29 pages • 58 minutes read
Edgar Allan PoeLigeia
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1838A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Death as Omnipresent
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ligeia,” the theme of mortality and death’s relentless hold on human existence pervades the narrative. From the very beginning, death is established as a constant and becomes its own character. The unnamed narrator’s reflections are imbued with contemplations on death’s mysterious nature and its enduring impact. The narrative commences with the narrator’s musings on the uncertainties and enigmas of death, setting the stage for an exploration of the quest to transcend mortality.
At the heart of “Ligeia” lies the central theme of the unyielding pursuit of transcendence and power over death. The story begins with a quote by Joseph Galnvill, an English philosopher, which suggests that death comes by overpowering the human will to live: “Man doth not yield him to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will” (13). Essentially, this quotation not only indicates that death’s omnipresence will frame the story, but also indicates a war between death and human will. Death is depicted as a constant opponent before the reader is even introduced to the characters.
As Ligeia becomes ill and she wrestles with her coming death, her struggles elevate the power and presence of death. The narrator explains, “[w]ords are impotent to convey any just idea of the fierceness of resistance with which she wrestled with the Shadow” (82). The irony here is that the more Ligeia and the narrator participate in a battle against death, the more death comes to have power. As a result, death is experienced as a failure and a battle lost. Ligeia’s poem that she composes and asks the narrator to read to her depicts death as a Conqueror Worm that swallows up the human.
Death’s significant presence is illuminated not only as Ligeia begins to die, but also as the narrator reflects on how death gives his love for Ligeia more meaning. He tells the reader, “[i]n death only, was I fully impressed with the strength of her affection. [...] How had I deserved to be so blessed by such confessions?” (82). While the majority of the first part of the story recounts the narrator’s admiration and obsession with Ligeia, this quotation reminds the reader that this story is being told after Ligeia has died. The narrator’s intense feelings for Ligeia are connected to the significance that death has granted her.
Death’s presence continues to circulate through the narrative, even after Ligeia’s death as the narrator sets up his home in an English abbey and creates a bridal chamber to share with Rowena that is decorated with symbols of death, like sarcophagi. The narrator also constantly compares Rowena to Ligeia, showing how the narrator’s obsession and emphasis on death carries over into Rowena’s life, despite her distaste for the narrator’s proclivities.
The tale serves as a chilling reminder of the inescapable nature of mortality, accentuating the profound grief that follows the passing of a beloved figure. Ultimately, “Ligeia” beckons readers to confront the enigmas of existence and the boundaries of human comprehension, all while wrestling with the disconcerting certainty of our own mortality.
The Allure and Destructive Nature of Obsession
In “Ligeia,” another profound theme that permeates the narrative is the overpowering allure and the devastating consequences of obsession. The narrative raises thought-provoking questions about the fine line between genuine passion and dangerous fanaticism, as well as the seductive allure of the unattainable. The narrator’s intense fixation on Ligeia, both in life and beyond death, serves as the driving force behind the story’s unfolding events, shaping the trajectory of his life in profound ways. At a plot level, very little actually happens in the first pages of the story, as the majority of it describes the narrator’s admiration for Ligeia’s beauty and intellect in excessive detail.
Yet, the narrator’s obsession with Ligeia, which continues well beyond her death, is shown to be destructive. Although the narrator thinks of himself as “romantic,” he does develop an addiction to opium as a means to escape his grief. The longer he misuses opium, the more unstable he becomes and the more he damages his relationship with Rowena. The second wife, Rowena, is introduced to the reader as “the successor of the unforgotten Ligeia” (126) illustrating her significance in relation to his obsession with his late wife. When faced with the unhappiness of his union to Rowena his “memory flew back[…] to Ligeia, the beloved, the august, the beautiful, the entombed” (172). The theme of obsession not only highlights the blurred boundaries between love and mania but also underscores how unchecked desires and obsessions can lead to self-destruction.
Yet the narrator experiences great pleasure from his obsessions, even as those obsessions disrupt his—and consequently, the reader’s—ability to determine reality. The opening line of the tale, “I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia” (13), establishes the narrator as an unreliable protagonist tainted by his all-encompassing obsession. He intentionally omits unnecessary details from his recollection of Ligeia, seeking to preserve an idealized vision of her in his memory. He even confesses that he has “never known the paternal name of [Ligeia]” (13) but waves any guilt away by contributing it to “a caprice of [his] own - a wildly romantic offering on the shrine of the most passionate devotion” (13). He only loved her too much, and the rest is inconsequential. In obsessing over Ligeia, the narrator really is able to focus on himself.
The Spiritual Nature of Horror
As much as the narrator’s struggles with determining reality can be attributed to his misuse of opium and his grief-turned-obsession over Ligeia, much of the horror of the story evolves from the spiritual or supernatural shape of the setting and events.
After Ligeia’s death, the narrator moves himself not just anywhere, but to an abbey that is especially isolated. Abbeys are types of monasteries typically occupied by Christian monks or nuns. The narrator has effectively moved himself into a Christian holy place but has then bedecked the location with items that point to other spiritual practices, such as those by ancient Egyptians (sarcophagus) and Arabs (the arabesque figures in the tapestry). In so doing, the narrator has juxtaposed the East and the West, which—for the time period—introduced a mysterious unknown exotic to the sacred. Much of the horror of the abbey arises from this mishmash of cultures and beliefs, especially as death takes on such a significant presence.
Ligeia herself comes to have spiritual and supernatural significance as the story unfolds. The narrator describes her as possessing an otherworldly beauty, with “large, luminous [eyes]” “which at once so delighted and appalled [him]” (59). This perception of her as a mystical and almost divine being is further heightened by her recitation of a mesmerizing poem about the power of the will and her cryptic utterances about the soul. After Ligeia dies and Rowena also becomes deathly ill, Poe’s story takes on the miraculous phenomenon of raising the dead. Multiple times Rowena seems to come back to life, and eventually, she seems to transform into Ligeia. The narrator’s belief in the possibility of resurrecting the dead through the power of the will blurs the line between the natural and the supernatural. His attempts to revive the deceased Rowena, fueled by his perception of Ligeia’s influence, lead to tragic consequences. Whereas the stories of Lazarus or Jesus as they rise from the dead convey the power of God, Poe’s story uses “rising from the dead” to convey the instability of human perception and the ghastly nature of exploring the existential. The reader is left with an uncertainty about whether the narrator has truly witnessed Ligeia’s ghost or her rise from the dead or if he is in a grief and drug-induced hallucination. Yet, either explanation does not change the horror surrounding the distortions of what might be considered spiritual and sacred—grief and death.
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