payment page
Fear of Mortality
“Ligeia” vividly explores the horrific reality of mortality. Despite how learned, passionate, and alive Ligeia is, she becomes gravely ill and perishes. Not only that, but the narrator is amazed to learn that despite all her learning, she is not more resigned to death but seemingly even more afraid of it than he is. It seems that because Ligeia is so knowledgeable and vivacious, so alive, she finds the idea of death all the more terrifying. Although Rowena also becomes ill and dies, the narrator makes no mention of protest or fear on her part. Of course, the narrator’s general disinterest in Rowena may account for this omission. However, because we read the story through the narrator’s eyes, the thematic point is less the reality of Rowena’s disposition and more why the narrator portrays the two women as different in this way. Strong-willed Ligeia turns her fear of mortality into a battle she is determined to win, whereas passive Rowena succumbs to her illness with general anxiety but little fight. Through this comparison, the narrator suggests that the more vibrantly one lives, the harder it is to die.
Ligeia expresses her outrage at the injustice of mortality in her vivid poem, “The Conqueror Worm.” She describes the horror inherent in the idea that humankind, despite being made in the image of God, ultimately becomes food for worms. The poem depicts human mortality as such a tragedy that even the angels are devastated in watching it unfold. The depiction of the worms, too, is exaggeratedly terrifying, as Ligeia imagines them blood red with fangs covered in “human gore.” Implicit in this poem is the unfairness of the conquering of a “superior” creature by a lowly worm. Additionally, her graphic imagining of her own impending decay instead of turning to spiritual consolation emphasizes how the terrifying reality of death doesn’t permit comfort. Her fear does not appear to be for her soul, but for her life on earth, her body, her learning, her love. Even the narrator acknowledges that any attempt to comfort Ligeia would be futile because of the truth at the root of her fear.
The Power of the Dead over the Living
“Ligeia” expresses the immense power the memory of the dead can enact over those still living. Ligeia’s memory has completely overtaken the narrator’s life, such that we know very little about him and far more about Ligeia. The narrator sees Ligeia’s presence in the beauty of nature. The strange Gothic decor he chooses for his new home in the abbey seems in homage to Ligeia’s esoteric interests. Although he moves houses and remarries, it’s clear the narrator cannot move forward in his life because Ligeia’s memory permeates everything he does. Ligeia herself embodies this concept by coming back to life, possessing Rowena’s body as her own. Whether we read this possession as taking place within the story’s concrete reality or in the narrator’s hallucination, Ligeia’s reemergence serves as a metaphor for the state of the narrator and Rowena’s marriage. When looking at Rowena, whether healthy or ill, all the narrator can do is compare her to Ligeia. Rowena herself is almost immaterial, less real to the narrator than his memories. Ligeia’s possession of Rowena only makes this emotional reality more concrete.
The Eroticism of the Unknown
Underscoring the love story of “Ligeia” is the idea that all things esoteric, occult, and mysterious have an irresistible allure. Poe grants these mysteries an almost erotic charge. For example, the narrator describes Ligeia bending over him during a study session. Given his previous descriptions of Ligeia’s beauty and his clear passion for her, this physical proximity has a strongly sexual dimension. Even though the narrator describes himself as Ligeia’s submissive, child-like student, his reaction to her mysterious eyes indicates his desire for her. He likens the mysterious expression of her eyes to stars he wants to discover and study. This description treats Ligeia’s inner life, as reflected through the expression of her eyes, as something that can be mapped, studied, and demystified. So, although Ligeia and the narrator’s relationship appears at first to disrupt normal gender roles, the narrator nevertheless objectifies Ligeia by casting her as a mystery to solve. Attempting to solve this mystery creates the eroticism of their relationship.
