Themes

One of the themes of the story “Ligeia” by Edger Allan Poe is resurrection. In the story the narrator experiences the resurrection of both his wives. At first his first wife dies of a mysterious death and he marries again to a woman that eventually dies of the same illness. While his second wife is dead she begins to revive. She has color return to her face and warmth returns to her body. Unfortunately she dies again and returns to the cold colorless corpse she was. After she goes back to being dead she begins to revive again except this time she had the features of his first wife. Another part of the story that shows resurrection is the part were the narrator sees a red liquid fall into his second wife’s glass. The red liquid could represent the vampire story that a person can become a vampire by drinking another vampire’s blood. With vampire blood being the possible red liquid then his wife could be reviving by turning into a resurrected vampire.
The second theme in the story “Ligeia” by Edger Allan Poe is substance abuse. Throughout the story the narrator is described using opium. Because of his opium use it becomes difficult to know if anything the narrator sees is real. The drop of red liquid going into the cup and the revival of his wives are all things that were real or not. The addiction also seems to cause the narrator to be unable to love his second wife. The opium could also be the cause of his inability to remember trivial details of his first wife. The use of drugs started after the death of his first wife, which is the usual pattern of drug addiction. Drug addiction is a huge part of the story that makes the story more difficult to determine if any of it truly happened.

Meaningful Setting

Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of Ligeia took place in a large, old decaying city near the Rhine. The Rhine is one of the largest and most important rivers in Europe. The setting is significantly important for the reason that the Rhine is as important to Europe as Ligeia to the narrator. After the death of Ligeia the narrator is overcome by grief. He then moves to an isolated area in England where he purchased an abbey. He refurbishes the abbey due to its condition. The area in which the abbey is located is significant since it is an isolated area, which is similar to the feeling of the narrator. Poe writes, “The gloomy and dreary grandeur of the building, the almost savage aspect of the domain, the many melancholy and time-honored memories connected with both, had much in unison with the feelings of utter abandonment which had driven me into that remote and unsocial region of the country. Yet although the external abbey, with its verdant decay hanging about it, suffered but little alteration, I gave way, with a child-like perversity, and perchance with a faint hope of alleviating my sorrows, to a display of more than regal magnificence within.”

Characterization

The narrator is in a depressive mind state as he reminisces about Ligiea. He is still in love with the memory of his decease wife and has not accepted her death. It seems as though he is hopeful that she will return to him. He is selfish in a sense because he remarries, however, it is not for love. It may be that he married to replace Ligeia and to have companionship.

Ligeia is described as a beautiful, intelligent and passionate lady; she is the narrator’s deceased wife. The narrator is impressed with her immense knowledge of her physical and mathematical science. According to the narrator she also has a strangeness about her. The narrator also doesn't seem to know anything about her family history.

Symbolism

“And the will therein lieth, which dieth not. Who knoweth the mysteries of the will, with its vigors? For God is but a great will pervading all things by nature of its intentness. Man doth not yield himself to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will.”(111)

–Joseph Glanvill

This quote is symbolic to the story, Ligeia, in its entirety. The narrator within the story is still in love with his late bride, Ligeia, his only true love; although he had remarried his other late wife, which he did not love, Rowena. The quote by Joseph Glanvill, who is believed by scholars to be created by Poe’s imagination, talks about people being created for a purpose by God, can never be lost within us. Our “wills” as man are so strong that nothing can take away or replace what we had or created with our loved ones that have passed on. Although the narrator lost his beloved Ligeia, his “will” was so strong that not only did it stop him from loving Rowena, but it made Rowena resurrect into Ligeia. Even though the narrator can’t stop mourning, is it possible for his mental state to decline? Can this quote define his madness, “…save only through the weakness of his feeble will,” could this be telling us that his love for Ligeia was so strong that it caused him to go crazy? If you take apart the story he tells us that he can’t remember anything except where they met, even detail of what she looked liked, he couldn’t love his second wife at all and every time she died he couldn’t mourn and when Rowena came back to life for the second time he saw Ligeia. I can see the symbolism, can you?

Summary of Ligeia

In Poe's tale "Ligeia" the narrator reminisces over the loss of his beloved wife (soul mate). Her portrayed her as a symbol of beauty and wisdom. However, he didn't know much about her ancestry. He was immensely passionate about her knowledge more so than her beautiful appearance. She became very sick and that illness took her life. He was overcome by grief and depression. He moved to England and purchased a monastery. He then remarried Lady Rowena Trevanion of Tremaine, which is unexplainable because he did not love her at all. She also became sick. He became to be more mentally disturbed in addition to developing into an opium addict during his second marriage. A few day later after her illness she dies and he sits besides her lifeless body. Later that evening he realizes that color returns to her skin briefly and then becomes cold again. Sometime later she comes back to life again only this time moving from her death bed and stands in the center of the room. The narrator however questions her identity because he truly believes that it is his one and only love Ligeia returning to him.