Ligeia as a Triumph Over Patriarchy Essay -- Ligeia Essays

Ligeia as a Triumph Over Patriarchy From the time that Ligeia was written, critics have searched for meaning within Poes story of a scenic woman who died and returned in anothers body. While all critics have moved in different directions, many have arguably found an allegorical meaning ass the tale. Because many literary theories depend on each other, contemporary critics tend not to limit themselves to any single theory. Many critics employ multiple theory-based perspectives at once so that a text can be best understood. Many critics have looked to Poes relationship with women for understanding, combining biographical and feminist theory, age other critics use a variety of approaches, such as formalism and psychoanalysis, to develop their own understanding of what they believe to be an allegory. The collection of literary admonition surrounding Ligeia is insightful and comprehensive, and readers have the opportunity to examine interpretations from many different branches of l iterary theory. By looking at how critics from five different fields of critical review approach Ligeia, readers can see how contemporary critics can interpret from a variety of perspectives in order to acquire some deeper understanding of the work. One of the roughly widely used applications of literary criticism is formalism or as it is often called, New Criticism. The formalist perspective treats each piece of literature as a self-sufficient work, placing all avenues for understanding in the text itself, ignoring the social and political contexts of the author and publication, the authors biography, and other works by the same author. Formalist critics believe that form and grammatical construction are essential to the effectiveness of th... ...Linda J. Ligeia The Facts in the Case. Studies in Weird Fiction. 21 (1997) 10-16. Howard, Brad. The Conqueror Worm Dramatizing Aesthetics in Ligeia. Poe Studies. 21.2 (1988) 36-43. Johanyak, Debra. Poesian Feminism Triumph or Trage dy. College Language connecter Journal. 39.1 (1995) 62-70. Jones, Daryl E. Poes Siren Character and Meaning in Ligeia. Studies in Short Fiction. 20.1 (1983) 33-37. Kennedy, J. Gerald. Poe, Ligeia, and the Problem of Dying Women. New Essays on Poes Major Tales. Ed. Kenneth Silverman. Cambridge Cambridge UP, 1993. 113-129. McEntee, Grace. Remembering Ligeia. Studies in American Fiction. 20.1 (1992) 75-83. Poe, Edgar Allan. Ligeia. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 4th ed. Ed. Baym, Nina, et al. New York WW Norton & Company, 1995. 655-664.