Edgar Allan Poe’s Ligeia
In Edgar Allan Poe’s famous work “Ligeia”, the secret urge of a man for his deceased wife Ligeia is shown through his many struggles. The narrator of this story becomes entranced by Ligeia and thinks about her so much that he loses all concern for his newly found love, Rowena. The narrator’s desire for Ligeia overcomes all his logic. His experience with Rowena has only proven to him that Ligeia is more perfect than she could ever be. It is true with most people that your first true love is often your last. Poe believes that the will of man is a decision that can only be made by God and that if a person wants something bad enough He will ultimately let that person achieve it in some way.
The narrator has many reasons for his extreme love of Ligeia, but foremost is Ligeia’s devastating beauty: “I felt always aroused within by her large and luminous orbs” (Poe 710). The narrator becomes entranced by his former love and her presence. After Ligeia’s death, she becomes a god-like figure to the narrator; he worships her body and mind. The narrator has some realization that his magical love is doomed when he says: “If ever that spirit which is entitled Romance – if ever she, the wan and the misty-winged Ashtophet of idolatrous Egypt, presided, as they tell, over ill-omened marriages, then most surely she presided over mine” (Poe 708). The narrator believes that his special love is too good to be true and that he does not deserve a woman of such beauty: “She came like a shadow. I was never made aware of her entrances...” (Poe 709). She is described as more of a presence than a woman, a being who is there only to please the narrator. The narrator trusts Ligeia so much that he would do anything for her, she is his ideal woman.
Ligeia and Rowena are two completely different women when it comes to physical features. Rowena is the stunning Barbie-like figure which is seen as the perfect woman in our culture. She will not cater to his needs or be exactly what he wants. Ligeia is the brunette with devilish eyes and radiant hair who mesmerizes the narrator into loving her: “the...