In the early 1800’s, the academic discipline of Egyptology caused people to abuse the little knowledge they had about Egypt, especially about their temples and tombs. The Egyptian tombs contained mummies which were taken to Europe for many disrespectful purposes, like mummy unwrapping parties. In these parties, mummies are unwrapped for fun which Poe satirized in his story. The topic of Egypt mania is better satirized than the topic of progress in science and knowledge in Edgar Allen Poe’s satire, “Some Words with a Mummy.”
In the 1840’s, a popular trend was to take mummies from their tombs and disrespect them by putting them on display. Napoleon invading Egypt and the Rosetta Stone discovery caused people to go to Egypt. “Soon, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists alike flocked to Egypt to excavate the tombs….” They originally went to study the inscriptions on the walls of temples but later had other intentions. “... gold, jewels, and mummies, many of which were taken back to Europe to be put on display in museums.” The tombs in Egypt were not meant to be excavated, and disrespected by mummies being taken and put on …show more content…
Guests were invited to these parties to watch mummies being unwrapped. “... guests could attend and watch as the linen wrappings were peeled back to reveal the embalmed body inside.” These parties should not have been partaken in because they were a waste, whereas if the mummies were unwrapped in a lab for research it wouldn’t be. In the story, the narrator was invited to an unwrapping party. “Come to me, by all means, my dear good friend, as soon as you receive this.... to my examination of the Mummy - you know the one I mean. I have permission to unswathe it and open it, if desirable. A few friends only will be present - you, of course.” Poe was making fun of unwrapping parties and later changed the party reasoning to a scientific