Edgar Allan Poe Study Guide

Poe was a pioneer in the exploration of the human psyche and how it can play tricks on a person. Please select three concrete examples from his works that contain events in which one can see the mind playing tricks on a character.

The creation of fake illusions and tricks in one's conscience can be seen in Poe's writings because of the revival of the protagonist's deceased wife in Ligeia, Wilson's doppelganger in William Wilson, and the events that led up to Madeline returning from the dead in The Fall of the House of Usher.

Evidence #1

The protagonist was known to use opium after Ligeia's death, which could explain the reason for his hallucinations of Ligeia as drugs can mess with the human mind; changing your senses. His deranged state of mind and eagerness to "restore" Ligeia back to life also supports the idea that he hallucinates Ligeia's revival.

Poe was a pioneer in the exploration of the human psyche and how it can play tricks on a person. Please select three concrete examples from his works that contain events in which one can see the mind playing tricks on a character.

The creation of fake illusions and tricks in one's conscience can be seen in Poe's writings because of the revival of the protagonist's deceased wife in Ligeia, Wilson's doppelganger in William Wilson, and the events that led up to Madeline returning from the dead in The Fall of the House of Usher.

Evidence #1

The protagonist was known to use opium after Ligeia's death, which could explain the reason for his hallucinations of Ligeia as drugs can mess with the human mind; changing your senses. His deranged state of mind and eagerness to "restore" Ligeia back to life also supports the idea that he hallucinates Ligeia's revival.

Evidence #2

In William Wilson, the protagonist is known to have a mental illness that allows his conscience to take over his actions; as he becomes a victim to his own mind. His doppelganger who he is always in competition, is actually his own self that haunts him against his own will. At the end of the story, the protagonist stabs his rival as he was led by his raging emotions, but actually stabs himself, dying. This portrays the way his mind played tricks on him, and how it projected his own-self hatred into a disillusioned replica of himself to reality.

Evidence #3

In the Fall of the House of Usher, Usher, witnesses the death of his sister, and the events that lead up to her tragic death show how his mind created illusions; making it hard to decipher what is reality or his imagination. He's known for having severe anxiety and mental instabilities that make him anxious of death, and these overwhelming feelings could have possibly been the reason why he saw signs of life in Madeline's dead body. Overall, his anxious mind and psychological instability caused the hallucinations he head and saw in his home, leading to his downfall.