Romantic authors lived through a time of revolution, the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Each of these rebellions was rooted in the idea that the common man deserved and was owed certain inalienable rights. They became more interested in the individual and in gaining self-knowledge. This self-knowledge led to an interest in psychology and psychological disorders. Romantic writers initiated a revolution of their own. They revolted against the ideals and themes of the Enlightenment era, instead of reason and science they turned to feelings and an oneness with nature in their works. In addition to revolution, there were reforms, expansionism, and other changes within society that affected the writing of these authors in a deep …show more content…
There often exists an ambiguity in Poe’s work. This duality is prevalent in “Ligeia.” The reader is left with a quandary at the end of the narrative. Is the narrator experiencing some supernatural phenomenon or is the narrator unreliable due to his drug use, insanity, or any other number of reasons? Ligeia is described with specific markers early in the story giving the reader the impression that she is from a multitude of cultural areas and has lived in ancient times. Her husband claims she has the nose of Hebrews, a chin of the Greeks, and the beauty of the Turkish people (Poe 394-395). She can also speak a multitude of ancient languages. The narrator states, that “In the classical tongues was she deeply proficient” (Poe 396). These suggest, along with other intimations, that she may have been reincarnated. In the end of the story, the narrator’s second wife, Rowena, has “shaken off, utterly, the fetters of Death” (Poe 403). This alone would be a supernatural occurrence, but then the narrator claims his second dead wife has reanimated as his first dead wife. He states, “these are the full, and the black, and the wild eyes-of my lost love-of the lady-of the LADY LIGEIA” (Poe 403). Unfortunately, the narrator also makes it known that he “had become a bounden slave in the trammels of opium” (Poe 399). Poe forces his readers to interpret the story for themselves. The reader …show more content…
The revolutions created an atmosphere of change that resounded through the ages. The people of these changing societies could not help but be affected by the new ideas that came about as a result. Samuel Coleridge was the first Romanticist from Europe to delve into the supernatural, but Edgar Allan Poe took that supernatural element and expounded on it time and time again. The Age of Reason had its influence on the Romantic era too. However, it existed as a catalyst for the Romantic age. Romantics revolted against the cold, unnatural science of the previous generation. Instead, they revered nature, feelings, and coming to understand one’s self. Nathaniel Hawthorne used “The Birth-mark” to display the drastic differences between the Enlightenment’s science and reason and the Romantic age’s nature and sensitivity. Furthermore, society’s interest in psychology and the rise of psychological sanitariums also influenced the writing of this time period. Melville and Poe both look into the psyche of their characters and attempt to give their readers a look into the disorders of the mind. Melville’s Bartleby is withdrawn and isolated, perhaps leading to depression, whereas Poe’s main character in “Ligeia” could simply be insane and hallucinating. The Romantic writers were influenced by many conditions, including reforms in