Poe's Stories brief biography of edgar allan poe
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Short Story By Flannery OConnor
| When we were introduced to Ligeia, the narrative was entirely composed of descriptions of her appearance and intelligence and all the qualities that the narrator loved about her, but in the first months of marriage with Rowena, the narrator is more concerned with the architecture that surrounds them than the woman herself. Ligeia’s memory looms in the background. The major attraction of the room besides all these things is the drapery. The huge walls are draped with tapestries with embroidered Gothic figures that only appear normal from one angle, so that as one moved about the room, the figures transformed in turn, so the whole room was in a kind of constant agitation, which was made worse by the wind moving the drapes. The moving images on the walls of the abbey make the structure itself seem restless—it doesn’t feel homely at all. The figures mimic the characters in the story, changing in mood and always on the verge of monstrosity. In chambers like these, the new couple pass their first month. The narrator of "Ligeia" can’t help but notice that Rowena isn’t very loving towards him and dreads his moods. He remembers the beauty and spirit of Ligeia and he revels in opium-induced dreams about her and hopes that if his passion is loud enough, she might comeback to him. Grief and the absence of Ligeia has transformed the narrator’s experience of love. He is unable to love Rowena. And to make matters worse, his sensations are exaggerated by the effects of opium, making us, as readers, unable to determine what in the story to come is supernatural and what is the product of his opium- drugged state. In the second month of the marriage, Rowena becomes ill, and she has feverous nights, and mumbles and moans strange words, which the narrator of "Ligeia" puts down to the fantastical images surrounding her in the chamber. She recovers but then becomes ill again, a more serious case, and her doctors can do nothing to help. As her condition worsens she becomes both fiery and nervous and she becomes also very scared of the motion of the tapestries. The similarity between Rowena and Ligeia continues, and their lives seem to follow the same pattern, with Rowena now falling victim to a similar condition that leaves her bedridden. But instead of the narrator’s love to surround her, there are the tomb-like images and decorations of the abbey’s fateful bridal chamber. Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com ©2017 LitCharts LLC www.LitCharts.com Page 21 One night, Rowena wakes the narrator of "Ligeia", who has been sleeping fitfully beside her. She tells him that she sees things and hears things in the tapestries but none of it appears to him. He wants to show her that her imaginings are caused by the wind alone, but she is in a terrible state. Without the physicians nearby, the narrator goes to find some wine to revive her, but on the way he feels something pass beside him and notices a faint, angelic shadow on the ground. The narrator is under the influence of opium though and he doesn’t put much stock in it. Fitting the description of her as a kind of double of Ligeia, Rowena seems to have a sixth sense for the paranormal menace of this room. The narrator is in an altered state, drugged upon opium, and though his visions appear to him in a hallucinatory daze, they also seem to conjure this angelic presence that are reminiscent of Ligeia’s hold on him from beyond the grave. The narrator of "Ligeia" brings back the wine and Rowena begins to come to her senses again. But as she brings the wine to her lips, the narrator thinks he sees some red liquid drop into the cup, but he doesn’t tell Rowena and she drinks down the wine. He imagines he dreamt the strange addition to the cup and the late houris causing him to hallucinate. But soon after, Rowena’s condition changes for the worse and he believes that she will soon die. Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
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