Erudition and Sickness in Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic Stories Syeda Rizvi

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Erudition and Sickness in Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic Stories Syeda Rizvi Erudition and Sickness in Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic Stories Syeda Rizvi Edgar Allan Poe's gender representation is intricate because it revolves around the sickness and disease of both men and women. The illness and death of women have captured the attention of fe minist scholars, but they have gen- erally overlooked how in portraying his physically invalid and psychologi- cally unstable narrators, Poe rejects the cultu.ral norms of ninetccnth-<:entury masculinity that stressed the intellectual and physical supremacy of men. If Poe's portrayal of women is a key to understanding his gender perceptions, it is equally imperative to critically analyze his representation of men and their diseased condition to understand his critical appraisal of the cultural discou.rses of male authority, and how he converts the patriarchal idea of male dominance and superiority into monomaniacal thinking. In this paper, l critically analyze Poe's representation of men in "Morella," "Berenice," "Ligeia," and "The Fall of the House of Usher" to understand his insight into antebellum gender discourses. Through the complicated relationship of the characters in the stories, Poe subverts and at the same time reinforces many gender ideologies. The first cultural assumption Poe targets is the notion of mentally independent and intelligent masculinity. Poe's women are intellectually independent and mentally strong, and his male narrators are mentally weak and are in awe of the erudite women. Poe further complicates his gender representation by making both men and women learned and creating a connection between their erudition and sickness. The women are better than men in handling the ideas of metaphysics. By making these moves, Poe undermines the dominant antebellum cultural ideology that men are intellectually superior. At the same lime, the consequences of women's actions suggest that in their portraiture, Poe reinforces the cultural notion that women should only study religious books, moral essays and se,mons. To some extent, Poe follows the trope of 16 17 representing invalid women in his work, but ultimately rejects the cultural discourses on female education by showing the "unnatural" oonsequences of notion of s ickness as being gender-bound. women's interest in ancient philosophy. The articles that appeared alongside To consider how Poe's stories interact~'(! in their immediate cultural context, Poe's stories in the 5-0uthern Uterary Messenger stressed women should only it is essential to historicize antebellum gender discourses. Without providing study sermons, moral stories, and religious essays because these subjects this background, it is difficult to surmise how Poe interacts with dominant would uplift their moral virtues and save them from sins such as vanity and cultural assumptions, and what new insights he provides. Analy Ling printed arrogance. Notably, none o f Poe's women is interested in these culturally sources is one of the best ways to understand socia I discourses in any given prescribed subjects. The actions and the mental condition of the male narra- era because periodicals and newspapers serve as cultural templates. Keeping tors demonstrate that if the obsession with metaphysics is bad for women, in view this idea, I interpret Poe's stories as being in connection with other it is equally or even more harmful to men. Furthermore, it will be explored pieces published in the 5011/lrem Uterary Messenger, a periodical published in in depth how Poe weakens the gender binary in two ways: first, by making Richmond, Virginia, from August 1834 to June 1864. The publication included his male narrators less capable of handling the ideas o f metaphysics, and letters, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, and historical notes. Poe served seoond, by making his men afraid of the erudite women. as its editor from 1835 to 1837, and his tales "Morella," and "Berenice" were Physicians have historically paid a lot of attention to female sickness and published in the periodical in 1835. Critically analyzing Poe's stories with have sometimes neglected to examine in depth the instance of male nervous the articles and essays of the SLM will give a better sense of how his work illness. In Hysterical Men: T/1e Hidden History of Male Neroous Illness (2008), is consistent with and at the same time, in juxtaposition with the cultural Mark S. Micale historicizes the oonnection between the study of philosophy notions reflected in other literary works. and sickness. According to Micale, gender d iscourses of male superiority Poe oomplicates his gender representation by making men and women have always ruled medical science. In this book, he has tried to reoover the intellectuals and creating a co1mection between their erudition and sickness. history o f male nervous invalidism through an analysis of personal letters Mysterious s ickness is one of the most conspicuous features of Poe's tales and and memoirs. Micale states that in the eighteenth century, physicians and serves as tool to weaken the gender binary. His women are sick, yet so are scholars believed that excessive book reading was a cause of triggering male his men. His "erudite" women are strong individuals, well versed in ancient nervousness. He records the case of David I Turne, a Scottish philosopher and history and philosophy. In their portraiture, Poe reinforces the cultural notion essayist. During his early twenties, Hume aspired to have a career in philos- that women should only study religious books, moral essays, and sermons ophy. Yet, his "intense intellectual exertion" diminished his stamina (Micale because Morella and Ligeia's obsession with metaphysics results m '\umat- 33). His concentration weakened, and he mentioned that he experienced ural" consequences. Nevertheless, Poe's intelligent and irnagina~ve women "heart palpitations, skin ulcers, and stomach pain," and all these problems undermine the dominant antebellum cultural ideology that men are physically tormented him for at least five years. During this period of ailment, Hume and intellectually superior. Poe's male characters, for instance, Egaeus and wrote letters to his family and friends and discussed in detail the treatments Roderick, arc also well read in philosophy and mysticism, but their studies he pursued to cure his malady. He frequently visited the family doctor, who make them psychologically unstable and physically s ick. However, Poe's gave him" Anti-Hysteric Pills" (Micale 33). Hwne self-diagnosed his malady women use their mental prowess to defeat death and h is male narrators as the"disease of the learned." He ended his letter by asking "whether I can are ill and afraid o f the erudite women. By making this move, Poe creates hope for a reoovery? ... whether my recovery will ever be perfect?" (quoted a form of masculinity in which the men arc mentally unstable and fearful by Micale, 34). Apart from Hurne, Micale has also recorded other instances of of the learned women. By linking erudition and disease in the stories, Poe male nervous illness.' Micale claims that ideas about male nervou~.,,ess were demonstrates that if intellectual abiLities and the studies of metaphysics are explored in the early nineteenth century, but they never gained prominence.2 detrimental to women's health, they are equally harmful to men. For instance, Edward Jenner, an eminent surgeon, famous for his discovery Historicizing the connection between erudition and s ickness is essential of the smallpox vaccine, recorded in h is journal that he was afflicted with because it is an e lement that has not been fully explored. This move will make it clear that Poe is incorporating the idea that excessive study of philosophy and metaphysics creates physical sickness and psychological instability in 1 Another account was \'1titten by George d\eynej a mathematician. He also declared that the main reason for nervous illness was "excessive Luxury and too much book readingN both men and women. The primary focus in interpreting the tales is on (M1calc 41). Chey1\e also delineated his O\'IIO nervous illness, \"hen he was in his early how Poe takes the link between the study of philosophy and s ickness to hventies. He suffered £ro1n anxiety, and he outlined his symptoms as "Fright, Anxiety, the extreme to weaken the gender binary because women are better able to Dread. and Terror'' flooding his mind, and he remailled bedridden for months (Micale 43). handle the notions of metaphysics than men. On the other hand, the male 2 From a journal v.•ritten by Joseph Fari.ngton.. he quotes the incident of a man undergoing nervous sei:r.ures. J le ootes that Farington \Yas a socialite and a landscape painter and his characters, who are interested in the studies of metaphysics and mysticism, journal brims ··,.,ith referencxs to doctors, health, and sickness." Farington labeled his dis- lose their sanity. It will also be explored how Poe reinforces antebellum gender e;isc as "'anxiety of mind"' (quoted by Micale. 32). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 18 19 "a morbid sensitivity of sharp sound" (Micale 32). ln a letter to his friend Jmrnediately after mentioning her intellect, the narrator brings into the story referring to his nervous state, Jenner wrote that "in a female, I should call it the element of her mysterious disease. In this way, Poe makes a connection hysterical...but in myself, I know not what to call it, but the old sweeping beMecn her studies and malady. As Ligeia's studies of philosophy increase, term nervous" (quoted by Micale, 32). It is noteworthy that Jenner wanted her health deteriorates. The narrator mentions, "the pale fingers became of to label his invalidism as hysteria, but the stigma attached to the term pre- the transparent waxen hue of the grave, and the blue veins upon the lofty vented him from doing so. Micale's findings suggest that in the eighteenth forehead swelled and sank impetuously with the tides of the most gentle and the early nineteenth century; physicians regarded excessive inteUectual emotion" (164).
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