The Multiple Murders in “Ligeia”: A New Look at Poe’s Narrator

TheMultiple Murders in "Ligeia": ANewLook at Poe's Narrator Terrence J. Matheson Poe'scontention that "Ligeia" was his "best tale" 1 is difficult to justify if we readit on the literal level alone, as certain critics suggest we should. 2 The storyis not, after all, sufficiently complex in terms of plot to set it qualitativelyapart from other Poe stories such as "Berenice" or "Morella." Nordoes the tale, considered as a horror story pure and simple, possess characteristics which make it obviously better than "The Black Cat," "The Fallof the House of Usher," or even "The Pit and the Pendulum." Indeed, whenconsidered from this standpoint it is difficult not to see the story as flawed.The abruptness of the ending, for instance, leaves us with many issuesunresolved. When Usher's house crumbles or when the narrator of "TheBlack Cat" is exposed, the reader has a clear feeling that in the strict senseof plot at least, nothing more has to be said, for in each case we are givencomplete packages of information. But in "Ligeia" the reader is presentedwith a seemingly unfinished story. Surely many readers must feel theyhave been left hanging in mid-air, in a manner which does nothing to enhance the tale's effect. What actually happened in the concluding sections'?Did Ligeia really possess the corpse of Rowena? If so, was the possessionof Rowena only temporary, or did Ligeia's spirit remain in her successor's body? What took place immediately following the narrator's apparent conclusion that Ligeia had indeed returned? What are the reasonsbehind the narrator's ensuing years of suffering? All are important Canadian Review of American Studies, Volume 13, Number 3, Winter 1982 280 Terrence J. Matheson questions that, one would think, should be answered or at least dealt with in some way. That Poe made no effort to resolve these issues, though he did revise "Ligeia," suggests Roy Basler was correct to infer that the author did not regard the tale as having its primary significance in the literal sense.3 At the same time, Basler's study of "Ligeia," while answering many questions, does not go far enough. While I quite agree that the narrator has murdered his second wife Rowena, problems continue to persist, for the complete dominance of Ligeia throughout the tale is simply not thematically justified if Poe's major purpose were merely to portray an hallucinating madman obsessed with the memory of his former wife, who kills his second spouse for reasons which are still unclear. On the other side of the critical spectrum, Clark Griffith's ingenious theory of the tale as an elaborate satire upon romanticism 4 (while one cannot but admire his argument) loses sight ofthe element of horror completely and defeats what was obviously one of Poe's major purposes in writing the story in the first place. But when the narrator is viewed as a double murderer of both Rowenaand Ligeia, many aspects of the tale do come together in a satisfactory manner.5 Subtle but cumulatively compelling evidence which leads us to suspect that the narrator quite likelymurdered Ligeia as well as Rowena has been sprinkled throughout the story. Obsessed with guilt and the fear that she will return from the grave to exact vengeance, a fear born of his belief in her superhuman powers of will, he succumbs to drugs in a futile attempt to dull the awareness of his crime. Ironically, the drugs produce an hallucination wherein he imagines his murdered victim coming back in the very act of vengeance he has so long dreaded. Not only does Poe supply us with evidence suggesting this, but he also enables us to deduce without much difficulty how and why the murders were committed. When reading "Ligeia" one cannot but notice that, for all the story's detail, information is often presented to us in a disorganized and haphazard manner, cryptic and seemingly irrelevant allusions frequently littering what purports to be the narrator's scrupulously faithful account of his past. The first example of this, a passing reference to his memory made "feeble by much suffering," 6 naturally arouses our curiosity because no simple or obvious cause of the suffering accompanies his...