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?