Different Dimensions of Death in Edgar Allan Poe´s Fictional Worlds

38 Pages·2017·0.94 MB·English

by  Eva Izquierdo Acha

TRABAJO FIN DE GRADO
Título
Different Dimensions of Death in Edgar Allan Poe´s
Fictional Worlds
Autor/es
Eva Izquierdo Acha
Director/es
Pedro Santana Martínez
Facultad
Facultad de Letras y de la Educación
Titulación
Grado en Estudios Ingleses
Departamento
Curso Académico
2016-2017
Different Dimensions of Death in Edgar Allan Poe´s Fictional Worlds, trabajo
fin de grado de Eva Izquierdo Acha, dirigido por Pedro Santana Martínez (publicado por la
Universidad de La Rioja), se difunde bajo una Licencia Creative Commons
Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 Unported.
Permisos que vayan más allá de lo cubierto por esta licencia pueden solicitarse a los
titulares del copyright.
© El autor
© Universidad de La Rioja, Servicio de Publicaciones,
publicaciones.unirioja.es
E-mail: [email protected]
Trabajo de Fin de Grado

Different Dimensions of Death in
Edgar Allan Poe's Fictional Worlds

Autor:
Eva Izquierdo Acha

Tutor/es:

Fdo.Pedro Santana Martínez

Titulación:
Grado en Estudios Ingleses [601G]

Facultad de Letras y de la Educación

AÑO ACADÉMICO: 2016/2017
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this essay will be to analyze the relationship between death and some
of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories by dividing this study in three different sections
attending to the topics: death related to will through beauty and love; obsessions and
revenge. In each of these parts, the notion of death will be determined by the particular
characteristics of each topic, while providing examples and explanations taken from the
stories. I will deconstruct and rebuild the concept of death, examining the elements
individually and then how they work together as a whole. Finally, it will be also
possible to compare the results with other social/historical/religious points of view.

RESUMEN
Este ensayo tendrá como objetivo analizar la relación existente entre el concepto de
la muerte y algunos de los relatos cortos de Edgar Allan Poe, clasificando este estudio
en tres secciones temáticas diferentes: la muerte en relación con la voluntad a través de
la belleza y el amor; las obsesiones y la venganza. En cada uno de estos apartados, la
noción de muerte se verá afectada por las características particulares de cada tema,
ofreciendo ejemplos y explicaciones tomados de los relatos. Desmontaré y reconstruiré
el concepto de muerte, examinando los elementos individualmente y como estos
funcionan como un todo. Finalmente, también será posible comparar los resultados con
otros puntos de vista sociales, históricos y religiosos.

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INDEX
1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………...page 4
1.1 Objectives……………………..……………………………………………...……page 4
1.2 Methodology and structure of the essay………….……………………………..page 5
2. EDGAR ALLAN POE’S LIFE EXPERIENCES AS LITERARY
INFLUENCES…………………………………………………………………………..page 8
3. SOME THEORETICAL IDEAS ABOUT POE’S WORKS AND STYLE………page 9
3.1 Gothic tradition: an overview………………………………………….………. page 9
3.2 Dark Romanticism: an overview……………………………………….………page 10
4. DEATH: DIFFERENT MEANINGS AND APPROACHES…………………..page 12
5. BEAUTIFUL AND DEAD: POE’S BELOVED WOMEN……………………..page 14
5.1 Berenice: the weak link………-………………………………………………...page 15
5.2 Eleonora: love beyond death……………………..……………………………..page 16
5.3 Ligeia: the fighter that defeated death…………………………..……………..page 16
6. DEATH AS AN OBSESSION TO OVERCOME OR SUCCUMB TO……….page 18
6.1 Happy consequences from bad situations: “The Premature Burial”……..….page 18
6.1.1 Thanatophobia: symptoms and treatment…………………………………….page 19
6.2 Obsessive characters doomed to be punished…………..……………………...page 20
6.2.1 Chain of events and analysis…..……………………………………………...page 20
6.2.2 “The Masque of the Red Death”: everybody is equal when they are dead.....page 20
6.2.3 “The Black Cat”: a jinx animal that can make your life miserable………....page 21
6.2.4 “William Wilson”: morality vs. vice………………………….………………page 22
6.2.4.1 The notion of Doppelgänger and the relationship between the William
Wilsons……………………………...……………………………………...page 24
7. DEATH AS THE SWEETEST REVENGE………………………………………page 26
7.1 The concept of death as determined by revenge…….………………………...page 26
7.2 “The Cask of Amontillado”: the grips of revenge and how to perform it…...page 26
8. GLOBAL ANALYSIS OF THE TALES AND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
THEM……………………………………………………………………………….page 28
9. CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………………page 32
10. REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………page 33

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1. INTRODUCTION
First of all, it is necessary to point out that this essay will be focused on Edgar Allan
Poe’s work. My purpose is to analyze Poe’s fiction as related to the notion of death and
the different definitions that may be assigned to the term depending on the context.
Edgar Allan Poe is clearly one of the main references when talking about
supernatural, macabre scenarios and dark and sinister topics, and death plays an
important role within his fiction. He manages to thoroughly explore the issue and
provide different meanings that will be looked into within the following pages.
Moreover, since death is depicted in different ways depending on the story we read,
its definition will offer different dimensions and elements. In this vein, those meanings
will differ more or less from our own definition of the term, provided by our own
culture, fears and lifestyle. In this way, it will be possible to compare those views while
studying Edgar Allan Poe’s texts, in order to identify the similarities and differences.
1.1 Objectives
It is obvious that death is a key concept in Poe’s works and the purpose of this
analysis is to examine how the notion changes depending on the context and the
elements of the story. Does death play the same role in a love story or in a revenge tale?
As regarding these variations, Edgar Allan Poe offers a wide range of definitions; from
the prevalence of strong will after death to the suitable punishment for sinners either in
the judgment of the universe or of another mortal looking for revenge. In this way, we
have “Ligeia” as an example of a character whose determination for staying alive goes
beyond the boundaries of life and death. Meanwhile, “William Wilson” would be
focused on death as the final consequence of a relentless obsession with its own name,
representing not only the end of that harassment, but also some unexpected
consequences for the main character that, far from being freed (as he thought), provokes
the end of his existence as a human being. On the other hand, “The Premature Burial”
would represent death as an uncontrollable fear that traps the character in his own
anxiety triggered by the anguish that poses his disease; but, unlike the other stories, it is
this proximity of death that finally releases the character from his obsession.
Moreover, the context, the characters and their actions, even the tone will influence
the role played by death in each work and, as a result, it will be possible to identify it
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and its purpose within the plot. In this vein, taking as a starting point the huge
importance of death for the author, we will use his tales to define its role in each
situation, how he manages to modify the concept using certain elements for each
specific topic and story; and identify what makes each “death” different and special.
When dealing with the objectives of this essay, my purpose is to provide a study that
manages to offer the reader a good understanding of death and the dimensions it
embraces in Poe’s fiction. In order to do so, it is necessary to clarify which are the
elements involved in each case and how they are organized within the structure.
Furthermore, taking his texts as examples, I will be able to offer the reader practical
cases in which these structures are placed so as to show how death is assimilated in the
stories and how everything works as a whole. Furthermore, I will compare the different
scenarios and meanings in order to look for common and non-common features.
1.2 Methodology and structure of the essay
As regarding the methodology followed, this essay will try to deconstruct and
reconstruct the concept of death in Poe’s tales from the point of view of semiotics. This
science proposes that one idea or sign can change its meaning depending on the context
or the elements that surround it. In this way, each element and tale will be understood as
signs that could be interpreted differently as the context changes. I will analyze 8 tales
with different scenarios and contexts to obtain interpretations of death. It is also
necessary to mention structuralism when dealing with methodology, since it is based on
the idea of studying each element of a whole as related to the others. Structuralism
states that parts cannot be understood individually because they are structures inevitably
related with each other. Finally, this study is also based in the analytical, as well as in
the inductive method. The analytical method proposes a study based on the separate
analysis of the parts of a whole; while the inductive one obtains general ideas and
conclusions by means of the study of particular elements, in this case the 8 tales. Even
though I will not develop a thorough system of signs focused on Poe’s texts, I manage
to propose a solid base to start from.
Focusing on the structure of the essay, chapter 1 (Edgar Allan Poe: life experiences
as literary influences) attempts to summarize some of the facts, personal experiences,
literary works… that influenced the writer and his texts. Then, the second section of the
paper (Some theoretical ideas about Poe’s works and style), along with its subsections
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will provide some important features that define the author’s style and an overview on
the main genres in which his works are ascribed (Gothic Tradition and Dark
Romanticism), as well as the ideas that influenced his texts in one way or another. After
this general introduction, I will move on to the notion of death and the different
meanings it may have depending on the elements or contexts surrounding the issue in
chapter number 4 (Death: different meanings and approaches).
At this point of the essay, I will start an analysis of the different meanings using
Poe’s stories as examples to support the given explanations. In order to develop the
analysis of different approaches, I will divide the content in three sections depending on
the topics and interpretations offered; the first one (5. Beautiful and dead: Poe’s beloved
women) linked to beauty and women and how will can exist regardless of body and
after the physical death of the person, using “Ligeia”, “Berenice” and “Eleonora” as
examples.
The second point (6. Death as an obsession to overcome or succumb to) will deal
with death and obsessions, establishing a division between the obsessions that lead the
characters to a happy ending (6.1 Happy consequences from bad situations: “The
Premature Burial”) or those which cause terrible consequences (6.2 Obsessive
characters doomed to be punished in “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Black Cat”
and “William Wilson”). When addressing “The Premature Burial”, the character
manages to live happily thanks to the same issue that provokes his obsession, the
proximity of death and the fragility of human existence. On the other hand, “The
Masque of the Red Death”, “The Black Cat” and “William Wilson” propose situations
in which the characters are doomed to be punished due to their sinful and evil nature. In
these stories, death is understood as the fair punishment for the characters’ mistakes, but
in some cases, other terrible fates are also viable to punish bad actions.
The last of the three subsections (7. Death as the sweetest revenge) will deal with
revenge taken by some characters by murdering others due to some offense or honor
debt between them (“The Cask of Amontillado”).
These eight short stories in were written between 1835 and 1846; some of them
belong to his first years as a writer, “Berenice” (1835) or “Ligeia” (1838) while others
were created during the last period, “The Premature Burial” (1844) or “The Cask of
Amontillado” (1846). Since the dates are so scattered, the fact of taking into account
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several stories involving different periods of Poe as a writer makes possible to have a
general understanding of his evolution and learning as a writer. In addition, they
manage to provide a good analysis of the relationship between Poe and death through
literature focusing on the previously mentioned approaches: after death-will-beauty,
obsessions and revenge.
As for the reasons that made me choose these eight tales in particular, I shall point
out to the thought that they would perfectly embody the ideas and suit the topics
discussed in the essay as the main motivation. Furthermore, my decision was also
influenced by my personal taste as a reader, leaving behind other Poe’s texts that would
also fit the first reason but wouldn’t be my favorites.
Finally, the last section of the paper will summarize the main conclusions taken from
the analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s works in this document (8. Conclusions). Moreover, I
will also try to offer the reader a general view of, not only the parts in isolation, but the
whole. In this way, we can say that each chapter will be able to be understood by itself,
but it is important to compare the conclusions obtained within the sections to
completely fulfill the purpose of this essay, that is to understand death in each
individual scenario, but also how it changes from one situation to another. Therefore, it
is necessary to point out the similarities and the differences, and to reach conclusions
based on the comparison of the different interpretations Poe offers.

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2. EDGAR ALLAN POE: LIFE EXPERIENCES AS LITERARY INFLUENCES
An author can receive a lot of influences from a very wide range of aspects: social or
historical events, political ideas, other writers… But the most direct influence comes
from personal experiences which change our way of perceiving and facing life.
It is not surprising for those who know Poe’s troubled life that his works are so full
of darkness and pessimism. Besides, women were both a source of light and darkness,
warmth and suffering during his life1. As a result, he felt the need to look deeper into
the notion of death through writing: he explored theories about life after death, maybe in
an attempt to keep being hopeful about the future of his own dead people; or he could
use it to punish his own demons, since he wasn’t able to confront them in real life.
Apart from his personal experiences, Poe was influenced by a vast number of literary
sources. We can find that there is a classical inspiration mainly present in the theme and
form of the characters’ dialogues in texts such as “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The
Colloquy of Monos and Una” or “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion”. In
addition, the verbal exchanges in “Eleonora”, “The Raven” or “Ulalume” also show this
classical influence. Apart from this, Edgar Allan Poe looked up to a wide range of
writings dealing with very different issues. Among these texts, we find works about
archeological explorations, together with travel literature, biographies of historical
figures, old religious texts (E.g. The Bible), scientific/pseudo-scientific writings2 or even
newspaper columns. Finally, it has been mentioned that encyclopedic works were also
an influence for Poe; for example: Isaac D’Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature, John
Lemprière’s Classical Dictionary or Jacob Bryant’s Works on Ancient Mythology.

1 Ackroyd, P. (2009). Poe: Una Vida Truncada. Barcelona: Edhasa.
Costa Bloomfield, S. (2007). The Everything Guide to Edgar Allan Poe: The Life, Times and Work of a
Tormented Genius. Adams Media.
Fisher, B. (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Edgar Allan Poe. New York; Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
2 www.mathpages.com/home/kmath522/kmath522.htm (Accessed on 12/05/2016)
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