Edgar Allan Poe's "Ligeia": An object-relational interpretation

This paper argues that Poe's short story "Ligeia," in which the narrator ex periences the death of his adored first wife (Ligeia), a second marriage to the despised Rowena, and ultimately the death of Rowena and the revivifica tion of Ligeia, is not a supernatural tale, but rather a psychological one. According to this reading, the poisoning of Rowena and the revivification of Ligeia ave hallucinated by the narrator in the course of an opium-induce d psychotic break. The antecedents to this break are explored in light of o bject relations theory, with particular emphasis placed on the way in which the two women function as part objects. Ligeia represents the narrator's r omantic and spiritual side and is associated with the good mother, while Ro wena, who represents his move mundane and materialistic side, is associated with the rejecting mother It is argued that the narrator, functioning prim arily in the schizoid position and employing such defense mechanisms as spl itting and projection-which already require a high degree of fantasy-is ngf an unlikely candidate for such a break.