Good and Evil in Poe's Ligeia

8/12/2019 Good and Evil in Poe's Ligeia

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Ma Stekl

Dr. Plummer

AP Lit 7

8 December 2013

Good and Evil in Ligeia: A Pet Theory

Edgar Allan Poes Ligeia revolves around the classicmental conflict between

good and evil. In the short story, Poe uses careful diction, historical allusions, and

metaphors to subtly hint that Ligeia does not exist literally, but rather serves as a

metaphor for the narrators evil attributes. That is, not only is Ligeia a figment of the

narrators opium-influenced imagination, but she is a manifestation of all that is sinful in

the narrators mind. Rowena, meanwhile, is the voice of the narrators conscience; she

too is imaginary, but she represents the narrators last remainders of virtue. Ligeia, unable

to live with Rowenas righteousness, initiates a struggle with her rival, representing the

narrators mental split between right and wrong.

To begin with, Poe makes it clear that neither Ligeia nor Rowena are physical

characters. At the very beginning of the short story, Poe writes that I cannot, for my

soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the

lady Ligeia (Poe 1). He continues that I have never known the paternal name of her

(Poe 1). His failure to know Ligeiaslast name and to recollect where he first met her

would be odd enough if she were merely some former mistress, but in fact Ligeias

significance to the narrator is, supposedly, far greater: he tells the reader that she was his

first wife. Initially, this confession seems difficult to comprehendafter all, what

husband could forget the name of his first wife? Literary critics concur that this revelation


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makes it unlikely that the narrator was literally married to a physical women named

Ligeia (Davis and Davis 173). However, Poe soon offers an explanation when he writes

that the narrator is habitually fettered in the shackles of [opium] (Poe 6). This is notable

because opium is a hallucinogen that often results in wild dreams of which one can

remember only very little after they conclude. For instance, an opium user like the

narrator might have a hallucination in which he marries a girl such as Ligeia, only to

forget the surname of his imaginary wife upon becoming sober. And indeed, Poe

confirms that Ligeia is an opium-inspired dream with his description of Ligeias beauty

as the radiance of an opium dream(Poe 1). Several contemporary literary critics have

concluded after careful analysis that Poe almost certainly chose this description

deliberately; in combination with the previous information about the narrators opium

addiction, then, it becomes increasingly likely that Ligeia is merely a character in an

opium-induced hallucination (Byers 45).

Poe continues to provide evidence that Ligeia is not real as he describes her. For

instance, Poe writes that Ligeia does not walk like an actual woman,but rather [comes]

and [departs] as a shadow (Poe 1). According to several professors of literature, this

description should be read literallyLigeia is indeed a shadow in the sense that she is an

apparition (Davis and Davis 174). Poe also praises Ligeias eyes as far larger than the

ordinary eyes of our own race, hinting that the narrators mental image of Ligeia is so

distorted that in his mind, she no longer resembles a human (Poe 2). Even Ligeias voice

is unrealshe does not speak in any human language; rather, her lowsweet voice sings

dear music (Poe 1). All these features are indicative of Ligeias too-good-to-be true


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naturethey all demonstrate that throughout the story, the narrator is fantasizing about a

fictional woman who does not physically exist.

Ligeias fictional nature is recognized by most contemporary literary critics

with the exception of James Schroeter, who stubbornly ignores the mounting evidence

demonstrating that Ligeia is imaginary, almost no professors still contend that Ligeia

physically existed (Schroeter 397). However, a close reading reveals that she is not the

only character dreamt up by the narrator of Poes short story.To the contrary, Lady

Rowena too is aproduct of the narrators imagination. Poe first hints that Rowena might

not be real when he says that the narrator married her in a moment of mental alienation,

implying that the narrator might have been in a temporary state of obliviousnesssuch as

that induced by opiumduring his marriage(Poe 5). It is possible, then, that this

second marriage, much like the first, tookplace only in the narrators opiate

hallucination. This possibility becomes more concrete when Poe not once, but twice

describes the chamber in which the narrator and Rowena sleep as phantasmagoric(Poe

6). Phantasmagoria refers to a sequence of mental images or dreams that may induced by

a sickness or, alternatively, by a drug such as opium (phantasmagoria 1). Thus, Poe

explicitly equates the time the narrator spends with Rowena to a drug-induced

hallucination. This diction, combined with the information that the narrator has become

a bounden slave in the trammels of opium,makes it doubtful that Rowena exists outside

of the narrators imagination(Poe 5). This conclusion is verified by Terry Castle, a

literary critic who studied the use of phantasmagoria throughout 19th

century literature.

Castle writes that Poe used the phantasmagoria figure precisely as a way of destabilizing

the ordinary boundaries between inside and outside, mind and world, illusion and reality


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(Castle 50). It seems evident, therefore, that both of the wives of the narrator of Ligeia

are dreamt up. The question now becomes from whatpart of the narrators conscience

each wife springs.

Poes initial description of Ligeia seems to make it clear that she represents evil

and sin. The narrator recalls vaguely that he first met Ligeia in some large, old, decaying

city near the Rhine (Poe 1). However, it would be difficult to completely forget the

name of a large and likely major European metropolis, especially if it were the site

where the narrator met his first wife. This, then, refers to a state of moral decay rather

than a literal city, which one would be unlikely to forget. When read through the lens of

moral decay, this sentence casts a dark light on Ligeiathe narrator did not meet her in

just any dream, but one filled with moral decay and corruption. The next hint at Ligeias

dark nature comes in Poes physical description of her.First, Poe reports that Ligeias

hair is raven-black(Poe 1). This description is notable not only because the color black

tends to represent darkness and evil in literature, but also because Poes illustration of

Ligeias shade of black relies upon the word raven.Writers have long used ravens as

bad omensperhaps due to their propensity to eat carrion, ravens are often portrayed as

messengers which bring death and evil. This is especially true for Poe, who some years

after the publication of Ligeia wrote a short story entitled The Raven, in which a

raven indeed represented a harbinger of misfortune. Such is the nature of the hair that

covers Ligeias head: it is dark, evil, and comparable to an evil omen. A second statement

which should arouse suspicion comes later in the same sentence, when Poe says that

Ligeiastresses [set] forth the full force of the Homeric epithet, hyacinthine!(Poe 1).

The adjective hyacinthine hereis an allusion to the Greek hero Hyacinthus, who


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according to Greek mythology was slain by the wind god Zephyrus. After Hyacinthus

was slain, a plant grew from his blooda hyacinth (Hyacinthus1). Poes comparison

of Ligeias hair to the plant that grew from the blood of the heroic Hyacinthus

foreshadows that Ligeia will take over the body (or grow from the blood) of the heroic

Rowena. Ligeia, then, is like a plant that grows out of a dead hero; this lends insight into

the wickedness she represents. As the passage continues, Ligeias evil nature becomes

even more clear. Poe notes, for instance, that Ligeias teeth [glance] backevery ray of

the holy light which fell upon them, indicating that she deflects holiness (Poe 2). By far

the most explicit example of Ligeias evil nature, however, comes when Ligeia is on her

deathbed and she bids the narrator to repeat to her some poetry that she herself wrote not

long ago. And so the narrator reads: See, amid the mimic rout / A crawling shape

intrude! / A blood-red thing that writhes from out / The scenic solitude! / It writes!it

writhes!with mortal pangs / The mimes become its food(Poe 4). The mimes referred

to here are identified earlier in the poem as mimes, in the form of God on high (Poe 4).

The mimes, then, are angels who encounter and are eaten by a blood-red worm-like

creature. Ligeia, however, does not seem to regard the killing of the angels as a

misfortune; in fact, the last two lines of her poem read the play is the tragedy, Man,

and its herothe Conqueror Worm.It seems telling that Ligeia here seems to praise the

angel-devouring worm as a hero. Further, when read in context of the rest of the short

story, the Conqueror Worm in thepoem is a perfect analogy for Ligeia herselflike

the worm and its conquest of the angels, Ligeia conquers the body of the angelic Rowena.

Not only is Ligeias evil nature symbolic of the narrators own diabolical aspects,

but her evilness spreads throughout the narrators being as the narrator becomes


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increasingly demonic. This is first hinted at when the narrator admits that Ligeias

beautypassed into my spirit, dwelling there as in a shrine(Poe 2). In light of the

information Poe has already offered about the dark essence that is represented by Ligeias

beautiful black hair, this passing of Ligeiasbeauty seems to indicate that the narrator

is inheriting Ligeias evil traits.It is likely because the narrator becomes more and more

evil throughout the story that he so despises the innocent Rowena and all that she stands

for. The narrator calls the first month of their marriage unhallowed,and he later says

that Rowena hates him due to his moody temper, and he in turns [loathes] her with a

hatred belonging more to demon than to man (Poe 6). This demonic capacity for hate

seems to convey the evil spirit that has overcome the narrator at this point in the story.

As demonstrated by each womans physical characteristics, Rowena and Ligeia

are polar oppositestherefore, if Ligeia represents the narrators evil side, then Rowena

must represent his redeeming qualities (Zlotnick-Woldenberg 406). Because the narrator

has so few virtues, however, there is less written about Rowenas good nature than there

is about Ligeias evilness. Still, Poe does mention that Rowena is fair-haired and blue-

eyed, both of which are key characteristics of the common portrait of an angel (Poe 5).

Additionally, these physical attributes contrast sharply with Ligeias raven-black hair,

underscoring the many deep oppositions between the two characters and the sides of the

moral dilemma they represent. A second divine aspect of Rowena is that she becomes

sick shortly after being introduced into the narrators Satanic bridal chamber. For if

Rowena is a manifestation of the narratorsvirtues, the bridal chamber is a metaphor for

the darkest crevices of the narrators mindand a virtuous being cannot thrive in these

crevices. The room is described as pentagonal in shape,with semi-Gothic, semi-


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Druidical animal heads scattered around it (Poe 5). The pentagonal shape is often a

literary metaphor for Satanic activity, which lends to the chamber an evil, diabolical

nature. It is likely due to her inhabitance of this dark chamber that Rowena is attacked

with sudden illnessand in her perturbed state of half-slumber, she [speaks] of sounds,

and of motions, in and about the chamber(Poe 6). Given that the chamber is evil and

that it makes Rowena sick, it seems safe to conclude that Rowenas aversion to evil can

be taken as indication that she is righteous.

Remembering that Rowena and Ligeia are both mental creations of the narrator,

and that their contrasting virtuous and iniquitous qualities symbolize the opposite sides of

the narrators conscience, it seems inevitable that the two will clash. After all, such good

and evil cannot coexist in ones mindwithout a resultant mental chasm. And clash they

doafter Rowena becomes sick and dies, the narrator reports that Ligeia takes over

Rowenas body.This happens gradually, however, and only after a bitter internal struggle

between Ligeia and Rowena for control of Rowenas body. Poes descriptions of this

struggle hint that it is a metaphor for the narrators own internal struggle between his

conscience and his sin. First, he says that during Rowenas death, there rushed upon

[him] a thousand memories of Ligeiawith the turbulent violence of a floodall while

he remained gazing upon the body of Rowena (Poe 7). This indicates that even though

the narrator is watching his second wifea symbol of goodnessdie before him,

memories of his first wifea symbol of evilare all he is able to contemplate. These

memories come upon him violently (with the turbulent violence of a flood) and

command his full attention (Poe 7). Poe is therefore introducing the theme that the

struggle between uprightness and sinfulness tears one apart, just as the narrator is torn


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between his observation of Rowenas death and his memories of Ligeia. After Rowena

dies and comes back to life multiple times, the narrator says, again I sunk into visions of

Ligeia (Poe 8). Here Poe reinforces the aforementioned intensity of the narrators mental

struggleeven while his current wife is dying, the narrator cannot help but think of his

first wife; that is, even while his sole remainder of virtue is smoldering away, the narrator

cannot help but long for a return to evil. Finally, Poe notes that each agony by which

he is referring to every time that Rowena is revivedwore the aspect of a struggle with

some invisible force(Poe 8). Here he makes it clear that Ligeias attempt to take over

Rowenas body is a strugglejust like the narrators struggle between living a good life

and falling into the trap of evil.

Because Poe relies upon vague language to describe the narrator, his wives, and

their experiences, the short story could be about anyoneits themes are truly universal

(Bieganowski 184). Thus, the central theme of Poes Ligeia is that everyone faces a

mental struggle between good and evil. The good is represented in this short story by the

character Rowena, while Ligeia embodies evil. While both are imaginary in that they are

merely characters in the narrators opiate hallucination, they are also exhibitions of the

two very real sides of the narrators conscience. These conflicting inner voices are clearly

on a collision course, and their clash results in the conquest of Rowena by Ligeia. Indeed,

true to the predisposition toward darkness that is characteristic of negative romantics, Poe

allows evil to triumph over good in Ligeia(Horn 1). In the end, the full, and the black,

and the wild eyes of the LADY LIGEIAreturn in the place of the fair-haired, blue-

eyed Rowena (Poe 9). The question posed by this startling conclusion is as follows: is

everyone doomed to a life of evil?


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Works Cited

Bieganowski, Ronald. "The Self-Consuming Narrator in Poe's "Ligeia" and "Usher""

American Literature 60.2 (1988): 175-87. Print.

Byers, John R. "The Opium Chronology of Poe's Ligeia." South Atlantic Bulletin45.1

(1980): 40-46. Print.

Castle, Terry. "Phantasmagoria: Spectral Technology and the Metaphorics of Modern

Reverie." Critical Inquiry15.1 (1988): 26-61. Print.

Davis, Jack L., and June H. Davis. "Poe's Ethereal Ligeia." The Bulletin of the Rocky

Mountain Modern Language Association24.24 (1970): 170-76. Print.

Horn, Jessica.Edgar Allan Poe's Short Story Ligeia as a Text of the Romantic Period.

Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2013. Print.

"Hyacinthus, Apollo's Handsome Partner from Sparta." Greek Gods. N.p., n.d. Web. 04

Jan. 2014.

phantasmagoria. Collins-Dictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary, 2014. Web. 4

Jan. 2014.

Poe, Edgar Allen. Ligeia.Textual.net, 1838. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

Schroeter, James. A Misreading of Poes Ligeia.Modern Language Association 76.4

(1961): 397-406. Print.

Zlotnick-Woldenberg, Carrie. "Edgar Allan Poe's 'Ligeia': An Object-Relational

Interpretation." American Journal of Psychotherapy 53.3 (1999): 403-12.

Print.

Good and Evil in Poe's Ligeia

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