Essay Comparing Ligeia And The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous writer and poet from the 1800s. “The Raven” is one of his most well-known works. However, Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher are two of Poe’s short stories that make one feel uneasy. Both have a conflict of losing a woman who was loved by someone in some way. A sister in The Fall of the House of Usher, and a wife in Ligeia. Both highlight the fear of death, grief, and fear in general. These stories highlight the real underlying horror individuals go through. To begin, grief is a major theme in both Ligeia and The Fall of the House of Usher. While Roderick mourns the death of his sister Madeline, the narrator in Ligeia mourns the death of both Ligeia and Rowena. Ligeia is his first wife, Rowena is his second

Although it is revealed that she was buried alive or at least Roderick believes so. Roderick finds it strange that Madeline is gone, and this causes him to go mad. Both Roderick and the narrator in Ligeia do not accept death. They find whatever reason they can to try and bring them back or get around the inevitability of it. Humans cannot cope with the idea of death because of the uncertainty that follows. In summary, death is scary for many reasons, the unknowns, loss of control, separation, and even the dread that it brings. Furthermore, fear in general is a huge theme in both of these stories as well. Both share a feeling of eerieness, uncertainty, and uneasiness. The narrator in Ligeia is fearful of being separated from Ligeia, and Roderick is just fearful of almost everything. He is really paranoid throughout the whole story. The narrator says, “There had been so much in her stern nature to impress me with the belief that, to her, death would have come without its terrors– but not so” (Poe 672). Not only is the narrator fearful of her death, but she still lives in fear after it has come. When individuals worry and fear everything, it is truly hard. It can be psychologically