Poe's Obsession with Death

Gabrielle DeLoof

Honors American Literature 1

16 March 2012

Poe’s Obsession with Death

“Men have called me mad” (Poe, “Eleonora) are the words written by Edgar Allen Poe in his short story, “Eleonora.” These are also a fitting description for Poe himself. He was a man who suffered mental illness as a result of a troubled childhood. His illness led Poe to write about insane people, fear, anxiety and death. This gloom and death permeates his poems and stories consistently.   His preoccupation with death and loss can be seen in five of Poe’s writings, “The Black Cat,” “The Premature Burial,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.” Thus, Poe’s persistent obsession with death is the central theme in his literary works.

As an illustration, the story entitled, “The Black Cat” by Poe is a case in point about his infatuation with death. It is in this piece he depicts a perverse human being who is the narrator awaiting execution. He has killed his wife over a cat he once loved. The title itself foreshadows the superstition of ill fortune or in this case death.  Not only does the narrator have one black cat, but it appears that his second cat is a reincarnation of the first as it looks just like the first with a missing eye to boot. Pluto was the name of the narrator’s first cat.  Pluto symbolizes death as this is also the name of the Roman God of the Underworld. The story invokes some gruesome acts such as gouging the cat’s eye out, killing Pluto by hanging it from a tree, and axing his wife in the brain. Also, the narrator describes the hole in the wall where he has concealed his wife’s body as follows: “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 corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators” (Poe, “The Black Cat”). Given these points, “The Black Cat” is a story which exemplifies Poe’s obsession with death.

By the same token, “The Premature Burial” further illustrates Poe’s death fascination. This story deals with the frightening experiences of people who have undergone premature burial. Ultimately, it is the narrator who is overcome with the fear and anxiety of being buried alive due to his condition of catalepsy. To begin the story, Poe mentions horrific events such as “the Earthquake at Lisbon, the Plague at London and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew” (Poe, “The Premature Burial”). However, there is no comparison of the pain and suffering of groups to that of a single individual being buried alive. The story then in a very detailed manner discusses the death of a congressman’s wife who was buried alive and had a fight with her coffin which ultimately killed her. Also, he reports a case in France of Mademoiselle Victorine Lafourcade in which “vitality had not altogether departed, and she was aroused by the caresses of her lover” (Poe, “The Premature Burial”).  If these stories were not enough, Poe then reiterates another buried alive example of an artillery man who was thrown off his horse, but buried alive only to die latter due to a medical experiment using a galvanic battery. In all of these there is the lack of air, darkness, and fear of death during these traumatic events. As Poe so elegantly describes the fear and doom in being buried alive as follows:

The unendurable oppression of the lungs—the stifling fumes from the damp

            earth—the cling to the death garments—the rigid embrace of the narrow house—

            the blackness of the absolute Night—the silence like a sea that overwhelms—that

            our hopeless portion is that of the really dead—a degree of appalling and intolerable

            horror. (Poe, “The Premature Burial”)

Poe’s obsession continues in the story as the narrator talks about, “worms, tombs, and epitaphs” (Poe, “The Premature Burial”).  The narrator then goes on to ensure that he will not be buried alive by making arrangements so as to be able to open his tomb from the inside, having receptacles for food and water as well as light and air. The narrator is preoccupied about his impending death until finally, he realizes that it is akin to a premature burial. Death, death, and more death are the themes in this story.  

In the same fashion, “The Masque of the Red Death” has as its central theme that no one can escape death. This includes all men and women even the very rich such as, Prince Prospero. Death is omnipresent in Poe’s story about the Black Plague. Only in this case the plague is red, or the result of humans bleeding. They lose the very sustenance of life. The story begins and ends talking about death. For example, in the first paragraph it describes the “Red Death” as “No pestilence has ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal—the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour” (Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death”). The closing line speaks to death’s dominion, “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all” (Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death”).  Also, within the story there are many images and symbols of death which remind the reader that death is inevitable such as, how the seven rooms are arranged from east to west consistent with the life cycle of the day and hence, night symbolizing death. This could also symbolize the human journey from life to death. The ebony clock ticks loudly to remind the guest that their demise draws near. Everything stops when the clock chimes as a painful reminder that there is no escape. The image of the seventh room is one of death as it was “shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. The panes here were scarlet—a deep blood color. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle” (Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death”).  Despite trying to avoid death, it shows up at the party as the midnight guest. His garments were a “funeral shroud with a mask like a corpse” (Poe, “The Masque of the Red Death”).  Ultimately, the Prince and all in attendance die. Again, this is another story wherein Poe is preoccupied with death.

Furthermore, “The Fall of the House of Usher” possesses elements of death. The landscape is death-like as it is described as, “dull, dark, and soundless,” (Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”) with the “clouds hung oppressively low” (Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”).  Both the inside and outside of the house are deteriorated. “The atmosphere reeked up from decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn-a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish. Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity” (Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”).  Hence, the Usher home is one of evil and doom. The inhabitants whose names are Roderick and Madeline Usher have a “ghostly pallor” (Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”) which forebodes a sense of death. Hence, Madeline dies and the narrator and Roderick bury her alive. She does revenge her brother and escapes from her tomb only to then kill her brother. As a result, the darkness, decay, and mental death of the family and house create the centerpiece of the story which namely, is Poe’s obsession with death.

Moreover, in “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” this is no different. Poe once again shows that death is inevitable despite human science. This story focuses upon Valdemar, who has tuberculosis. He is dying a slow and painful death. A mesmerist tries to prolong his death, but is unable. Poe gives a terrifying description of Valdemar’s dying body, “pus-filled nodes and the turning of lung tissue into cartilage and bone” (Poe, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”).  However, the most grotesque details are at the end of the story as Valdemar is transformed into putrefying material,

For what really occurred, however, it is quite impossible that any human

being could have been prepared. As I rapidly made the mesmeric passes,

amid ejaculations of 'dead! dead!' absolutely bursting from the tongue and

not from the lips of the sufferer, his whole frame at once -- within the space of a

single minute, or even less, shrunk -- crumbled -- absolutely rotted away beneath my

hands. Upon the bed, before that whole company, there lay a nearly liquid mass of

loathsome -- of detestable putridity. (Poe, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”).

Poe’s choice of words, “shrunk, crumbled, rotted, and putridity” are very graphic images of an unpleasant death. Also, when Valdemar continues to scream “dead! dead!” throughout the story this invokes fear in the postponement of the death process. Accordingly, Poe puts forth another story filled with gloom, darkness, and decay as his theme of death is brought to fruition once again.

            Given these points, it is Poe’s preoccupation with death that resonates throughout his literary works. Usually something appalling happens which pulls the reader into the suspenseful story. Invariably some kind of death was seen; a hanging and ax murder in “The Black Cat,” a plague in “The Masque of the Red Death,” people being buried alive in “The Premature Burial” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” and the postponement of death in an already dead man in his story, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.” There was darkness, gloom, disease, decay, blood, and gore. He had tombs where corpses stood erect. The characters suffered from catalepsy, nerves, and madness. Decaying houses with dreary landscapes, castles filled with black interiors and a massive ebony clock. "The unendurable oppression of the lungs - the stifling fumes of the damp earth - the clinging of the death garments - the rigid embrace of the narrow house - the blackness of the absolute Night - the silence like a sea that overwhelms” (Poe, “The Premature Burial”). From room to room, interior to exterior, and ultimately tomb or grave, there were sleeping, dreaming, and mesmerizing deaths. Certainly, without a doubt, Poe had an obsession with the theme of death.

Bibliography

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat" Poestories.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/blackcat>.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "Eleonora" Poestories.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/eleonora>.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" Poestories.com. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/facts>.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Fall of the House of Usher" Poestories.com. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/houseofusher>.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Masque of the Red Death" Poestories.com. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/masque>.

Poe, Edgar Allan. ""The Premature Burial"" Poestories.com. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://poestories.com/read/premature>.

" Edgar Allan Poe." Biography.com Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/edgar-allan-poe-9443160>