Ligeia as a Triumph Over Patriarchy Essay -- Ligeia Essays

Ligeia as a jubilate all over Patriarchy From the time that Ligeia was written, critics have searched for meaning within Poes story of a beautiful woman who died and returned in anothers body. While all critics have locomote in different directions, many have arguably found an allegoric meaning behind the tale. Because many literary theories depend on apiece other, contemporary critics tend not to limit themselves to any single theory. many an(prenominal) critics employ multiple theoretical perspectives at once so that a text can be best understood. Many critics have looked to Poes kin with women for dread, combining biographical and feminist theory, while other critics use a mixture of get ones, such as formalism and psychoanalysis, to develop their own understanding of what they think to be an allegory. The collection of literary criticism surrounding Ligeia is insightful and comprehensive, and readers have the opportunity to examine interpretations from many different branches of literary theory. By looking at how critics from five different fields of criticism 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 close 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 structure 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 Tragedy. Colleg e Language Association 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 study 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.