The author of Ligeia, Edgar Allan Poe, the legendary Massachusetts-born writer, is something of an icon when it comes to horror, influencing authors that came afterward, like H.P. Lovecraft. He met a mysterious demise in Baltimore, Maryland, and to this day, there’s no real explanation. It’s as if his death was something he would have written about in his stories. Despite having countless of popular works, today we’re going to focus on Ligeia and look hard at the imagery.
Ligeia Setting
The setting of Ligeia is not disclosed to the reader; which makes it that much eerier. As you read Ligeia our imaginations can’t help but feel the place rather than to be in it. Damp, gray, and grayer still, the setting of Ligeia is the figurative imprisonment of any yearning heart; beating like a flickering candle; where hope remains, but mold covered.
Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ligeia” Summary
Published in 1838, the story revolves around an unknown narrator who is married to a gorgeous, smart woman named Ligeia. He’s so in love, that she seems unreal in both her appearance and knowledge. Her eyes are described as orbs, her hair like ravens, her lips blood-red. She teaches her husband physical and mathematical science and shares her proficiency with classical languages.
Only their love gets cut short when Ligeia falls ill and dies. Grief-stricken, our narrator abuses Opium and remodels an abbey, before entering a loveless marriage with Lady Rowena. He spends his time coping, helplessly in love with Ligeia, but desperate to forget her. To make matters worse, Rowena grows ill and dies too, making him relive the painful memories. Being Poe, he had to make the story more horrific, so it’s no surprise the narrator watches as Rowena comes back to life, transformed as Ligeia.
For a haunting experience, listen to Ligeia as read by Vincent Price:
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3 Best Ligeia Quotes
“In our endeavors to recall to memory something long forgotten, we often find ourselves upon the very verge of remembrance, without being able, in the end, to remember.”
– Ligeia
“For eyes we have no models in the remotely antique.”
– Ligeia
“In our efforts to bring to memory a long-forgotten thing, we often find ourselves on the very edge of memory, without being able to remember at last. And ”
– Ligeia
Bonus Ligeia Quotes (A.K.A. My Favorites!)
“Man does not surrender to angels, nor entirely to death, except only for the weakness of his weak will.”
– Ligeia
“In our efforts to bring to memory a long-forgotten thing, we often find ourselves on the very edge of memory, without being able to remember at last. And ”
– Ligeia
Analysis of Ligeia
If you haven’t read the story, go read it and see if you can catch more symbolism. Maybe Poe was depressed, or maybe this was his attempt at explaining life and death the only way he knew how. After reading the story, take a second to see if you agree or if you have a better explanation?
Themes & Symbolism in Ligeia
When it comes to Poe, symbolism can be found in every nook and cranny of every story. The following is an attempt to grasp the most substantial elements of symbolism in Ligeia:
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Ligiea Symbolism 1: A love for his wife?
The way Ligeia is described points to two things: unreal, and almost vampiric. Many attribute this to the narrator’s love for his wife, and how the human mind and heart turn blind and glorify those we love. Others focus more on the vampiric descriptions and supernatural ending, claiming Ligeia has sucked the happiness and sense of reality from the narrator.
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Ligiea Symbolism 2: Drug Usage
The narrator’s use of Opium is well-noted in the story, and it is said that what he sees in the end is a mere hallucination.
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Ligiea Symbolism 3: The Pain Only Wisdom Can Bring
Ligeia is described as knowing all about “forbidden” wisdom, the metaphysical, etc. While some argue saying that this is symbolic for everything one learns from a partner, and everything you pick up on and contemplate when you’re in love, others argue that it’s a metaphor for everything that could be in a person, everything too good to be true, and ends tragically.
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Ligiea Symbolism 4: Powers No Mere Mortal Could Possess
The narrator calls Ligeia’s eyes the twin stars of Leda, referring to the twin sons she had after being seduced by Zeus, whom we commonly refer to as the zodiac sign Gemini. This means Ligeia could be a Gemini, but what is commonly accepted is that Poe was making the point that her eyes are worthy of being compared to celestial beings. Her eyes are beyond what could be expected from a mere human, even if it is only in the narrator’s mind.
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Ligiea Symbolism 5: Man’s constant struggle with what he cannot control
Ligeia writes a poem in the story, where the moral is that life is one giant joke, man is without free-will, and we’re all doomed in the end. It could be that the narrator’s experience at the end of the story is his own rebuttal of the poem’s meaning.
