunset glowing across a calm lake surrounded by the bright colors of the fall trees. Furthermore, people have physical beauty, which can be found in a person’s features, figure, or complexion. In the poem “Beauty & Dress” by Robert Herrick he explains the beauty he sees in his wife. Herrick states,
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.
He describes beauty as delicate and rare, unable to be established. He focuses on the lightheartedness of young girls, how they are caught up in beauty, and he warns them to be conscientious of the fact that their beauty will fade and that they cannot put all their hope on their beauty. At the same time, he encourages them to "practice" their beauty until it is gone, and he promises to celebrate that beauty as best he can, with all its value and frailty.
There is one known very influential writing style called Gothic Literature. It is not only considered to involve the horror or gothic element but is combined with romance, superstition, women in distress, omens, portents, vision and supernatural events to name a few (Beesly). The history and beginning of this era is not well known. From a few writers came this writing style that has impacted the world. A famous artists known for this type of writing is a man named Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote many short stories and poems that include horror, gothic, and romance just mentioned.
This description is not of lustrous beauty, but of the true love he felt for her. This statement and