Ligeia [short story]

While I didn't really understand the point or message of this story, it was beautifully written and the tone is darkly, insanely, intensely beautiful, so I cannot help but bestow four well-deserved stars upon yet another short story by my beloved Mr Poe.

The basic premise of this story is the narrator's relationship with Ligeia, his wife, to the grave and beyond. This tale is aptly named, as not a single thought passes through the protagonist's head that is not about the eponymous Ligeia. Our narrator (who is unnamed, as per usual) takes every chance he can to declare his love for the Lady Ligeia- four pages are dedicated to a description of her face, for god's sake- but, to me, there was something... off about their love. It seemed like show more a mutual obsession with each other, that Ligeia and her husband loved each other in a sick, narcissistic, warped kind of way, and I loved those subtle undertones of darkness beneath the veneer of dramatic, undying proclamations of love both from the narrator and his wife.

Another wonderful thing about this short story is the tone. Throughout the climax and much of the story, the narrator is under the influence of opium, which casts a feverish, hyperreal yet dreamlike feeling upon it all. The ending, while it was in line with what I expect of Poe, was still great. He could have easily just brought back Ligeia as some sort of ghost/corpse bride/zombie, but the whole dramatic ripping off of the bandages to reveal waves of raven-black hair and dark eyes was awesome. I quite liked the use of that transformation.

But, like I mentioned earlier, I really don't know the meaning of this story. It's more of a story for story's sake, which I am completely fine with. This isn't typical Poe- the narrator is much more manic here than in most of the other poems and stories I've read so far. (Excepting the Tell-Tale Heart, of course, but not The Cask of Amontillado, because Montresor really was quite calm about the whole thing, wasn't he?) He reaches marvellous highs and crashing lows, and is deep in the throes of grief, which Poe writes so heartbreakingly well it's hard not to be convinced that he was pouring a lot of his own pain into this particular tale.

Read it here.

"My memory flew back (oh, with what intensity of regret!) to Ligeia, the beloved, the august, the beautiful, the entombed. I revelled in recollections of her purity, of her wisdom, of her lofty- her ethereal nature, of her passionate, her idolatrous love. Now, then, did my spirit fully and freely burn with more than all the fires of her own. In the excitement of my opium dreams (for I was habitually fettered in the shackles of the drug), I would call aloud upon her name, during the silence of the night, or among the sheltered recesses of the glens by day, as if, through the wild eagerness, the solemn passion, I could restore her to the pathways she had abandoned- ah, could it be forever?- upon the earth." show less

In this classic Poe story, the narrator meets and becomes consumed by his love for the raven haired Ligeia. She is an otherworldy embodiment of perfection and his adoration for her mind and body is complete. This makes it all the more devastating when he watches as she withers and dies before his eyes taking his heart and soul with her (a recurring theme in Poe’s writings – everyone including the narrator can fall ill by stages and the women loved by the narrator often perish). Narrator later meets and marries the Lady Rowena of Tremaine. We watch as he grows to loathe her and sinks into deeper and heavier opium stupors, pining for his lost Ligeia, within the confines of the (very) spooky turret wedding chamber where the story of show more this second marriage takes place. Here Roweena too falls ill and is about to make her exit. The atmosphere is haunting to say the least, and instead of letting wife two die in peace, wife one is tormenting her, as she struggles with the soulless body, repeatedly trying to bring the physical body (but not the soul) back to life. I am not even going to begin to discuss the literary aspects of this work other than to say that the beauty of Poe’s prose (sorry about that) is overwhelming, and I caught myself constantly rereading or rewinding to experience once again the beauty of his words. For a more in-depth study (something I haven’t done since college and don’t intend to do now) there are countless articles on the internet analyzing every word, phrase, character, emotion and symbol…What I will add is that listening to the story read by Vincent Price was hypnotic and chilling. I’m sure I’ll repeat that about the other Poe stories and poems I’m listening to. Vincent Price has THE most amazing voice and delivery and (in my humble opinion) he is the absolute king of creep making him a good match for the king of horror and dread.

Poe's work is in the public domain and can be found everywhere online for free including on Project Gutenberg. The audio read by Vincent Price can be found at: https://bookaudio.online/779-ligeia.html show less

The madness of grief personified.

Passionately in love with Ligeia, his wife, until she dies and he becomes obsessed with every detail of her memory. Later marrying Lady Rowena because he secretly likes that she 'shunned' him at every turn and that she's Ligeia's opposite in every way, but despite this he hates her because she's not the one he loved most.

Unfortunately, Rowena succumbs to the same illness as his first wife: consumption (tuberculosis). At her bedside, high on opium he thinks of his love for Liegia and her demise, and on glancing at the body on the bed he believes he witnesses some imaginary sign of life in Rowena's corpse. Frantically, he does everything he can to revive her, until Ligeia's visage transforms Rowena's show more body.



The horror of his misfortune was obviously too much for his tortured psyche to handle. Sadly, this correlates with Poe's real life experience. His mother died when he was a infant, his father abandoned him soon after, his foster mother died, and then his wife died after more than a decade of marriage. That's more than any one soul should have to bear. Condemned to walk alone and probably terrified to love anyone in case his curse catches up with him.

Ligeia predates The Raven by about seven years, although it goes without saying that they go hand-in-hand, both detailing the insanity brought on by the grief and loss of a dearly beloved wife.

This isn't my first ride on the psychologically intriguing Poe-horror-go-round, and it won't be my last. show less

A love story turned nightmare, Ligeia is the narrator's first wife, & the love of his life, which you can see in the descriptions. The charming tale of boundless love & joy turns to despair at her death, & his relocation to the north of England, to an antique abbey that he remodels the interior of in sumptuous, eclectic fashion, & brings his second wife, apparently a local heiress, to. It is what happens in the hours immediately following HER death that lend to the inherent creepiness of the ending...

An interesting work of Poe's. But in my opinion, not among his best. Still worth reading if you wish to study his works, though.

Classic descent into madness brought on by death. Brilliant

Novamente o final... é de arrepiar. https://www.planocritico.com/category/literatura/