Free Essays on Ligeia

A short story written by Edgar Allan Poe which fuses the themes of transcendence and lost love is "Ligeia,†. The narrator of this story meets and marries a woman of exquisite beautya woman named Ligeia. To the narrator, she is the perfect woman. She possesses classical beauty, expanded intellect, and spiritual purity. The narrator describes at length the strange attributes of this woman Ligeiaher raven-black hair; her low, musical voice; her ivory skin, lofty forehead; her delicate nose and radiant smile. However, Ligeia's most striking feature was the presence of her dark, large eyes, which the narrator is obsessed with. He seems to exert quite a bit of emotion when describing her eyes. By reading this story, you would realize that her eyes were the things that fascinated the narrator the most about Ligeia. The narrator describes his beautiful spouse almost like a ghost: "She came and departed as a shadow." He also thinks her beauty, more specifically her eyes, as a "! strange mystery." Her eyes make her seem unreal or superhuman because of her large "expressive" eyes that the narrator cannot explain except that they are "far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race." Ligeia's unusual beauty represents a reoccurring theme throughout the story. The text portrays a rejection of the features that society would call "ordinary" beauty. One example of this is how Poe repeatedly points out how flaws in the classical appearance of Rowena, "the fair-haired, the blue-eyed," by comparing her to Ligeia whose "features were not of that regular mould which we have been falsely taught to worship in the classical labors of the heathen." Poe explains through the narrator how more exalted and meaningful Ligeia's beauty is specifically because she exhibits more natural features instead of the classical features. The rejection of the classical beauty and the welcoming of the unusual, mysterious beauty indicates Poe's bias towards Romanti... Free Essays on Ligeia Free Essays on Ligeia A short story written by Edgar Allan Poe which fuses the themes of transcendence and lost love is "Ligeia,†. The narrator of this story meets and marries a woman of exquisite beautya woman named Ligeia. To the narrator, she is the perfect woman. She possesses classical beauty, expanded intellect, and spiritual purity. The narrator describes at length the strange attributes of this woman Ligeiaher raven-black hair; her low, musical voice; her ivory skin, lofty forehead; her delicate nose and radiant smile. However, Ligeia's most striking feature was the presence of her dark, large eyes, which the narrator is obsessed with. He seems to exert quite a bit of emotion when describing her eyes. By reading this story, you would realize that her eyes were the things that fascinated the narrator the most about Ligeia. The narrator describes his beautiful spouse almost like a ghost: "She came and departed as a shadow." He also thinks her beauty, more specifically her eyes, as a "! strange mystery." Her eyes make her seem unreal or superhuman because of her large "expressive" eyes that the narrator cannot explain except that they are "far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race." Ligeia's unusual beauty represents a reoccurring theme throughout the story. The text portrays a rejection of the features that society would call "ordinary" beauty. One example of this is how Poe repeatedly points out how flaws in the classical appearance of Rowena, "the fair-haired, the blue-eyed," by comparing her to Ligeia whose "features were not of that regular mould which we have been falsely taught to worship in the classical labors of the heathen." Poe explains through the narrator how more exalted and meaningful Ligeia's beauty is specifically because she exhibits more natural features instead of the classical features. The rejection of the classical beauty and the welcoming of the unusual, mysterious beauty indicates Poe's bias towards Romanti... Free Essays on Ligeia Two Portraits of women in Poe's tale Ligeia. Not only does Ligeia’s unusual beauty represents the main theme throughout the story, but the text reflects Poe’s rejecting the â€Å"ordinary†, a common theme in literature. The writter rejects classical values and welcomes supernatural through unusual, mysterious beauty. Ligeia was extremely beautiful, she knew a lot. A relationship with the narrator was a deep affection. He describes her very precisely as being afraid to omit any perfect feature: â€Å"I examined the contour of the lofty and pale forehead – it was faultless (†¦), the skin rivalling the purest ivory (†¦), the gentle prominence of the region above the temples†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The speaker portrays his perfect spouse almost like a ghost : â€Å"She came and departed as a shadow. I was never made aware of her entrance into my closed study†. He also thinks her beauty, more specifically her eyes, as a â€Å"strange mystery†. The narrator sees a secret in his beloved eyes. Her eyes make her seem unreal because they are so â€Å"expresive† and the narrator cannot explain except that they â€Å"far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race†. He even compares Ligeia’s eyes to the stars: â€Å"Those eyes! Those large, those shining, th! ose divine orbs! They became to me twin stars of Leda†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The narrator is impressed by her voice also: â€Å"which at once so delighted and appalled me – by the almost magical melody, modulation, distinctness and placidity of her low voice.† At first it seems that the narrator is interested in Ligeia’s body only, because the largest part of her portrait consists of her physical appearance. But later it appears that the narrator is also impressed by her knowledge, she was the first woman met by him who was so intelligent. And in some spheres she knew even much more than her husband: â€Å"In the classical tongues was she deeply proficient and as far as my own acquin...