Koehler, Poe

The writings of Edgar Allen Poe are incredibly dark; they always seem to come back to the same topic, death. The people or animals that die in the stories don’t usually die of natural causes, they are often murdered. This seems to be directly entwined with Poe’s ideas of human depravity. Poe’s stories lead the reader to believe that he viewed man as prone to do evil, which is very similar to the puritan’s idea people especially of the Native Americans. The puritanical belief toward the people that they referred to as savages was that they were in league with the devil, and therefore couldn’t be saved. That, among other reasons, is why they strove to create the “City on the Hill” that John Winthrop introduced. By creating the perfect society the believed that people could be saved from condemnation to Hell.

Poe, on the other hand, saw evil in the world, society included. They way he portrays his characters; it seems as if anybody can be driven to insanity or prone to evil acts if they just lose control over themselves. The major example I would like to use to prove this idea is found in The Black Cat. “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.” He then cut up his cat, and later hung it from a tree, then eventually killed his wife. Before any of that happened, Poe gave no indication of the man’s insanity. In Ligeia, "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." Again, Poe presents the idea of insanity. When the narrator sees Ligeia in his dead wife, though probably an opium-dream, it still presents the idea that a good man can be driven insane.

  Both John Winthrop and Mary Rowlandson present the idea, of once the wilderness is tamed and civilized the world can cease being evil and people will live in a perfect society. Poe doesn’t share this view. Poe believes that the evil of the world comes from men (and women), and since there is no controlling the minds of men there is really no way to combat evil. We just have to suffer though it.