Poe once stated, “the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” (Stephanou 39). This reveals his almost manic obsession with women and specifically their death[SH1] [SH2] . It is then unsurprising that a major thematic thread that runs throughout his entire collection of work is the uncanny deaths of all his heroines. In his short story “Ligeia,” the pervasive nature of Ligeia’s will combines with her depiction as a supernatural entity to expose that goddesses often conceal monsters within.
Through the use of doubling, Poe allows his reader to understand what attributes his ideal woman possesses by portraying one of his narrator’s relationships as having an angelic sort of harmony to it while the other relationship is filled with a monstrous discord[SH3] . The narrator loves Ligeia with all his heart, and she loves him with “passionate devotion [that] amounted to idolatry” (Poe). Not only is the narrator completely obsessed with Ligeia, but she just as obsessed with the narrator. At first the reader just believes that the two love each other deeply, because being obsessed with your loved ones is not necessarily a negative quality, but as the reader continues it becomes clear that this perfect marriage is uncanny. According to Freud, “the uncanny element is nothing new or strange, but something that was long familiar to the psyche and was estranges from it only through being repressed” (Lopes 40).
As a reader, you expect a level of dedication between spouses, but the dedication between the narrator and Ligeia makes one feel uncomfortable, as if they are intruding on a moment that is much too private for the public’s eyes. In comparison, his marriage with Rowena reveals that Rowena “shunned me and loved me but little” (Poe). Not only is the second marriage loveless but Rowena shuns the narrator, which implies total rejection. The contrast between a marriage filled with too much love that it verges on obsession and a loveless marriage serve to illuminate the contrast between the women themselves. One is portrayed as an angel in the realm of marriage and household duties, the other is the complete opposite.
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While the relationship between Ligeia and the narrator is clearly portrayed as heavenly, the physical description of Ligeia contrasts that idea, going as far as to suggest that she isn’t human. “Her loveliness was indeed “exquisite”… [but] there was much of “strangeness” pervading it” (Poe) immediately brings to mind the uncanny and sends up warning flags that the reader needs to pay attention to the subsequent descriptions. It also does confirm that she is beautiful albeit not in a traditional sense. Many scholars have chosen to focus on the “most brilliant of black” (Poe) “far larger” (Poe) eyes that Ligeia possesses. While her black eyes can be related back to the idea that she has a black soul and is therefore either evil or a supernatural creature, other physical descriptions play a larger role in confirming she is not human. “The teeth glancing back, with a brilliancy almost startling” (Poe) can easily be connected with vampires.
In mythology vampire are pale, “even emaciated” (Poe), silent figures with “an incomprehensible lightness and elasticity of … footfall” (Poe). Ligeia moves as if she never has to touch the ground and her body is altered from that of a normal human figure in ways that look almost human but may seem almost predatory due to her “startling” smile.
The other interpretation that would bear credit within the confines of the story would be a “shadowy presence bearing an angelic aspect… who collects the feeble lives of the dying” (Lopes 41). Once again, the word “angel” appears, highlighting the attempt to portray Ligeia as heavenly and above the narrator, even though we know she has a dark side. Poe also refers to Ligeia using similar language saying, “she came and departed as a shadow.” In the end, Ligeia does take the life of Rowena, who had a feeble will in comparison (Poe). While both interpretations of Ligeia as a supernatural entity have merit, from now on when referred to as a supernatural entity it will be understood that she is a vampire.
Ligeia’s willpower surpasses all normal bounds of the human will further alluding to the fact that she is not human. Up until this point it is important to remember that Ligeia’s “intensity of her wild desire for life” (Poe) is one of her defining characteristics. Not only is she physically reminiscent of a wild animal but her will is also described as wild, leading the reader to believe her will is more powerful than a humans. Combined with the fake Joseph Glanvill quote at the beginning of the short story, “Man doth not yield him to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of feeble will” (Poe) it becomes clear that willpower plays a major role in depicting Ligeia.
The fact that the quote is repeated not once, not twice, but four times throughout the story illuminates just how vital the quote is in understanding Ligeia. The reference to the angels, once again brings to mind heavenly imagery, but it was determined that Ligeia is far from an angel. Going as far as to say that Ligeia chooses not to give in to death again alludes to her pure strength. A normal human cannot fight death. It is the inevitable end of us all, but she does indeed fight it. “She died,’ not with the finality of an end period, but with the semi-finality of the semicolon and dash (Byers 42).” When a character dies, one expects them to stay dead, to conform to the natural order to life. In the same way, when an author ends a sentence with a period, you expect that idea to end. It may be carried over or expanded during following sentences, but there is an end to it all the same. So, when Poe deliberately modifies the typical stylistic choice of an author to kill a character, ending that character ark with a clear period, he foreshadows Ligeia’s return, by leaving the sentence open.
The manner of Ligeia’s death plays a vital role in revealing the monster hidden inside her. Poe does not specify the manner in which Ligeia dies but the image of “pale fingers… of the transparent waxen hue of the grave” (Poe) alludes to a commonplace killer, consumption. The idea of consumption as a romantic way to die gained in popularity as individuals like Shelley, Keats, and Chopin used it in their own works (Stephanou 40).
The idea of consumption covered “any and all chronic wasting disease” (Stephanou 39) and ultimately sought to “exalt the materiality of the consuming female body by transforming suffering into something beautiful, pure and spiritual, or even sexual” (Stephanou 36). The idea that Ligeia simply wastes away is played up in the story by the lack of detail surrounding her death (Byers). The key word is “transformed.” While the quote above does not specifically refer to a literal transformation, but rather allude to an inner transformation. Ligeia does go through a physical transformation. Her body is gone, and she possesses another, literally transforming from one being into another but it is not a beautiful process but rather one that induces feelings of pure terror.
The transformation from Rowena into Ligeia also alludes to the idea of Ligeia being a vampire. This transformation occurs through Rowena consuming “three or four large drops of a brilliant and ruby colored fluid” (Poe). While Poe does not clearly state that the liquid is blood, it is heavily implied, once again invoking the image of a vampire, who must drink blood to survive. In this inversion of the classical myth, Poe forces the human to drink blood, causing her to die and her body to be claimed by the spirit of another. Through “means of a figurative blood transfusion” (Lopes 45) Ligeia is able to take a life rather than save it. Transfusions are used only in truly desperate times when an individual is close to death. So, inverting the image of a modern medical procedure into something that causes death shows once again just how strong Ligeia will is.
Ultimately it was a combination of willpower and supernatural ability that allowed Ligeia to escape the grave and return to the world of the living in the body of another. Willpower alone could have stopped her death, but not allowed her to claim the body of another. This combination of a dangerously powerful will and a hauntingly beautiful heroine hiding a dark secret are the reason that Poe kills off many of his heroines. A beautiful body cannot hide the monster that lives inside the women in Poe’s work.
