What Does Ligeia Represent for the Reader

Ligeia and the Theme of Reincarnation

That the narrator of "Ligeia" is one who is frequently called "unreliable" by critics is nothing new (Sweet, Blythe), as he is an admitted opium addict, often susceptible to hallucinations in which he would imagine the lost Ligeia. Like the maddened narrator of "The Raven" sorrowing for his "lost Lenore," the unreliable narrator of "Ligeia" tempts the reader to doubt the transformation of Rowena into the narrator's lost love by reason of his habit of indulgence in the opium drug. Indeed, the night of his vigil is not without his cup of mind-altering elixir; therefore, the literal minded critic would suggest that it cannot be stated with any certainty whether the Ligeia whom he sees in Rowena is real, hallucinatory, or a result of reincarnation. There is, however, plenty of evidence to suggest that a close reading of the text gives enough clues for the reader to apprehend the actuality of the narrative: that, essentially, Ligeia is a mysterious woman who understands with a kind of Gnostic knowledge of the universe the great metaphysical quandary of life: death -- and how to overcome it. (And, after all, Poe had a penchant for blending the otherworldly and fantastic with the here-and-now and Ligeia is no exception). The fact that she appears to represent that ghostly, multi-ethnic, origins-unknown staple of Gothic fiction only adds to her allure. She is like Carmilla, the seductive vampire -- yet instead of destroying life, she restores it -- in herself. Still, there are other clues that suggest that Ligeia is not as powerful as the reader may like to think. For instance, the poem within the narrative, "The Conqueror Worm" suggests that even Ligeia has no power over death. Yet, at the end of the story -- there she is. What is to be made of it?

There can be no real answer to this problem and one's analysis depends entirely upon how one chooses to approach the work, which method or theoretical perspective he chooses to take, and how he chooses to apply it.

For instance, from a Feminist perspective, Ligeia might simply represent the oppression of womanhood overcome by the will to power, which restores Ligeia to life to the bewilderment of the man who loved her and yet did not remain faithful to his love after her passing and married someone quite her opposite in Rowena. Rowena's transformation in Ligeia at the end of the story could indicate that the woman who wills herself to live not for man but for herself can overcome all obstacles, including death -- but one is not under any pressure to accept such a Feminist interpretation. It merely serves as an example of how the work might be viewed. In short, the theme of reincarnation does not have to be so explicitly upheld. However, from the perspective of the Gothic genre, it serves a purpose that this paper will now extrapolate: that is, the act of Ligeia's reincarnation serves as confirmation of the truth of all the Ligeia told to the narrator in their early years together. Like Jesus rising from the dead, Ligeia is reincarnated from the corpse of Rowena -- miraculously, mysteriously, and not without some struggle of the will.

From a formalist approach, the structure of the story is set up to produce the haunting effect that is accomplished at the end of the story, with the sudden reappearance of Ligeia to the astonishment of the narrator and the reader. This shock is effective because it is prepared for in the very beginning of the story when Poe ascribes his meeting of Ligeia to as mysterious circumstances as surround her reincarnation: "I cannot, for my soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady Ligeia." Moreover, the narrator does not even know her last name -- she is only the lady Ligeia to him. Her lack of identity is in fact what impresses -- she comes from nowhere; all the reader knows is that she has some connection to the Rhineland. Most impressive of all, of course, is Ligeia's vast learning -- her understanding of the classical tongues, as the narrator points out. It is almost as though Ligeia has lived for centuries and been part of the ancient cultures, whose sculpted works she seems to embody. If structure of narrative is to be an indication of the meaning of the work, then the theme of reincarnation might find support here -- that Ligeia is herself a perpetual reincarnation of the loveliness of antiquity, the grace of fine art, the constant and continual return of beauty to the world, as though she were "art" personified, ever returning to grace the world and enchant it with that which is the mystery at the heart of inspiration.

Ligeia's verses also indicate and foreshadow her return -- "a blood red thing that writhes from out" -- is witnessed in the end as the narrator sees a "ruby colored fluid" drop into his goblet. Is this the presence of Ligeia -- the return of her essence to the scene where the dead Rowena lies, waiting to be transformed into Ligeia?

Why then the struggle? For Ligeia to return from out the depths of the other side, from out the shadows of the netherworld, she must cover a vast distance -- but there is more to this as well: she does not return for her own sake. Her appearance to the narrator is like a gift -- he asks nothing of its meaning or its origin, but accepts it because he loves it: he loves her. She is beauty unparalleled -- as though not of this earth -- something metaphysical, transcendental. It follows that she is like one of the ancient muses, which came down from heaven to serve as inspiration to the mortal. In this case, it is the narrator who is in need of Ligeia -- and so she returns. Yet, just as the narrator must grapple with memory to bring her before the reader's imagination, so too must he grapple with her being as her reincarnation becomes a struggle taking place. It is as though he were somehow directing it by his will and desire, just as he seemed to direct his life with Ligeia at an earlier time when he met her, accepted her, asked her no questions about her mystery but listened and learned from her and was in awe of her. The relationship is suitably like that myth of Narcissus, which Melville described as "the key to it all" in Moby-Dick, the avenue through Nature to the eternal truth. For the narrator, he acts as the anti-Narcissus -- a male Echo -- who sees true beauty (represented by Ligeia) and cares not to attempt to understand or possess its meaning; he wants only to be in its presence. And thus he fights to see its return. If Rowena represents death, Ligeia represents eternal life -- the gift of faith in eternity, in a sense. It is this gift that the narrator thinks he has lost, yet the gift returns to him and appears like a dream. It fades and he tries to revive it, to resuscitate, thinking in the end that his efforts have been in vain, that he will never have it again.