EDGAR ALLAN POE AND FEMALE VICTIMIZATION

Thesis

Submitted to

The College of Arts and Sciences of the

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of

Master of Arts in English

By

Xi Li

Dayton, Ohio

December 2018

ii

EDGAR ALLAN POE AND FEMALE VICTIMIZATION

Name: Li, Xi

APPROVED BY:

Bryan. A. Bardine, Ph.D. David J. Fine, Ph.D.

Advisory Committee Chairman Committee Member

Associate Professor of English Assistant Professor

Department of English Department of English

Kara Getrost, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Lecture of English

Department of English

Tereza M. Szeghi, Ph.D. Andrew Slade, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Associate Professor and Chair

Director of Graduate Studies Academic Chair, UDayton Global

Department of English Department of English

© Copyright by

Xi Li

All rights reserved

2018

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ABSTRACT

EDGAR ALLAN POE AND FEMALE VICTIMIZATION

Name: Li, Xi

University of Dayton

Advisor: Dr. Bryan A. Bardine

This is an essay about feminist theories and five of Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic

stories: “Ligeia,” “Morella,” “Berenice,” “The Black Cat” and “The Oval Portrait.”

Different than many essays that have similar topics and criticize Poe’s patriarchal

thoughts, this essay examines the overlap between Poe’s gothic stories and feminist

theories and analyzes Poe’s feminist ideas and thoughts. This essay argues that there is a

feminist element in Poe’s stories, and describes the kind of feminist thought he holds.

This essay introduces some feminist theories that are relevant to victimization in

Poe’s stories. These theories are helpful to understand Poe’s five stories—mainly the

women in these stories, and their relationship with patriarchal power. With the

combination of these feminist theories, this essay analyses some different aspects of the

stories (the female characters’ appearances, sex, the position of females in their family

relationships, children, the dependence and independence females) and it tries to figure

out the overlap between Poe’s stories and feminist theories to determine the kinds of

feminist thought Poe holds. At the same time, this essay reviews previous essays about

Poe and his female characters from scholars who studied Poe and women—

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such as their exploration of the images in Poe’s stories, and their positive or negative

comments on Poe’s works. This essay tries to fill the research gap by using feminist

theories to analyze Poe’s feminist thoughts and have a better understanding of the five

stories and the female characters. This essay covers studies beyond the Western world

and introduces some Eastern voices.

Victimization regards women as victims of patriarchal power. With the help of

theories about female victims that Virginia Woolf mentions in Three Guineas and “A

Room of One’s Own,” Germaine Greer’s theory about victims in The Female Eunuch,

victim feminism that Diane Long Hoeveler examines in Gothic Feminism, Karen

Weekes’ opinions of the husband/inflictor and wife/victim in “Poe’s Feminine Ideal” and

so on, this essay determines that although Poe represents some traditional and domestic

women in his stories, he creates some independent females who pursue the agency of sex

and knowledge at the same time, such as Ligeia and Berenice. Poe praises their beauty,

charms or characteristics of all these women in his stories. Poe is aware of the pressure of

patriarchal power on women: no matter what kind of woman—traditional or

progressive—the women in Poe’s stories choose to be: they all suffer oppression from

their lovers or destiny; in other words, Poe shows them as victims in a patriarchal world.

Therefore, Poe did not ignore or loathe the progressive women in his stories and his

understanding of females was similar to victimization.

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Dedicated to my parents

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am very grateful for Dr. Bryan Bardine, my advisor, who helped me to finish

this thesis step by step and directed my work patiently. At the same time, I am

appreciative to Dr. David Fine and Dr. Kara Getrost, who read my work and gave me a

lot of kindly advice about the theory or arguments.

My thanks are also in order to my parents, who supported me and encouraged me

to finish the project, and Dr. Tereza Szeghi, who helped me to arrange my working

schedule.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii

DEDICATION .....................................................................................................................v

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. vi

INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1

LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................4

APPEARANCE ................................................................................................................18

INDEPENDENCE, DEPENDENCE AND INTELLIGENCE..........................................26

CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................37

WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................40

1

INTRODUCTION

As one of the most famous American writers, Edgar Allan Poe created several

genres of literature: he is the pioneer of American Gothic literature, and the inventor of

detective fiction and science fiction. Poe had multiple identities, too: he is a literary critic,

a poet, an editor, and a novelist. However, though he made many contributions in

different areas of literature, Poe’s most famous works are his short gothic stories–such as

“The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” Among all

of his short stories, besides the horrific atmosphere, the most obvious element in Poe’s

stories might be women.

In his life, Poe had relationships with many women, and he lost many of them,

including his mother and his wife, Virginia. Like his life experience, his stories contain

many dead female characters. Because the female characters in his stories are so

prevalent, these “dead ladies” invoke many scholarly discussions. However, although the

keyword of the study of Poe’s stories is “female,” not many scholars use feminist theories

to analyze and understand Poe’s female characters. This becomes an empty gap that is

worth exploring. Besides reviewing the essays of scholars who study Poe and the female

characters in his stories, this paper will fill this gap and use a feminist theory to analyze

Poe’s works. Unlike many Western scholars who critique Poe’s thought as only

patriarchal, this paper will try to understand the female characters in Poe’s stories and

explore Poe’s feminist thought, too.

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This paper selects five of Poe’s short stories— “Ligeia,” “The Black Cat,” “The

Oval Portrait,” “Morella” and “Berenice,” and analyzes the female characters and their

relationships with their husbands or lovers. Since all of the women in these stories died

because of a mysterious disease (such as Berenice’s disease) or their male lovers’

persecution, it is obvious that these women become victims. Therefore, this paper will

use feminist theory, which is relevant to victimization, to analyze and understand Poe’s

stories and his opinions about feminism.

Victimization has a long history among feminist theories. A kind of feminist

theory, victim feminism, believes that women’s power or agency is suppressed by males,

and they easily become victims in the patriarchal society or because of patriarchal power,

and this victimization of women is also shown in Poe’s stories. In other words,

victimization does not mean to blame women who become passive victims; it tries to let

people notice the patriarchy’s persecution of women. Poe does not mean women’s nature

is weak; the victimization of the female characters is because of the mistreatment by

patriarchy. This paper will separate the analysis of the female characters and

victimization into several parts, and it will explore whether females become victims by

analyzing several aspects, such as the female characters’ appearances, sexuality, the

position of the women in their family relationships, intelligence, and the dependence and

independence of the women.

Many feminists’ works contain the thought that females become victims because

of patriarchal power. The root of feminism was already developed in the 19th century, the

period that Poe lived, and some feminists, such as Mary Wollstonecraft (who died just 12

years before Poe’s birth), published her theory which argued that women become victims

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in their families and are discriminated against by males. Thirty-three years after Poe’s

death, another famous feminist—Virginia Woolf was born, and Woolf’s essay, “A Room

of One’s Own,” explores how women become victims in academic or literary worlds.

Many contemporary feminists also analyze female victims in their works, such as

Germaine Greer, who explores how women become victims in sexual relationships, and

Diane Long Hoeveler, who explores the female victims in Gothic literature. All in all, in

order to have a better understanding of Poe and his thoughts of women, this paper will

explore how to use victimization to analyze his stories about women.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

From East to West, between feminism and patriarchy, scholars’ opinions of Poe’s

short gothic stories and their female characters are varied and complex. This literature

review will introduce some previous studies about Poe and the female characters in his

stories, trying to tease out the scholars’ opinions on Poe’s thoughts on feminism and/or

patriarchy. This review utilizes not only the works of Western scholars (like Karen

Weekes and Debra Johanyak), but also the works of Eastern scholars (such as Qing Li

and Zongwei Song). At the same time, it contains introductions to feminist theories that

are relevant to victimization, which this capstone project will use in the analysis.

In the Western academic world, like many male authors in 19th-20th centuries,

Edgar Allan Poe is not regarded as a writer who supports feminism by many scholars.

Indeed, Poe’s works are criticized by some feminist scholars since the female characters

in his stories often die and are quiet. As Lasse Bundgård argues in his essay, “Gender

Roles in Edgar Allan Poe,” the dying female characters “stand out to the gender-aware

reader, as women solely serving a role in death could be, and has been, interpreted as a

devaluation of women and a display of misogyny” (5). Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

are the “gender aware reader[s]” that Bundgård mentions in the essay. In their famous

feminist book, The Madwoman in the Attic, Gilbert and Gubar present Poe as a typical

sexist. They argue that the dead and quiet female characters mean that Poe holds serious

patriarchal thoughts that deprive women’s agency and ignores women’s will and rights

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(Gilbert et. 33). As The Madwoman in the Attic is influential to feminist writers, Gilbert

and Gubar’s opinion represents many feminists’ opinions on Poe, and it can answer the

question why few people would like to use feminist literary theory to analyze Poe’s

works.

Another scholar with the interpretation that Poe is a misogynist is Jessica Akiona,

the author of “Edgar Allan Poe and His Refusal to Let Women Freely Indulge.” In this

article, Akiona explores Poe’s attitude towards the issue of alcohol by analyzing Poe’s

short stories “The Black Cat,” “The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether” and so on.

Then, the author draws a conclusion that in Poe’s opinion, men have the right to “drink

and act freely” while women should keep their purity, and female drinkers are “scorned,

dismantling their reputation” (7). In other words, the author points out that Poe stands on

the patriarchal side, as she argues that Poe is more tolerant to the male drinkers in his

stories and demands women follow morals more strictly. However, although the

descriptions of female and male drinkers are analyzed by the author, while criticizing

Poe’s patriarchal stance, she seems to not be aware that in Poe’s stories, the number of

male drinkers is much higher than the number of female drinkers. Akiona believes the

male drinkers imply Poe’s tolerance to males’ misbehavior; but on the other side, it also

can be understood as an implication of regarding alcohol as a bigger and broader issue of

men. After all, while Poe seems more inclined to write about male characters drinking,

the behavior of these male drinkers—such as the husband’s action in “The Black Cat”—

usually causes serious consequences that Poe might be criticizing. For example, in the

end of “The Black Cat,” Poe implies the husband will be punished by the police and law:

“The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of

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the spectators,” which means the policemen already found out that the narrator had

murdered his wife (“The Black Cat”).

Similar to Akiona’s article, although using a more complex tone, Karen Weekes,

in her essay, “Poe’s Feminine Ideal,” points out that when the female characters in Poe’s

stories break out of the limitation of “stereotyped feminine role[s],” Poe tends to criticize

them rather than praise them (154). Weekes also argues that Eleonora, one of the female

characters in Poe’s story of the same name, shows that the types of women that Poe

prefers are “young, unlearned, impressionable, and completely dedicated to her love for

him” (154). After analyzing Poe’s stories, the words that Weekes uses to describe Poe’s

“ideal woman” in his stories and his life are “unlearned” and “young.” As “young”

women are considered beautiful and innocent, and “unlearned” women are less likely to

hold knowledge and wisdom. These descriptions show that the author believes that Poe

prefers women who do not have much independent thought. Being “dedicated” to males

also stresses Poe’s demand of letting women devote themselves to men and being men’s

subordinates. At the same time, by arguing Poe’s dislike of characters who are more

feminist and who break the traditional “stereotype[s]” of women, Weekes points out

Poe’s disagreement with feminism. In addition to essays like Akiona’s and Weekes’

articles, some essays do not focus on Poe’s feminist or patriarchal thought, but still

provide arguments that support Akiona or Weekes theory. This theory explains women

who do not conform to traditional “stereotype[s]” are not welcomed in Poe’s stories. For

instance, an essay, “The Influence of Place on Identity in Poe’s ‘Morella’ and ‘William

Wilson’” points out that the woman with agency—the woman who jumps out from the

domestic stereotype of female and has feminist characteristics—threatens and torments

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the male narrator. By analyzing “Morella,” the author Whitney Shylee May admits that

Morella is a female character with “power,” and she argues that Morella becomes a

symbol of danger and is parallel to “cursed lands” (220-221). Therefore, whether arguing

Poe’s preference of the traditional domestic woman, or showing the dislike of female

characters with feminist features, many previous studies explore Poe’s patriarchal

thoughts in different ways.

As mentioned above, the dying female characters in Poe’s stories might be the

reason why only a few feminist scholars use feminist theory to analyze Poe’s works.

However, it must be admitted that there still are some essays using “feminism” to

examine Poe’s work, such as Debra Johanyak’s “Poesian Feminism: Triumph of

Tragedy.” Although this essay argues Poe’s opinion of feminist women and his

preference towards traditional women (in other words, this essay still views Poe as a

patriarchal man is negative), at least Johanyak chooses to use feminist theories and terms,

such as de-feminizing feminism (which means women contain male features instead of

feminine features), to analyze Poe’s stories like “Berenice” and “The Fall of the House of

Usher” (69). When Berenice and Madeline Usher pass their lovers’ library doors,

Johanyak believes these behaviors are de-feminizing as they imply that these two ladies

are challenging men’s intellectual advancements, as the libraries are the embodiments of

males’ traditional authority of intelligence that women are forbidden to touch. After this

challenge, they become “horrific things” instead of female victims, and this change

reflects Poe’s misogyny (69). As feminist theory is the theory that explores the

relationship between women and patriarchy and can help readers to understand Poe’s

opinion on genders, this method of combining feminist theory and the close-reading of

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Poe’s stories is significant in order to understand the relationship between feminism and

Poe’s female characters.

Except those articles that deny Poe has feminist thoughts directly or implicitly,

konly a few Western articles imply Poe has the possibility of not being an enemy of

feminist thought. In her essay, “Hysteric Vocalizations of the Female Body in Edgar

Allan Poe’s ‘Berenice’,” Kristen Renzi points out that Berenice might become a victim—

as she probably has hysteria and has been mistreated according to the inaccurate

therapeutic method in the 19th century (602). Unlike Gilbert and Gubar’s opinion, Renzi

believes Berenice’s silence in the story does not mean her voice is suppressed by Poe (in

other words, he does not create Berenice as a silent and passive figure), as the record of

Berenice is her “bodily language” which shows her desire and rebellion—it is her way to

“address an uncomprehending male-dominated society,” and the things that the

patriarchal society have done to Berenice are “wrong” (619-632). Poe’s position is like an

objective observer who narrates things that he does not “presume to understand” (632).

Therefore, in Renzi’s view, the dying Berenice is not a sign of Poe’s misogyny, as an

objective observer may not add his like or dislike in the story: he only records the

situation he saw. She quotes D. H. Lawrence’s words in her essay, “Poe is rather a

scientist than an artist.” Renzi seems to regard Poe more like a student or experimenter,

and thus, he will not suppress Berenice’s agency intentionally, and his story can contain

this silent lady’s desire and power.

Being different from many Western studies, the Eastern studies about Poe and the

female characters in his stories point in another direction. Many articles, such as Qing

Li’s “The Female View in Allan Poe’s short stories (when translating to Chinese, Poe’s

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name is often presented as ‘Allan Poe’ instead of ‘Edgar Allan Poe’),” point out that the

female characters’ characteristics vary, which implies Poe’s imagination and

understanding of different kinds of women. Poe praises the societal or traditional morals

of women of tolerance and kindness, while admitting women’s strong will power and

wisdom (81). As a result, Li’s attitude toward Poe is decisive: Poe shows his feminist

thought in his stories. However, although the topic of this essay is Poe’s feminist thought,

instead of feminist theory, Li uses the concept of the Post-Colonial theory— “self” and

“the other”—to analyze the stories. Li believes that women are “the other[s]” who

become victims because of the “sel[ves],” the men. Poe records their tragic situation and

shows the rebellion of feminist women in his stories, such as Ligeia (80). Similar to Qing

Li, another Chinese scholar, Jia Feng’s “The Analyzation of the Images of ‘The Black

Cat’” comes to a conclusion that females become victims of men’s crimes, and Poe’s

“The Black Cat” criticizes the dark side of human nature. Instead of feminist theory or

the Post-Colonial theory that Qing Li mentions, Feng chooses Freudian theory, and she

uses the concepts of ego, id, and superego to analyze that the second black cat and the

male narrator are the embodiments of evilness, and the fire disaster in the stories shows

Poe’s judgement and punishment of them (72). As a result, although using different

theories to analyze the same topic, both Li and Feng believe Poe stands on the women’s

sides. They do not regard the dying women in Poe’s stories as a showing of Poe’s

misogyny, as these women help Poe to reveal the society’s or the men’s mistreatments of

women. In their opinion, this can show Poe’s sympathy or appreciation to women.

Lijuan Tan’s “The Female Images in Allan Poe’s Horror Stories” focuses on the

dying women in another perspective. Tan believes that death is one of the most important

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elements in Gothic fiction, and the deaths of women are a way that Poe shows his

understanding of the aesthetics of Gothic Literature. At the same time, the deaths of Poe’s

young wife and mother might be another reason that Poe creates the maidens (such as

Eleonora) and mature women who are full of wisdom (such as Ligeia). Therefore, Tan

implies that the deaths of women are not relevant to the discrimination of women; Poe

has other reasons to arrange their deaths in his stories. And the element of death,

according to Poe’s life experience and the Gothic aesthetic, is pure love. Tan believes that

the females’ deaths in Poe’s stories is his way to reappear and memorize the females’

deaths in his life, and they show Poe’s desire of reunion with the dead—like Ligeia’s

husband, who meets his wife again after her rebirth. Similarly, Zongwei Song and

Shirong Li’s “The Understanding of the Female Characters in Allan Poe’s Stories” agrees

that the idea of the deaths of women is an aesthetic of Gothic Literature. This article

argues that Poe “has the ability to transform his misery to his literary creation,” and an

independent woman such as Ligeia, shows Poe’s desire to improve women’s position

(102). However, although Zongwei Song and Shirong Li wrote an article that is relevant

to feminist literature theory, they do not use exact literary theory to analyze Poe’s stories,

which means in the body paragraphs, they make their argument without using feminist

terms (100). Therefore, as most Eastern and Western scholars do not use feminist theory

in their articles, applying feminist literary theory to the study of Poe and female

characters still is a blank area that waits to be filled.

In general, the scholars who criticize Poe’s patriarchal thought mainly believe that

the deaths of the women who have the feminist features (such as the independent Ligeia)

show Poe dislikes feminism, or the dead women mean that Poe deprives the agency or

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voice of women. However, the first opinion cannot answer why the traditional and gentle

women died in Poe’s stories, too. The second opinion also is one-sided, as Renzi points

out, the silent women are not actually silent and lose their voices. Unlike the Western

scholars, many Eastern scholars praise Poe’s feminist ideas (such as being sympathetic to

women’s unequal situation); but most of them analyze this topic in a broad way—for

example, exploring the historical background and the environment of Gothic Literature,

while neglecting to use feminist theory to do close-readings. Nevertheless, directly or

implicitly, these articles argue that Poe puts female characters in the position of victims,

and this victimization of women deserves more exploration.

When the female characters in Poe’s stories become victims, the Western scholars

with feminist ideas do not regard it as a sign of feminism. However, victimization is an

element that appears in feminist and gothic literature frequently. The gender—the male

identity—of Poe is not the main reason that the female characters are victimized in his

stories; many gothic fictions represent women as victims of the patriarchal world no

matter whether the authors are women or men. For instance, in the earliest gothic novel,

Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, the three main female characters all suffer due

to Lord Manfred. In another famous novel with a gothic atmosphere, Wuthering Heights,

Emily Bronte, a female writer, also presents Isabella Linton as a poor victim in her

marriage. In her critical book which combines gothic fictions and feminist literature

theory—Gothic Feminism, Diane Long Hoeveler writes that “I would call…gothic

feminism—a version of ‘victim feminism’” (7).

The term “victim feminism” that Hoeveler mentions is a concept that belongs to

feminist theory. Victim feminism believes that women can lose their agency and easily

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become victims of patriarchal power. In other words, this feminist theory is concerned

with the victimization of women both in social and family relationships (Lamb 275).

Although not all feminist scholars support the idea of victim feminism, the victimization

of women is broadly agreed upon and explored by many famous feminist authors. They

noticed that women become victims in many aspects of their lives—such as when women

are degraded in political or academic worlds, and they suffer abuse from their husbands,

lovers or patriarchal relatives. Although it would be tempting to read victimization as a

description of women’s passive images, reviewing how the social force (patriarchy)

throws women into victimization will invoke readers to think in a feminist way and

notice the negative influence of patriarchy.

Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest and most famous feminists, is mentioned

by Hoeveler in Gothic Feminism, and she believes that Wollstonecraft “creat[es] the

potent ideology that persists…the assumptions of what now goes under the name of

‘victim feminism’” (2). Although Wollstonecraft is English, the origins of English and

American culture are similar, which means that Wollstonecraft’s theory is also suitable

for American women. Wollstonecraft lived between 1759-1797, and Poe was born only

12 years after her death. This implies that they can be roughly considered as authors in

the period of 18th-19th century, and the women’s situations that Wollstonecraft presents in

her book can be similar to the situations that Poe saw around him. Wollstonecraft wrote

Gothic novels, too, which means she could consider the women in Gothic stories in her

feminist works. Therefore, using Wollstonecraft’s theory to understand Poe’s stories can

be sensible, and as the victimization of women becomes one of the most important parts

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of Wollstonecraft’s theory, as it implies that the female victims in Poe’s stories are Poe’s

way to reflect the situation of women at that time.

In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft points out that women

become victims in many ways. With many famous feminists, Wollstonecraft is against

the male discrimination of females’ wisdom: “When the edu-cation has been the same,

where is the difference between the sexes? The only difference I can see comes from the

fact that soldiers are free to see more of life than women are…” (16). In Wollstonecraft’s

eyes the reason that men are more powerful than women in the academic field is not

because they are more intelligent or superior to women, but because women have less

opportunities to be educated. Even when some women accept education, their agencies

are still limited by men as they are not “free” to gain enough rights to participate in

similarly important roles in society. Therefore, as the women in Wollstonecraft’s analysis

are restricted by the patriarchal society, she implies that society should give women more

chances for education, and the chances to “see more”—such as to work, to run a business,

and to participate in politics.

Another famous feminist, Virginia Woolf, shows similar ideas in her essay, “A

Room of One’s Own.” The time period that Woolf lived in was 1882-1941, when women

still needed to fight for some basic rights that Wollstonecraft mentions in her articles—

such as the right to education. This also implies that compared to the 18th and early 19th

centuries, the situation of females in Woolf’s works may not have changed much. In her

essay, Woolf shows the tragedy of a female writer, Mary Carmichael: “You can't do this

and you shan't do that! Fellows and scholars only allowed on the grass! Ladies not ad-

mitted without alter of introduction!” (78). All the words that Woolf uses, “can’t”

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“shan’t” and “not ad-mitted” reveal the same truth: when women try to step into the

academic field, they face a strong limitation, bias and control from men. Therefore, the

role that male power plays is an injurer, and women are victims who nearly cannot

succeed in the academic field. Like Wollstonecraft, Woolf affirms that the wisdom of

women is not less than men. An example of this is she points out that Mary can “be a

poet…in another hundred years' time” (79). This belief of female intelligence is not rare

in Poe’s works, as he wrote female characters who are cleverer than men, such as Ligeia

and Morella, and their wisdom even shocks their male partners. Instead of worshiping the

beauty or chastity as knights in courtly love, these male characters respect Ligeia and

Morella’s knowledge as students, and this relationship is beyond the limitation of

genders. Therefore, Poe cannot be one of the sexists who discriminates against women in

the academic field and is criticized by Wollstonecraft and Woolf.

Although revealing women’s intelligence, unlike some feminists in the

contemporary era (such as Linda Hirshman, who encourages women to have less children

and a “small family”), Woolf and Wollstonecraft do not demand women to fully give up

their traditional roles or characteristics and totally act like men (Warner, “Are You In, or

Out?”). Wollstonecraft agrees that women can keep their traditional roles—looking after

and educating their children—as long as their husbands take on family responsibilities

(90). One of the core thoughts in Woolf’s Three Guineas is that because women’s nature

is gentler and less aggressive than men, they can use this good nature to stop war and

help people focus on their peaceful lives. Therefore, when women are put in unequal

gender situations and become victims, for Wollstonecraft and Woolf, it is not the women

who prefer to be gentle that needs to be blamed; it is the social bias and system that needs

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to change. Readers can find a similar scene in Poe’s stories, such as “The Black Cat.”

The gentle wife is innocent and never degenerates in the story; it is her husband’s

degeneration that causes the tragedy.

Besides education and female nature, Wollstonecraft notices women’s unequal

situation as a wife or lover too. For instance, she points out that men are treating women

like sexual toys—the “sweet companion” for relaxing and pleasing men (17). “Sweet” is

a delightful taste literally, but the extended meaning of this word contains an implication

of delightful love and sex. For instance, Shakespeare uses the phrase, “sweet love,” in his

sonnets (Shakespeare, “Sonnet 56”). It reveals that, for men, women do not have their

independent identities, and they are only the “companion[s]”— the appendices of men, as

the function of women is to “relax,” to provide services to men. Here, Wollstonecraft

quotes Rousseau in her essay, and because Rousseau is a famous and influential

ideologist, his ideas can be widely learned and agreed upon by many men at that time. It

is clear that the sexual relationship that Wollstonecraft mentions is totally male-centered;

women’s voices are limited, willingness is ignored, and identities are degraded, and they

become victims—lesser partners—in marriage and sexual relationships.

This victimization in sexual relationships still exists and is argued by feminists

today. Germaine Greer, a contemporary feminist writer, explores this issue in another

way. In her book, The Female Eunuch, Greer mentions that people are concerned about

men’s penises, while discriminating against women’s sexual desire and wombs (57).

Wombs are considered as the origin of “wicked[ness],” for example, the origin of

female’s hysteria, and for this reason, wombs were removed by the doctors for centuries

(56). When a sexual organ is hurt or lost, it is not only damaging to the body, but also can

16

cause an emotional trauma. Therefore, women become sexual victims both physically

and psychologically. Also, as mentioned above, this suppression of women’s sex organs

is pointed out by Renzi’s essay, and she implies that Poe’s “Berenice” is a work that

shows this problematic treatment of females’ hysteria. Besides the sexual organ, Greer

also focuses on men’s interest in women’s appearances—especially the appearances that

have sexual implication, such as big breasts (39). Greer quotes A Vindication of the

Rights of Woman in her book several times, and similarly to Wollstonecraft’s opinion on

how Rousseau’s view makes women become sexual victims, Greer regards men’s

extreme affection of females’ sexual appearance as a “limitation” to females (Greer 41).

Karen Weekes’ essay also contains the argument about the relationship between women’s

appearances and sex. Therefore, the description of the appearances of the female

characters in Poe’s stories can be an important standard to examine whether Poe has

feminist or patriarchal thought. The idea of “love” is combined with “sex” by Greer, too.

When men describe their objects of fantasy, in Greer’s analysis, sex becomes the most

important part of these fantasies (242). As Weekes’ essay’s title (“Poe’s Feminine Ideal”)

shows us, the female characters imply Poe’s ideal image of women. In this logic, whether

and how Poe’s stories describe sexual women becomes one of the most important issues

that this capstone project will examine.

In general, from the political field to the academic field, and from family

relationships to sexual relationships, women have the possibility of becoming victims,

and the theory of this victimization can become a useful method to measure Poe’s

perspective of women and feminism. Combining with the theory of victimization, the rest

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of this essay will analyze the female characters in Poe’s “The Black Cat,” “The Oval

Portrait,” “Berenice,” “Morella” and “Ligeia.”

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APPEARANCE

As mentioned above, whether the female characters in Poe’s short Gothic stories

are described like sexual objects is an important standard to infer Poe’s opinion on

feminism or patriarchy. Therefore, this section will explore the descriptions of the female

characters’ appearances—mainly by using Germaine Greer’s and Mary Wollstonecraft’s

standards.

Some authors, such as Karen Weekes, argue that Poe prefers traditional

“stereotype[s]” of women (154). In other words, the male characters in Poe’s stories are

presented as the side with agency, and women are in their domestic roles and serve men.

This traditional relationship between couples is similar to the “sweet companion” that

Wollstonecraft mentions, which stresses the “sweet[ness],” the sexual values of women

and their ability of serving men (17). As the stories like “The Oval Portrait,” contain

characters who are traditional housewives, the descriptions of the wives in these stories

can be worthwhile to explore.

Although portraits (that can bring beauty to mortality) are connected tightly with

beauty, the description of the portrait of the wife in the first story does not guide readers

to put their focus on the beauty of her appearance. When the male narrator describes it, he

says: “But it could have been neither the execution of the work, nor the immortal beauty

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of the countenance, which had so suddenly and so vehemently moved me… I had found

the spell of the picture in an absolute life-likeliness of expression” (“The Oval Portrait”).

“Beauty” is a word that is based on physical appearance, and as it is a male narrator who

is observing the woman in the portrait, “beauty” also implies the charm between opposite

sexes. As the narrator is only an observer in the plot of this story, his descriptions may

reflect how Poe wants his “readers”— “observers” to appreciate this portrait. Literally,

“expression” does not have a direct connection with sexual beauty. Although this is a

word to indicate the image of a character, it stresses the character’s feelings and thoughts,

which shows the concern of his or her will. “Life-likeliness” strengthens the feeling of

regarding the lady in the portrait as an independent personality. The power of the portrait,

the “spell” is the “expression” instead of “beauty,” this is an implication of the value of

the woman’s image: the importance is her feelings and soul, not her sexual and physical

beauty.

Another description of this portrait contains a similar thought: besides the lady’s

face, her curves are asexual, too. The narrator says, “it was a mere head and shoulders,

done in what is technically termed a vignette manner” (“The Oval Portrait”). In Germaine

Greer’s The Female Eunuch, Greer points out the connection between patriarchy and

female’s “curves:”

The notion of a curve is so closely connected to sexual semantics that some

people cannot resist sniggering at road signs…The most popular image of the

female…is all boobs and buttocks, a hallucinating sequence of parabolae and

bulges… Whenever we treat women’s bodies as aesthetic objects without function

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we deform them and their owners….They are deformations of the dynamic,

individual body, and limitations of the possibilities of being female. (38, 42)

In her opinion, as the “boobs and buttocks” are body parts that contain sexual organs,

they become the “curves” with sexual semantics. The stress of the curves will invoke

some men’s “sniggering,” which can be considered as a lewd mocking to women’s

bodies. When women become sexual “aesthetic objects” for men because of the curves of

their bodies—when men only use these curves to judge women, women will face

“limitation” and “deformations,” which means they need to suffer men’s demands or

judgements. Both of these two words imply the harm of a woman’s sexual identity of

“being [a] female,” as their identities are demanded and judged by men according to their

curves; it also hurts her socially and emotionally when she is being mocked. Therefore,

patriarchal men’s obsessions with female “curves” are the reason that women become

sexual and social victims. However, the lady’s body curves in the portrait are not stressed

by the story at all. Here, “vignette” is a way that focuses on the center of the portrait (the

head) and blurs the edges. It shows that her sexual organs and features are not present;

what is concerned is her “head and shoulder”—combining with formal descriptions, her

“expression.” Therefore, the lady in the portrait does not become a sexual “object.” No

matter what happens between the lady and her husband, the lady is presented by the

narrator and the author in a very respectful way. Poe does not use sexual descriptions to

attract male readers, and he does not belong to the group of men who are “sniggering” at

women’s curves.

“Ligeia” is another story that contains the detailed descriptions of women’s

appearances. Poe uses a whole paragraph to describe Ligeia’s eyes, and “expressions” is

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mentioned again: “The expression of the eyes of Ligeia! How for long hours have I

pondered upon it! How have I, through the whole of a midsummer night, struggled to

fathom it! What was it --that something more profound than the well of Democritus --

which lay far within the pupils of my beloved?” (“Ligeia”). As the saying says, “The eyes

are the window of the mind.” Ligeia’s eyes are not (or at least not only) show her

physical beauty, but show her “mind,” which means her intelligence, characteristics, and

willpower. Instead of the “aesthetic objects,” she is presented as a woman with a strong

personality or characteristics. Besides, “Democritus” is the name of a Greek philosopher,

who gives readers an impression of the high intelligence of her mind—wisdom. The well

of Democritus is “bottomless,” which implies that the wisdom of Ligeia is extremely

“profound” (“Ligeia”). In Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, she

shows her disagreement of letting women become sexual “companion[s],” and she

believes that women’s intelligence is equal to men; as mentioned before, Woolf also

shows her appreciation to women’s intelligence (Wollstonecraft 17). Therefore, as an

embodiment of wisdom, the attraction of Ligeia is similar to some feminists’ ideal

perspective of woman.

This kind of description—focusing on women’s minds or wills rather than their

sexual appearances—of Ligeia and the wife in “The Oval Portrait” is the most frequent

way that Poe used to present the appearances of women. Another example from his short

gothic stories that contain female characters is “The Fall of the House Usher.” Although

Madeline Usher is a young fair lady, instead of commenting on her feminine features, her

similarity with her brother as a twin is stressed in the story: “A striking similitude

between the brother and sister now first arrested my attention; and Usher…murmured

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that the deceased and himself had been twins, and that sympathies of a scarcely

intelligible nature had always existed between them” (“The Fall of the House of Usher”).

Here, a woman’s appearance is connected to her characteristics (such as her sympathies)

directly, and the similarity of the characteristics of the sister and brother stresses the

equality of the woman’s and man’s minds; they are not presented differently because of

their genders. In other stories, such as “Morella” and “The Black Cat,” women’s

appearances are not mentioned much. Most of the time, Poe only makes comments of

their characteristics or personalities, such as their cleverness or benevolence. The only

exception might be Poe’s “Berenice.”

Certain parts of the human body can contain sexual implications. In “Berenice,”

the heroine’s appearance is closely linked with sex. Instead of stressing Berenice’s eyes

or expressions like Ligeia and the wife in “The Oval Portrait,” Berenice’s teeth become

an important part in the story:

Not a speck on their surface --not a shade on their enamel --not an indenture in

their edges --but what that period of her smile had sufficed to brand in upon my

memory...even when unassisted by the lips, a capability of moral expression...of

Berenice I more seriously believed que toutes ses dents etaient des idees.

(“Berenice”)

Although Berenice is ill, the appearance of her teeth are perfect: they do not contain

“shade” nor an “indenture in [their] edges,” and it implies that the teeth are white and

strong—beautiful and charming in a sexual way (for example, many female stars in

movie posters have red lips and white teeth). However, the phrase, “moral expression,”

indicates that this organ does not only have sexual meaning; it contains a strong sense of

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Berenice’s “idees[ideas].” In “Poe’s Feminine Ideal,” Weekes points out that “showing

one’s teeth in a smile can indicate sexual interest, and the…meaning of Berenice’s grin is

of carnal desire” (156). Therefore, the “ideas” in Berenice’s teeth is sexual desire, and the

“expression” here is Berenice’s expression of her sexual lust. When describing her sexual

appearances, the important thing is not the sex, but the characters’ opinions on sex. In

other words, Poe still does not treat Berenice as a sexual object; he views her as an

independent soul as he wants to explore her idea of sex—such as her sexual desire.

This might be the reason why the conflict between Berenice and her fiancé,

Egaeus’ are mainly based on her teeth. Egaeus pulls out Berenice’s teeth in a crazy

mental state:

He [the tenant] took me gently by the hand; --it was indented with the impress of

human nails. He directed my attention to some object against the wall; --I looked

at it for some minutes; --it was a spade. With a shriek I bounded to the table, and

grasped the box that lay upon it. But I could not force it open; and in my tremor it

slipped from my hands…there rolled out some instruments of dental surgery,

intermingled with thirty-two small, white and ivory-looking substances that were

scattered to and fro about the floor. (“Berenice”)

In Weekes’ opinion, the exchange of Berenice’s “innocence for sexuality… [is a]

prospect” that would terrify her…fiancé” (156). Many traditional stories such as

Shakespeare’s The Rape of Lucrece, encourage women to maintain their innocence and

chastity; Greer using “The Female Eunuch” as the title of her book also implies that

women are castrated and are not allowed to have their desire and agency of sex. The teeth

represent Berenice’s sexual desire, and teeth are the organ that people used to help to

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speak words and they contain Berenice’s “ideas.” In this logic, pulling out her teeth

implies a deprivation of the organ that she uses to speak out her desire—a deprivation of

Berenice’s agency and voice of sex. In Freud’s theory, “the teeth [are] suitable for

purposes of representation under the pressure of sexual repression,” and the dream of

teeth falling also contains the meaning of castration (Munch, “Freud's Sexual Dilemma”).

Literally, Egaeus extracts Berenice’s teeth; however, this behavior can be considered as a

“sexual repression,” as a castration of Berenice, and the “impress of human nails” on

Egaeus’ body points out Berenice’s unwillingness to this castration. In this way, Berenice

becomes a victim who is castrated by her fiancé.

As Weekes points out, she is castrated because her sexual desire evokes Egaeus’

fear. However, Egaeus is not only afraid of Berenice, but he also fears his brutal

castration of Berenice. Egaeus is a man who is told that he has a disease referred to as the

“monomaniac character,” which implies that he is paranoid and insane. Words such as

“shriek” and “tremor” describe Egaeus as an insane criminal who is threatened when he

notices his sin, and the tenant’s behaviors—inspecting Egaeus’ hand and pointing out his

tool that he used to dig Berenice’s tomb—also imply the sensible and well-balanced

people’s intervention or revelation of Egaeus’ crime to his fiancée. Though the castration

of a woman is presented in this story, it is unreasonable, and it is not justified or

encouraged by the narration of this story. In other words, readers are encouraged to go

against this mistreatment. All in all, Poe’s description of the female characters’

appearances can be understood in the context of feminist theories about sex and

victimization. In “The Orval Portrait” and “Ligeia,” Poe refuses to review women as

sexual objects, but it does not mean that Poe discriminates or rejects women’s sexual

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desire. In “Berenice,” Poe uses the unreasonable castration to reveal how women become

sexual victims because of male power.

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INDEPENDENCE, DEPENDENCE AND INTELLIGENCE

In her tragic destiny, Berenice’s teeth may not be the only organ that is being hurt

or deprived by men. In “Hysteric Vocalizations of the Female Body in Edgar Allan Poe’s

‘Berenice’,” Kristen Renzi points out the similarity of Berenice’s disease and hysteria,

and she argues that the hysteria is Berenice’s silent voice to express her will, and she is

mistreated by the patriarchal society (602). As Greer mentions in The Female Eunuch,

wombs are considered as the origins of hysteria (56). The roots of the words—

“hysterectomy” and “hysteria”—are the same, which suggest the connection between

womb and hysteria, and the womb can be moved out or abused as a treatment to cure

female’s hysteria (Mankiller 26). Therefore, although Berenice tries to express her voice,

her body and will are still being ignored and abused by her fiancé and doctors—by men.

As wombs are the most important sexual organs of women, Berenice’s womb—her

female identity—becomes the original reason of being hurt by male power (as she is

mistreated by the doctor and her lover). In other words, she would not suffer the medical

mistreatment and her sexual desire would not be suppressed if she was not a woman. All

the silent voice and rebellion she expresses cannot prevent her from becoming a victim.

Women’s voices represent their desire of agency, and agency is connected tightly

to feminist spirit. Other female characters, such as Ligeia and Morella, are also women

who try to express their voice but still die. Their desires for agency and power are even

stronger than Berenice, which makes them look like the typical woman with feminist

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features: independent and intelligent. In “Ligeia”, the praise of Ligeia’s wisdom and will

are not less than the praise of her appearance:

I have spoken of the learning of Ligeia: it was immense...her knowledge was such

as I have never known in woman—but where breathes the man who has traversed,

and successfully, all the wide areas of moral, physical, and mathematical science?

…yet I was sufficiently aware of her infinite supremacy to resign myself, with a

child-like confidence, to her guidance through the chaotic world. (“Ligeia”)

As mentioned before, both Wollstonecraft and Woolf claim women’s rights of learning

and playing a role in the academic world. In Woolf’s works, such as To the Lighthouse

and “A Room of Their Own,” she points out the stereotypes of sexist men who do not

treat women equally: “I have referred to Professor X and given prominence to his

statement that women are intellectually, morally and physically inferior to men” (“A

Room of One’s Own,” 93). Woolf also gives an example of Shakespeare’s sister, who

becomes a sharp contrast of Shakespeare because as a woman, she cannot be educated

and write like her brother—therefore, Shakespeare becomes the giant of writers, while

she only can be a domestic housewife (94). If the situation that Woolf and Wollstonecraft

desire is men stopping discrimination against women as “inferior intellectually [and]

morally,” Poe’s Ligeia creates a stronger version of this situation, as her ability—her

knowledge of “moral, physical, and mathematical science” is even more superior than

any man. Therefore, Poe challenges the sexist discrimination that Woolf and

Wollstonecraft mention: the knowledge that is innately “known in woman” is weaker

than men. Besides, he even puts Ligeia in a higher position by letting her become

intellectually superior. Ligeia’s teacher-like identity also lets her become superior

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morally, as she is acting like a guide and protector for her “child-like” husband and

prevents him from falling into the dangerous “chaotic world.”

Ligeia is not the only intelligent woman in Poe’s stories. Another female

character, Morella, is as clever as Ligeia: “Morella’s erudition was profound. As I hope

to live, her talents were of no common order—her powers of mind were gigantic. I felt

this, and, in many matters, because [I became] her pupil” (“Morella”). The word “pupil”

shows that similar to Ligeia’s husband, the narrator’s intelligence is lower than his wife,

and he benefits from Morella’s teaching and protection as a student, and she brings the

narrator the “happiness to dream” (“Morella”). However, the happiness is short-lived as

the narrator soon loses his fondness to Morella:

In all this, if I err not, my reason had little to do…indeed, the time had now

arrived when the mystery of my wife’s manner oppressed me as a spell. I could no

longer bear the touch of her wan fingers, nor the low tone of her musical

language, nor the lustre of her melancholy eyes. And she knew all this, but did not

upbraid; she seemed conscious of my weakness or my folly, and, smiling, called it

Fate… “ah, how little! — which thou didst feel for me.” (“Morella”)

“No longer” implies that although the narrator cannot bear his wife now, in the

beginning, he is the one who chooses to “linger by her side, and dwell upon the music of

her voice” (“Morella”). In the block quote, Morella’s “music[al] voice” is described as

“low tone…music language.” The similar description, “music,” implies that Morella does

not change her “manner—” her musical tone is constant from the beginning to the end. It

is the change of the narrator’s heart or feeling for Morella which causes his dislike to

Morella’s manner. As the narrator says that his “reason has a little to do,” it implies that

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his change is unreasonable, which due to the narrator’s own “weakness or…folly.”

Morella’s words, “how little” the husband loves her, indicates that she is in pain because

his love is gone. However, Morella’s response to him is “smiling,” which shows her

tolerance and love to her lover. Morella calls this change as “fate” and implies that no

matter how sweet the past was or how unreasonable the husband’s change is, when a

woman is disliked by her husband, the break of their relationship is undeniable and

destined. Morella notices that she has no power to repair this situation and she will

become a victim of this love relationship. All in all, Poe uses the independent characters

in “Ligeia” and “Morella” to break the stereotype of unintelligent women. However,

although both Ligeia and Morella are stronger and more independent than most women at

that time, these kinds of women still can be hurt by men and become victims emotionally:

for instance, “Morella” shows us the tragic fate of a woman who is abandoned or detested

by her husband.

The narrators’ “fear” also become a topic that worth exploring. Some scholars

such as Weekes and Debra Johanyak regard men’s fear of the women who have

independent feminist features—such as Berenice who desires her agency of sex, and

Ligeia who challenges men’s position in the intellectual world—are the reasons why the

male characters commit their crimes. They believe that it is a reflection of Poe’s own fear

of these women and his execution to women with agency (Johanyak 70). This situation is

not rare in some male gothic stories; such as in Dracula, when female vampires who

express their agency and sexual desire (such as Lucy, who had put her power upon her

fiancé and seduces him), they are killed by the author because “a woman is better stilled

than mobile, better dead than sexual” (Craft 122). However, it is worth mentioning that

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the situations in Poe’s stories can be different than Dracula, as the male characters who

hurt women are presented as villains as compare to Dracula. Besides, the traditional,

domestic, and dependent women also become victims because of men: both the female

characters in “The Black Cat” and “The Oval Portrait” are dead because of their

husbands.

In “The Black Cat,” Poe presents a perfect traditional woman: “[The cat] also had

been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my

wife, who…possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been

my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures”

(“The Black Cat”). A black cat that lost one eye looks horrific. Nevertheless, the word

“endeared” implies that the wife is not terrified by its appearance, and she even is

sympathetic to it, which indicates she has a kind and innocent heart. The story stresses

the wife’s “humanity,” while using “once been” to reveal the degeneration of the

husband. These descriptions of this couple are similar to the plot in “Morella,” while the

wives keep their merit of constancy, their husbands have some negative changes. “The

Black Cat” mentions several times that the husband indulges in alcohol:

When I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch -- I experienced a sentiment

half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it

was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I

again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed…

ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my

uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.

(“The Black Cat”)

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The husband blames the black cat for luring him to do the atrocities, however, by using

the words “untouched,” Poe also points out that it is the narrator who ignored the crime

that he had done to the cats, and he “debauches” and “abandon[s]” himself to commit the

crime (“The Black Cat”). His wife, as she is “uncomplaining,” is presented as a domestic

and traditional woman who suffers her husband’s unreasonable anger. The only time that

she works against her husband is when she tries to stop her husband’s atrocities—trying

to stop him gently by using her “arms,” and then is killed by her husband cruelly by the

“axe” (“The Black Cat”). The traditional wife is presented as a positive (kind-hearted,

innocent and gentle) but powerless figure, and the husband is presented as a negative

(untouched, debauched and cruel) but powerful figure. It is not hard to find out that

although this story is about a mysterious and gothic crime, it contains the typical

elements of domestic violence: the wife is an innocent victim and the husband is a

criminal or violent injurer. The husband’s abuse of power—the patriarchal domestic

violence is not supported by Poe, as he let the husband’s crime be revealed by police and

then the husband will be punished. This encouraged readers do not be tolerant of

domestic violence.

The wife in “The Oval Portrait” is also presented as a victim in her family

relationship. Her husband does not use physical violence (the violence contains physical

violent action) to her. But he uses emotional violence (the violence causes spiritual hurt)

unconsciously:

Evil was the hour when she…loved…[and] wedded the painter. He...having

already a bride in his Art; she...loving and cherishing all things; hating only the

Art which was her rival; dreading only [art]...which deprived her of the

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countenance of her lover. It was thus a terrible thing for this lady to hear the

painter…to pourtray even his young bride. But she was humble and obedient, and

sat meekly for many weeks in the dark, high turret-chamber...But he...took glory

in his work...[did] not see that the light which fell so ghastly in that lone turret

withered the health and the spirits of his bride, who pined visibly to all but him.

(“The Oval Portrait”)

Scholars like Gubar and Gilbert argue that Poe is a sexist because the female characters

in his stories are often silent and passive. However, although the wife in this story looks

like a stereotype of domestic silent ladies, her silence in the story does not mean Poe

refuses to show her voice to the reader. The lady’s desire is obvious in the story. At first,

the story points out her characteristics and enthusiasm of life by mentioning she

“love[s]…all things,” which helps readers to focus on the abnormal situation—the only

thing that she dislikes: art. The reason of her dislike of art is because art becomes her

husbands’ “bride,” which indicates that her basic rights as a married person—being loved

and cared by the spouse—are deprived. The words “hate” and “dread” reveal what kind

of dislike she holds: she is not only resenting it, but also is threatened by this situation,

which implies she is afraid as she can do nothing to change it. In this way, the wife’s

strong emotion and psychology can be felt by readers. This story uses three words to

stress and describe the wife’s behavior: “humble,” “obedient” and “meekly.” This

conforms to the images of the traditional and subordinate women who are described by

Wollstonecraft in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. This kind of woman, as

Wollstonecraft analyzes, is the product of males’ wishes—the product of the patriarchal

society. However, as the wife’s strong emotion is presented, this story shows the readers

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that the lady in the portrait does not desire to be a domestic and humble woman. Poe

points out that it goes against her will and torments her emotionally, and even torments

her body, and it is the patriarchal power that creates her tragic destiny.

There is an implication in the environment, too. The place where this couple stay

could be their home, but the description of this “turret-chamber” is “dark, high” with

“ghastly” light. Besides, while the husband is painting, as his model, the wife cannot

move around most of the time—which implies her physical freedom is restricted. All

these elements make the chamber similar to a prison. Therefore, the wife is not only hurt

in a spiritual way, but also in a physical way, as her “health” is “withered,” too. Her

husband, who is supposed to love her, ignores the wife completely as he is only

concerned about his “glory” and “work.” This can be considered as a kind of unconscious

emotional violence in a family relationship, though he does not use force, his attitudes

and behaviors are selfish and can cause damage to his wife. In conclusion, from “The

Black Cat” to “The Oval Portrait,” Poe presents two kinds of domestic violence—

physical and emotional violence—that make wives become victims because of their

husbands. In “The Oval Portrait,” Poe reveals a woman’s marginal situation in their

marriage: she has her voice, but tragically, it is suppressed by patriarchal power and

thoughts. In addition, although “all” of the people notice that she is suffering in her

marriage relationship, the wife in “The Oval Portrait” still dies helplessly, which thrills

and invokes readers to introspect the indifferences of the patriarchal society, or the

irresistibility of male power—the difficulty for people to stop the husbands’ domestic

violence.

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Another wife who belongs to the same trope is Rowena Tremaine, the second

wife of the husband in “Ligeia.” Although she is only a supporting role in the story, she

can be a typical victim in marriage relationships:

My bride --as the successor of the unforgotten Ligeia --the fair-haired and blue-

eyed Lady Rowena…Tremaine…Where were the souls of the haughty family of

the bride, when, through thirst of gold, they permitted to pass the threshold of an

apartment so bedecked, a maiden and a daughter so beloved? …with Tremaine,

the unhallowed hours…passed with…disquietude. That my wife dreaded the

fierce moodiness of my temper --that she shunned me and loved me but…it gave

me rather pleasure…I loathed her with a hatred belonging more to demon than to

man. (“Ligeia”)

This story indicates that this marriage is problematic for Rowena. Similar to the wife in

“The Oval Portrait,” the husband already had a wife, and he cannot “forg[et]” Ligeia after

her death. This implies that Rowena cannot gain her basic rights in a healthy marriage: to

be loved and respected. The description of Rowena implies innocence and harmlessness,

too. She is “fair-haired and blue-eyed,” which means her appearance is a stereotype of the

beautiful but powerless women in Western culture, just like the fair-haired princesses

who await their princes to save them in most fairy tales (such as “Rapunzel” and

“Cinderella”). Rowena’s “disquietude” and “dread” also show that she is suffering from

domestic violence and being hurt. A “demon,” as a creature that comes from hell, is

considered as an evil, dangerous and harmful existence to human beings. By using this

word, it means that even the husband, the narrator, realizes that his “loath[ing]” of

Rowena is unjust and unreasonable, which can let her become a victim of evil violence.

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In addition, Rowena’s tragic situation is combined with the family economics or

finance. The husband is not the only man who abuses Rowena evilly. The motive of

Rowena’s family of marrying her to the narrator is “thirst of gold,” and it points out that

her family is selling her for money. The description of this family is “haughty,” and it

implies their arrogance, authority and arbitrariness for Rowena, which forces her to

accept being sold, although she does not “love” her husband at all. In Three Guineas,

Woolf implies the essence of this situation is that women do not have their “influence;”

which means the power to go against their patriarchal family: “She need no longer use

her charm to procure money from her father and or brother. Since it is beyond the power

of her family to punish her financially, she can express her own opinions” (21). In this

logic, Rowena’s opinion is that she does not “love” the narrator, but she does not express

this opinion, or it is ignored by her patriarchal family—the “father and brother” that

Woolf mentions. The reason that Rowena is powerless in their marriage can be her fear of

being “punish[ed]” financially and she does not have the ability to live by herself. In

Woolf’s view, economic independence is the reason that makes women submit to their

family (21). All in all, similar to the situation that Woolf criticized in her feminist works,

Poe shows the readers how the patriarchal powers—the power of the husband and

family—make women lose their voice and become victims who are trapped by miserable

situation, such as the abuse from their husbands. This is an unusual perspective for a male

author in 19th century. All the words such as “demon” and the loss of “souls” are Poe’s

stress of the injustice of the abuses that Rowena suffers.

In Three Guineas, Woolf gives the readers the solution of women’s suffering:

being independent spiritually and financially. It means women should have the right to

36

education and then they can “earn a living” (120). The wives in “The Black Cat” and

“The Oval Portrait” and Rowena are the kind of traditional women who become domestic

victims. Ligeia and Morella (and even Madeline Usher, who has similar characteristics to

her male twin and passes his library—as mentioned above, this is the way she challenges

his intellectual authority) are the kind of women who are similar to Woolf’s standards:

well-educated and have independent spirits. Although they also die in the stories, these

independent women gain a chance of rebirth: Morella comes back by using the identity of

her daughter, Ligeia raises herself by using Rowena’s dead body, and Madeline climbs

out from her coffin and seeks revenge on her brother. In their rebirth, these women’s

willpower is stressed to some degree. For example, Ligeia is so independent that she even

dares to challenge the death by saying “Man doth not yield him to the angels, nor unto

death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will,” and after that, Poe really

lets her overcome the death (“Ligeia”). Ligeia also refuses to submit to the patriarchal

power, as she “shr[un]k” back in order to refuse her husbands’ touch after he married

another woman. In this way, Ligeia and Morella’s rebirths and Madeline’s successful

revenge can be considered as the rewards of their independent and fighting souls, or as

the achievements that are caused by their strong wills and desires. Unlike Weekes (who

believes Poe prefers domestic women such as Eleonora), this essay argues that although

Poe shows his sympathy towards and takes his pity on traditional domestic women, at the

same time, Poe also appreciates the intellectual and independent women with feminist

features. In these stories, all kinds of women can become victims in the patriarchal world,

but the independent women can strive for other chances, come back and achieve their

goals—such as the goals of rebirth or revenge.

37

CONCLUSION

The BBC’s documentary, “Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death and Women,” says that

“Poe was a man, but he was surrounded by a coterie of women who exerted powerful

influences in his story telling” (BBC, “Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death and Women”).

Although the stories and the biography of the author can be considered as two different

things, it is undeniable that the women around Poe and their death influenced Poe’s

works. Many women who Poe loved died, and the personal experiences often gave an

author the materials for writing. In addition, the female characters’ deaths were a way to

show Poe’s gothic aesthetics—as the saying goes, “tragedy is to destroy all the pretty

things for people to see,” and the women’s deaths can be considered a way to create the

romantic and melancholy atmosphere in order to move the readers (Xun Lu, “The

Collapse of the Leifeng Tower,” Poe, “The Philosophy of Composition”). As in the

documentary, the scholar Joanne Harries argues that “Poe’s object is less frightening

people, than getting the fear out of himself and somewhere else” (BBC, “Edgar Allan

Poe: Love, Death and Women”). His female character’s death also became Poe’s way to

get rid of his fear of the death around him. Therefore, although Poe did not act like a

feminist in his life, the deaths of women do not equal misogyny.

The scholars like Weekes believe that Poe prefers women like Eleonora or

Annabel Lee. However, as Poe’s wife, Virginia, is a young and gentle woman like

Annabel Lee, instead of suggesting that Poe prefers the domestic women and hates

38

independent women, it can be more accurate to say Poe’s appreciation of these young

and gentle female characters can be considered as a way to show his love to his wife.

Indeed, Poe respected intellectual and independent women not only in his stories, but also

in his personal life. Poe did not belong to the same group of men—such as the “Professor

X” whom Woolf mentions—that discriminate against women’s intelligence. Poe

appreciated his female friend’s (Francis Sargent Osgood, a “glittering socialite and poet”)

literacy talent, and the woman to whom Poe proposed marriage after Virginia’s death:

Sarah Helen Whitman, an intellectual female poet (BBC, “Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death

and Women”). At the same time, when the Bible encouraged people to be “fruitful and

multiply,” unlike male authors such as Oscar Wilde (who insisted on having a son even

though he was gay), Poe did not force his wife or find a lover in order to have a child.

Poe’s creation of the teacher-like women (such as Ligeia and Morella) is a rebellion of

this religious, traditional and patriarchal thought, and the only child of the heroines in

Poe’s stories is a daughter, not a son, and she even becomes the embodiment of the

mother—Morella herself.

In this way, Poe gets rid of many patriarchal ideas in his short gothic stories, and

even in his personal life. He did not hold the sexist discrimination of women’s

intelligence, and he did not have the bias about having children and the prejudice for

male children. Poe praises the merits of traditional female characters (such as their

innocence and gentleness), while appreciating the feminist characters’ independence and

intelligence. The appearances and destinies of these female characters are similar to the

victimization in many feminists’ (such as Woolf, Wollstonecraft and Greer) theories.

They can be considered as a way to reveal the unequal position of females, and a way to

39

evoke people’s introspection and sympathy for women. Although as a gentleman in 19th

century, Poe could not totally get rid of the traditional patriarchal ethos and become a

proto-feminist, he is not the sexist and misogynist that many Western scholars argued.

Indeed, the victimization in Poe’s short gothic stories lets his works contain the elements

of proto-feminism.

40

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