In “The Raven,” a depressed narrator is mourning the loss of his beloved Lenore and looking for rational answers through a Raven. The narrator believes that the Raven, a symbol of afterlife has come with answers from another life and excitedly asks the Raven “Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!' The Raven replies “Nevermore” meaning there is nothing here after. The Raven’s stereotype answers irks the narrator and he gets into a manic frenzy “Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!” The narrator is clearly out of touch with reality and wants the Raven to leave for it cannot provide any rational answers. “Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'”
In “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” Poe uses a detective story to portray the human mind as being capable of analyzing and solving problems through rational and intuitive methods. “But it is in matters beyond the limits of mere rule that the skill of the analyst is evinced.” “The necessary knowledge is that of _what_ to observe.” Poe draws on gruesome details about the murders to portray human depravity in full Gothic light, “The face was fearfully discolored, and the eye-balls protruded. The tongue had been partially bitten through. A large bruise was discovered upon the pit of the stomach, produced, apparently, by the pressure of a knee.” Dupin examines the bodies and through their locations, intuitively states “Murder, then, has been committed by some third party.” “I see that no animal but an Ourang-Outang, of the species here mentioned, could have impressed the indentations as you have traced them.” In the end after solving the mysterious murders, Dupin is upset that the Prefect of Police has been sarcastic and has not acknowledged his rational and intuitive methods of solving the murders. "Let him discourse; it will ease his conscience, I am satisfied with having defeated him in his own castle.”
In “Ligeia,” believes that human beings are capable of using their strong will to overcome nature, “Man doth not yield himself to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will. --Joseph Glanvill.” The narrator is under the influence of opium and dreams that “It was the radiance of an opium-dream -- an airy and spirit-lifting vision more wildly divine than the phantasies which hovered vision about the slumbering souls of the daughters of Delos.” Poe’s portrayal of human perfectibility is shown in the description of Ligeia, “I examined the contour of the lofty and pale forehead -- it was faultless -- how cold indeed that word when applied to a majesty so divine! -- the skin rivalling the purest ivory.” Ligeia is portrayed as a perfect human being in terms of a goddess, “the beauty of beings either above or apart from the earth.” Her strong will to live and overcome death is stated metaphorically, “Words are impotent to convey any just idea of the fierceness of resistance with which she wrestled with the Shadow.” “But in death only, was I fully impressed with the strength of her affection.” The gothic landscape adds to the mystery, “The ceiling, of gloomy-looking oak, was excessively lofty, vaulted, and elaborately fretted with the wildest and most grotesque specimens of a semi-Gothic, semi-Druidical device.” The narrator is trying to cheat death by getting Ligeia to come back through the dying body of Lady Rowena. "Here then, at least," I shrieked aloud, "can I never -- can I never be mistaken -- these are the full, and the black, and the wild eyes -- of my lost love -- of the lady -- of the LADY LIGEIA.”
In “The masque of the Red Death,” human depravity is demonstrated through a disease that not even a wealthy man can escape. The Gothic landscape serves as a constant reminder about the dark side of nature, “But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.” Gothic elements are consistently portrayed throughout the short story, “blood-coloured panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals.” The stranger’s description is very symbolic as a messenger of death, “The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.” In the end when all the revelers are killed, the conclusion sends a chilling note that no one can escape death, “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.”
In “The Black Cat,” Poe’s fascination with nightmarish images and the supernatural continues when his black pet cat becomes the source of his misery. “In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.” When the narrator’s temperament changes, his pet cat feels the brunt of it, “But my disease grew upon me - for what disease is like Alcohol!” “The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.” Through intoxication, he felt his original soul which is pure is now giving into his worst nightmares, and his soul will become impure. “Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart - one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man.” Consistent with the doctrine of predestination seen among the Puritans, the narrator is repenting for his sin and his house mysteriously catches fire, “because_ I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin - a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it - if such a thing wore possible - even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God. On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing.” His arrogance at the end, turns out to be his worst nightmare, “But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.”
The Puritans such as John Winthrop in “A Model of Christian Charity” believed that civilization was in line with the covenant of works and every one had to adhere to God’s laws. Nature on the other hand aligned with the devil. He used the bible text to inspire his people and give them a sense of self worth that everyone can succeed through hard work and determination. This American Dream shaped by the Puritans still holds true for most Americans in today’s modern society.
Relate the idea of a merciful and terrible god to Puritan theology. Good blog.
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