thesis 12 - optics and orbs

8/13/2019 THESIS 12 - Optics and Orbs

1/38

Optics & OrbsEgyptology and the Eye in

Edgar Allan Poes Ligeia

Thesis English Language and CultureLeiden University

Astrid Hartman

10 June 2010

First Reader: Dr. E.J. van Leeuwen

Second Reader: Dr. M.S. Newton


2/38

2

Contents

Introduction 3

1. Egyptology in Poes America 51.1. Americans in Egypt 61.2. Egyptology in America 81.3. The Rosetta Stone and Hieroglyphs 101.4. Literary Interest 121.5. Conclusion 15

2. The Eye 162.1. The Eye in Egyptology 162.2. Symbolism of the (Evil) Eye 182.3. Conclusion 21

3. Ligeia 223.1. The Narrator 223.2. The Figure of Ligeia 243.3. The Active or Passive Eye 273.4. Ligeias Illness 293.5. The Bridal Chamber 30

4. Conclusion 33Bibliography 36


3/38

3

Introduction

Years ago I took a course called nineteenth-century Mystery & Melodrama at Bath Spa

University, England. I was sitting in an old lecturing hall, full of creaking wooden benches,

looking down on the spot where the lecturer was supposed to start the lecture any moment. A

figure walked in that seemed to be completely out of place and out of time in the late nineties.

He was dressed as a literary figure from the nineteenth century, complete with fob watch,

small black glasses, plaid trousers and vest, black moustache and a huge pile of loose papersunder his arm. This figure turned out to be the lecturer and he taught the course with the most

contagious enthusiasm, waving his arms to talk about the main authors, like Wilkie Collins,

Henry James, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and of course Edgar Allan Poe.

Poes tales caught my interest immediately and I decided to not only read what was on

the list, but to read all the tales that he ever wrote. In Ligeia, I was fascinated by the

description of the eyes and it occurred to me that eyes can have a lot of power in a mystery

tale. Throughout history, in many cultures and languages, eyes have had powerful symbolism

and I wanted to further investigate the function of eyes in Edgar Allan Poes work. Poe used

the eye frequently in his tales, sometimes in a superstitious sense, sometimes in a scientific

context and mainly to achieve certain effects on his readers. Poes own eyes provided some

inspiration for his use of eyes in his tales and as it turns out, much was said about Poes eyes.

Most commentators agree that they are prominent, set in a high forehead and very alert and

intelligent. In The Man Behind the Legend(1963), Edward Wagenknecht collected some of

the comments on Poes eyes:

There is no agreement on the color of Poes eyes. Mrs. Houghton says they were blue;

Susan Weiss, gray; Chivers, hazel. Maunsell B. Field thought no portrait did justice to

them. Mrs. Weiss speaks of them as large, with long, jet-black lashes; the iris had a

crystalline clearness and transparency, and the pupil expanded and contracted with

every shade of thought or emotion. She adds that his lids never contracted, and that his

gaze was always full, open and unshrinking, though his usual expression was dreamy


4/38

and sad. And, though she herself also calls his expression beautiful, soft, and smiling, she

admits that some people found it disconcerting (45).

The diversity of comments leave us no certainty about the colour of his eyes, but it does

provide an indication of general interest for eyes, especially when they were in any way out of

the ordinary.

As the topic for a thesis grew and evolved, my focus eventually rested on the

significance of Egyptology, as a popular scientific topic in Poes time, in relation to eye-

symbolism in Poes Ligeia. What I explored in this thesis is the function of the eye(s) in

Ligeia and how Egyptology influenced Poe in writing the tale and in using the power of the

eye(s) as he did. Ligeia is full of Egyptological references, which was not so surprising

considering the popularity of Ancient Egyptian culture in Poe's time, a time when the first

great discoveries in Egypt were made and artefacts were brought back to America to beexamined.

This interest an enthusiasm sparked by the discovery of an ancient culture could be

called a hype, or Egyptomania. In this light, it was not surprising that Egyptological

influences were seen in many aspects of American society, like science, architecture and

literature. Early nineteenth-century Egyptomania will be explored further in chapter one. In

Egyptian culture, the eye is a powerful symbol and a prominent hieroglyph. In Egypt, the eye

is believed to have both malevolent and benevolent powers, some originate from myths of the

gods, and some beliefs originate in European or Mediterranean superstition. The eye inancient Egypt and the meaning of the evil eye are discussed in chapter two. Chapter three

contains a detailed analysis of Poes use of the eye in Ligeia, which is followed by

concluding remarks which answer the question whether Poe was indeed influenced by the

Egyptian eye-symbolism in Ligeia.


5/38

1 Egyptology in Poes America

Illustration from: www.rosetta-translations.co.uk

The discovery and the deciphering of the famous Rosetta Stone in 1799 was the starting point

for the rise of Egyptology in Europe and later in America. This discovery was a significant

milestone in French and British archaeology, and presented European explorers with a

glimpse into the ancient languages and cultural secrets of Egypt.

After being granted permission for a military expedition by the Directory of France to

seize Egypt, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt

in 1798. He took with him not only military troops of 25,000 men, but also a small army of

scientists and scholars. His aim was to secure the trading route to India and thus weaken theBritish position. He also had an appreciation of ancient cultural artefacts that could be

discovered in Egypt and was determined to beat the British not only in politics and warfare,

but also in science.

After the French Fleet had landed, most of the ships sailed back to France, leaving

only a few ships to guard the waters in the Bay of Abukir. The British were not happy about


6/38

discovering that the French had invaded Egypt. Horatio Nelson successfully cut off

Napoleons army by defeating the French Fleet at the Bay of Abukir only a month after the

landing. The British then enlisted Turkey in an attempt to force the French out of Egypt.

(Wilson 15) While Napoleons forces were defeated at sea, his troops and scholars were

successful on land. They discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799 and published nineteen

volumes on Egyptian architecture, history and writing between 1809 and 1828, the famous

Descripton de lEgypte. (Wilson 15)

In this chapter, I will have a closer look at the American discovery of Ancient Egypt

during Poes lifetime. I already discussed the invasion of the Napoleonic troops in Egypt at

the turn of the century, a milestone that initiated more British interest and led to more foreign

explorers visiting the region in order to discover the ancient treasures of Egypt. Next, the

arrival of some of the first American explorers will be discussed. Several leading figures

travelled the country, and brought back discoveries of language, culture, artefacts and history

to the United States of America. These were the people that fanned interest in Egyptology in

nineteenth-century America. Then, I will look at how interest in Egyptology grew, and how

discoveries in Egypt influenced architecture, medicine and the understanding of language.

For linguistic and literary scholars, the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone in particular

was a crucial highpoint and the developments of this period did not go unnoticed by literary

circles. In the last part of this chapter, I will look at how the increasing interest in Egyptology

impacted on literature, especially with regard to the transcendentalist movement and some key

figures of the American Renaissance, in order to show that Poe was amidst these

developments and very much aware of popular themes like Egyptology at the time.

1.1. Americans in Egypt

Egypt was not the only ancient civilization that was rediscovered at the beginning of the

nineteenth century. Other parts of the Ottoman Empire like Mesopotamia and Syria-Palestine

were also a popular destinations for western adventurers with time and money on their hands.

However, some eastern rulers did not offer the same welcome to these explorers as did

Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt (Wilson 39), who felt indebted to the British for their support

in defeating the French. This welcome attitude is one of the reasons Egypt became a popular

destination for British and American explorers and adventurers.

The first American explorers reported back from Egypt in the early 1820s, resulting

mainly in publications of descriptions of the Nile-region and the antiquities of the ancient

capitals. George Bethune English (1787-1828), born in Cambridge Massachusetts, was a


7/38

well-known critic on traditional Christianity, as well as an adventurer. Due to his critical

publications he was excommunicated and forthwith joined the United States Marine Corps

and went to Egypt, as one of the first American citizens to do so. After a few months, he

converted to the Islam, joined the Egyptian army and later wrote a book on his travels and

experiences. His book,A Narrative of the Expedition to Dangola and Senaar Under the

Command of his Excellence Ismael Pasha, undertaken by Order of his Highness Mehemmed

Ali Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, by an American in the Service of the Viceroy, was published in

1822, and was one of the first publications to elaborately describe the antiquities of the Upper

Nile and, for the first time, a correct identification of the locations and sites of the ancient

capital of Kush (www.wikipedia.org 2010). His journey through Egypt would be repeated by

others in the years between 1822 and 1845, for instance by a fellow Bostonian, John Lowell

Jr. (1799-1836).

Lowell junior, a businessman and early philanthropist, was the heir to the inventor of

the American power loom. His great wealth enabled him to find intellectual satisfaction in the

discovery of Egyptian antiquities (Thomas 152). In 1832, he left England to travel to Europe

and the Middle East, and wrote letters and gave lectures about the places he had visited. His

writings mainly concerned philanthropy, natural history, philosophy and the arts and sciences.

Due to his poor health, he drew up a will in which he founded a trust to contribute to

providing lectures about the above topics. During his travels through France, The

Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Persia, Egypt and finally down to

India, he further developed his ideas about the foundation that was to be set up in Boston,

Massachusetts. After Lowells death in 1836, the educational institute that provided free

lectures was founded by his first trustee and cousin, John Amory Lowell, who administered

the trust for more than forty years. (www.wikipedia.org 2010)

George Robbins Gliddon (1809-1857) was one of the first American Consuls who was

stationed in the capital city of Egypt, Cairo, in 1835. The Bostonian returned to the United

States in 1842 at the age of thirty-three and found great enthusiasm and interest among the

Bostonian population for the wonders of ancient civilizations. In Boston, he started a series of

lectures on ancient Egypt, which was so well received, that he toured the country until 1844

and published his speeches in 1848. The volume was titledAncient Egypt: A Series of

Lectures on Early Egyptian History, Archaeology and other Subjects connected with

Hieroglyphical Literatureand sold an impressive twenty-four thousand copies. (Wilson 41)

Later in the nineteenth century, people in America would still be interested in accounts

of adventurous journeys through ancient Egypt, as well as in the rich and mysterious history


8/38

of the land. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Union general Charles Pomeroy

Stone (1824-1887) returned to America from Egypt, where he had been employed by the

khedive Ismael Pasha of Egypt from 1870 until 1883. Stone had been employed to train

Egyptian soldiers and develop Egypts coastal fortifications, and had lived in the country for

thirteen years. When he returned to the United States in 1883, he was asked to supervise the

construction of the foundation of the Statue of Liberty. Along the building-process, costs went

through the roof and the financial means were soon depleted. It was at this point that Stone

offered to help raise funds by conducting lectures. Being aware of the interests of his

audiences, he did not talk about the Statue of Liberty, but instead lectured about the people

and culture of Egypt. American audiences were very willing to pay to listen to lectures about

ancient civilizations and the Egyptian monuments that represented power, dignity and

permanence, aspects that appealed to the youthful United States in search of their own

identity. (Thomas 13)

Throughout the nineteenth century, American museums exhibited Egyptian antiques

and artefacts on a regular basis and interest among circles of architects, anthropologists and

magazine editors especially around Boston and New York grew rapidly. Especially

during this century, the influence of Egypt on American popular culture and society was at a

highpoint.

1.2. Egyptology in America

Americans of the nineteenth century, like Stone, Gliddon, Lowell jr. and English did not have

the scholarly expertise or experience that their European counterparts had and were rather

driven by their fascination and enthusiasm for exploring ancient civilizations. The wave of

interest in the ancient civilization of Egypt was a significant historic period in the United

States. It stood in sharp contrast to the interests that were also facing westward, such as the

Mexican War (1846-1848) and the Gold rush to California (1848-1857). On the one hand,

there was a general need to understand the origins of man and culture, even as far away as

Egypt. On the other hand, the need to explore unknown territory in the West was also great.

Still, although attention paid to both was widely spread throughout society, the frontiers of the

West did not overshadow the increasing interest in Egyptology from the East.

During the first half of the nineteenth century, it became more and more common to

exhibit Egyptian artefacts and mummies in small private museums, usually owned by wealthy

merchants or scholars. Fascinated by the mysteries of mummification, animal and human

mummies were frequently dissected not only by scholars, but also by hobbyists in this area,


9/38

who performed in front of small audiences. The very first exhibited collection of artefacts

belonged to Colonel Mendes Cohen (1796-1879), a citizen of Baltimore. In 1832, he sailed

his own boat from Damietta, in the Delta, to the Second Cataract and back and became the

first American to sail the full length of the Nile. He returned with 680 antiquities, and as late

as 1849 this was described as the only Egyptian collection in this country. (Wilson 38)

In nineteenth-century America, the ancient Egyptians were greatly respected for their

knowledge of philosophy, medicine and architecture. In terms of architectural influence, the

Statue of Liberty - which is posed as an Egyptian figure - is to this day the most prominent of

Egyptian designs in American architecture. The large amount of architecture in the Egyptian

style on the East Coast of the United States is surprising and most of it can still be found and

admired today. The obelisk form is one of the most common. It appears not only as

gravestones, but also as certain gate structures, like the Westminster cemetery in Baltimore or

the Washington Monument.

Illustration: The Washington Monument (www.theforbiddenknowledge.com)

For Americans, the Egyptian style represented permanence and immortality, and was

therefore used frequently in graveyards and cemeteries. The notions were less positively

interpreted when it came to the appearance of Egyptian architectural style in prisons. The

most famous of these was the New York Halls of Justice, also popularly known as the Tombs.

The structure was massive and imitated the style of the great temples in Egypt, portraying

elaborate floral decorations and symbols (Wilson 36). Herman Melville (1819-1891) used the

Tombs for setting the ending of two of his works,Pierre, or: The Ambiguities(1852) and

Bartleby, the Scrivener(1853). This indicates that Egyptology was also a vibrant topic

among authors at the time.


10/38

10

Illustration: The "Tombs", Halls of Justice. By John Poppel

The architectural form of the Medical College of Richmond Virginia, is also a good example

of architecture in Egyptian style, and close to where Poe spent much of his youth. The main

building (today called the Egyptian Building), was erected in the Egyptian style in 1845, with

robust walls and many decorations like open lotus bud capitals, obelisks and reliefs depicting

the solar disc with the cobra (Brownell). Whether consciously or not, Poe was clearly

surrounded by influences from Egyptology, may it be in literature, science or architecture.

In different circles of society, the discovery of ancient Egypt remained a fascinating

subject for discussion. Besides the popular interest in Egyptian artefacts and antiquities, there

was a remarkable academic interest, as indicated by the numerous articles on Egyptology in

the American scholarly magazines of the period, such asBlackwoods Magazine, theNew

England Magazine, The Southern Literary Journaland theNorth American Review. The last

was the most typical and the most influential of them at the time (Irwin 4). These magazines

were leading in what were to be the discussion topics at the time, what was hot and whatwas not. Egyptology was certainly written about, and through these channels, found its way

into popular culture in nineteenth century America.

1.3. The Rosetta Stone and hieroglyphs

In the beginning of this chapter, I highlighted the discovery of the Rosetta stone as one of the

key events that ignited the interest in ancient Egyptian civilization. What further increased

European and American interest, was the deciphering of the three languages written on the

Rosetta basalt. This opened the door to understanding the hieroglyphs that were seen

everywhere, among them of course, the eye of Horus.

In 1799, a French soldier named Boussard was engaged in digging down a ruined wall

in Fort St. Julien at Rosetta. He came across a large slab of black basalt, which, once cleaned

and brushed, seemed to be covered with three different types of writing. The French savants


11/38

11

of Napoleons army wrote and spoke of it as the Pierre de Rosette, and it became one of the

most important monuments in the world as we know it today (Budge 11).

As early as 1762, the noted British physician and well-known Secretary to the Society

of Antiquities named William Stukely (1687-1765) wrote about Egyptian hieroglyphics:

The hieroglyphics of the Egyptians is a sacred character; that of the Chinese is civil or

a common way of writing.The characters cut on Egyptian monuments, are purely

symbolical. They are nothing than hymns & invocations to the deity.To give a few

instances. A feather so often appearing, signifies sublime. An eye is providence

(Wilson 10)

This attitude towards the meaning of hieroglyphs did not provide much incentive to decipher

the script further, and it was not surprising that the public were slow to accept the key to the

hieroglyphs when the discovery was finally made by Thomas Young and Jean-Franois

Champollion (Wilson 11).

Thomas Young (1773-1829) was a brilliant young physicist and physician in England,

who was said to have had command of seven languages besides his mother-tongue at the age

of fourteen. Most of his accomplished work was on vision and optics, theories on how the eye

sees and the effects of colours. He published many articles inPhilosophical Transactions,

which was widely circulated also overseas in America. Poe also had an interest in optics and

vision and could have been aware of Youngs research, although Poe was a Newtonian and

Youngs theories opposed Newtons.

Young later developed a keen interest in Egyptology after the discovery of the Rosetta

Stone and, in 1814, attempted to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. He came to the point where

he managed to decipher the demotic part of the alphabet, but he failed to make a breakthrough

because he assumed that hieroglyphs were simple translations, instead of paraphrases. Eight

years later in 1822, it was the French scholar Jean-Franois Champollion (1790-1832) who

made the breakthrough and became known for deciphering the Rosetta Stone.


12/38

12

1.4. Literary interest

Writers of the American Renaissance followed these developments closely. Language was

explored as a tool to express oneself as a poet, and to capture thoughts and notions of the

national spirit with symbols and metaphors.

In this period, Transcendentalists aimed for contributing to a new national culture

based on native elements, freed from European influences and centred around a rebirth of

American artistic and intellectual life by philosophical liberation. Insight was placed over

logic to strive for revelation of the deepest truths ( Buell 22). The core of this movement was

a circle of literary artists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Henry David

Thoreau (1817-1862)or Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), all of whom there successful in Poes

time. Margaret Fuller became the first editor of the magazine The Dialin 1840, to which other

transcendentalists frequently contributed. The Dialran intermittedly until 1929, serving

exclusively as a transcendentalist magazine in the first four years. Edgar Allan Poe was not

part of this New England circle, but, as a transcendentalist critic, talented poet and magazine

editor, he closely engaged with Transcendentalism and other literary and intellectual circles of

the time.

The discovery and deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, and therefore the unveiling of the

mystery of hieroglyphic writing of the Egyptians, was an event that was significant for the

transcendentalist movement. In his 1872 essay Poetry and Imagination, Emerson says, for

instance, that the poet shall use Nature as his hieroglyphic, recalling Shelleys remark in A

Defence of Poetry that poets are those who have employed language as the hieroglyphic of

their thoughts, being themselves the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the

mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present (Irwin 11). According

to Emerson, symbols represent the core of language, and should be used in their utmost

simplicity, a concept the Egyptians seemed to have understood long before. In Nature,

Emerson describes this idea more elaborately:

As we go back in history, language becomes more picturesque, until its infancy, when

it is all poetry; or all spiritual facts are represented by natural symbols. The same

symbols are found to make the original elements of all languages A mans power to

connect his thought with its proper symbol, and so to utter it, depends on the simplicity

of his character, that is, upon his love of truth and his desire to communicate it without

loss. The corruption of man is followed by the corruption of language. (Irwin 12)


13/38

13

Although a harsh critic of the transcendentalists personally, Poe agreed on certain ideas. A

poet was to express his notions of spirit and philosophy in symbols and metaphors, and the

hieroglyphs proved that this notion originated in ancient civilizations and supported

transcendentalist ideas. Edgar Allan Poe was much interested in ciphers and hieroglyphs and

was influenced by the Egyptomania at the time. Champollion had great personal significance

for Poe, especially in his role as a decipherer of cryptic writing. He became for Poe a kind of

model of scientific institution as opposed to the drudgeries of inductive and deductive

reasoning (Irwin 43). Evidence of this influence can be found, for instance, in The Gold

Bug, where the deciphering of a cryptic message leads to the discovery of a treasure. Also,

Poe mentions the soul as a cipher and Champollion in The Literati of New York (1846)

concerning Margaret Fullers work:

The soul is a cypher, in the sense of a cryptograph; and the shorter a cryptograph is, the

more difficulty there is in its comprehension at a certain point of brevity it would bid

defiance to an army of Champollions. (Godey ladys Book, part IV, column 2)

Poe also gives Egyptologist George R. Gliddon a prominent role in Some Words with A

Mummy(1845), by making him one of the scientists to interview the mummy Allamistakeo.

The two references suggest a keen interest in Champollions and Gliddons work and places

them in the midst of the popular developments of Poes time, even though they function in a

satirical or comical setting

The question which occupied Poe and other leading authors of the American

Renaissance was whether Champollions work had explained the spiritual and sacred signs of

the universe. This would mean that poetry would be deprived of being the art form that

corresponds between the material form and an absolute idea (Tallack).

Edward Davidson, in his critical work on Poe, describes the role of words as signs

possibly hieroglyphs as follows:

For the rationalist words are not real because they are the links the mind establishes

both sensorily and intellectually with the external world, which, anteriorly, had

impinged upon it; words are simply made. For the romantics like Coleridge and Poe

words are real because they are the inevitable, organic result of the minds and the

imaginations apprehension of itself and reality. Or, stated another way, the post-

Lockean made words only fictions of things; the idealist, from Coleridge through


14/38

1

Emerson to Poe, assumed that words are not only images of natural facts but signs of

essences and absolutes. (Davidson)

Poe was influenced in his work from several directions that were connected to Egyptology.

Firstly, the discovery and deciphering of hieroglyphic writing influenced his poetic art, and

the significance of signs and symbols in his work, as is also described above.

Secondly, he became deeply interested in ciphers. According to Wagenknecht:

cryptography is neither a science nor a pseudo-science, but Poe seems to have been

attracted to it as a scientific phenomenon. He established his reputation as a solver of

cryptographs in Alexanders Weekly Messenger, wherein he issues a challenge to all

and sundry in December 1839, and he consolidated it in Grahams in 1841. His only

important literary use of cryptographic material was in The GoldBug, where the

cryptograph employed is a very simple one. (Wagenknecht 102)

This interest was merged with a broader fascination with the analysis of signatures, facial

features and shapes of skulls. In Autography(1836), he states that the soul is a cipher, in

the sense of a cryptograph, and moves on to attempt to interpret the cryptographic characters

of the leading literary figures of his time through an analysis of their handwriting and

signatures. Then in The Literati of New York City(1846), he attempts to read the human

character by deciphering certain bodily features, using phrenology and physiognomy. He

notes of Professor George Bush that his countenance expresses rather benevolence and

profound earnestness than high intelligence. The eyes are piercing; the other features, in

general, massive. Moving on to editor Evert A. Duyckinck, he states that his forehead,

phrenologically, is a good one (Irwin 52).

Thirdly, Poe was part of several networks and literary circles in which he became

acquainted with leading figures in the field of Egyptology. Poe was a great admirer of

Champollion and mentioned him several times in his work. He was also a fervent enthusiast

of Alexander von Humboldts work. Humboldt (1769-1859), a geographer, natural scientist

and explorer not to be confused with his brother Wilhelm, who was a linguist and cofounder

of the University of Berlin was greatly interested in hieroglyphics. Humboldt knew

Champollion and attended his lectures on a regular basis. He also corresponded with him,

discussing theories on cryptic writing and the meaning of hieroglyphs. According to Irwin

(1980), Poes Eureka is based on Humboldts Cosmos.The work was also dedicated to


15/38

1

Humboldt. Furthermore, a copy of Poes Eureka was found in Humboldts personal library

at the time of his death in 1859.

Humboldt was also a friend of the Englishman Thomas Young. Youngs book,An

Account of Some Recent Discoveries in Hieroglyphical Literature, and Egyptian Antiquities

(1823), was dedicated to Humboldt as a mark of the highest respect, for the extent of his

knowledge and the accuracy of his research, as well as for his ardent zeal in the promotion of

science, and for his candour and vigilance in the distribution of literary justice (Irwin 45).

Alexander von Humboldt was also a mentor and trustee of the great German Egyptologist

Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884). In 1843, Poe had just published tales like The Gold

Bug and The Black Cat, while Lepsius was reporting from well funded expeditions to

Egypt.

George R. Gliddon, a former American vice-consul in Cairo and a popular lecturer on

Egyptian antiquities and artefacts, has been mentioned earlier as one of the key figures in

American Egyptology. One of the narrators friends in Some Words with a Mummy (1850)

also a Mr. Gliddon was based on the real person with a satirical twist, as it is known that

Poe was familiar with Gliddons work in Egypt. In his review of John Lloyd Stephens

Incidents of Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petrea, and the Holy Land (1837), published in the

New York Reviewin October 1837, Poe mentions Gliddons efforts as American consul to

assist Stephens in his journey to Idumaea (Irwin 56).

1.5. Conclusion

In this chapter I have investigated the American discovery of Ancient Egypt. As early as the

1820s, the first American explorers have brought experiences, knowledge and artefacts from

their travels to the United States. More adventurers followed in their footsteps and fanned the

increasing interest of the American public in anything concerning ancient Egypt. From the

French discovery of the Rosetta Stone, to the fascination with hieroglyphs and on to their

deciphering by Champollion, literary circles in East Coast America became more and more

interested in the meaning of these finds for language, writing and poetry. Poe was among

those whose work could have been influenced by this popular theme, as I have argued by

pointing out connections between certain prominent literary and non-literary figures and Poe.

The next chapter focuses on one important hieroglyph and symbol, the eye. The eye is

one of the most commonly used hieroglyphs and has had a tradition of popular and religious

meanings. I will explore the folklore of the eye in Egypt and the wider Mediterranean region,

and will investigate why this is also such a prominent symbol in Poes work.


16/38

1

2 The Eye

This chapter will discuss the symbol of the eye in a broad cultural context, that is as a

folkloristic, religious and superstitious symbol in Egypt, the Mediterranean region and

America. Within this context, the eye has meaning as a symbol for protection or for evil intent

or envy (the evil eye). Together with the developments in Egyptology in Poes lifetime, this

chapter will form the context for a close textual analysis of Poes short story Ligeia in the

final chapter.

2.1. The Eye in Egyptology

During the nineteenth century, the interest in Egyptology in general and in the mystery of the

hieroglyphics in particular, reached a highpoint in America. The eye was a prominent

character in Egyptian language and symbolism and also had a long history in European and

Middle Eastern folklore. The symbol of the eye was subsequently widely used in American

literature, as will be demonstrated later in the analysis of Poes work.

The eye was an important symbol in the language, history and culture of ancientEgypt. The ancient Egyptians formed their religious culture around several gods and

goddesses. Osiris was the god of the kingdom of death and was frequently associated with his

evil stare. He was said to have killed a young boy by throwing him an evil look. His name

was translated as many eyed (os = many, iri = eye). Arti-f-em-tes was the name of one of his

judges of the dead. He served him with great loyalty and was known for his very evil eye.

When translated, his name would mean Eyes like flint knives, which clearly suggests the

evil power of his glance (Gifford 30). In this example, the eye is depicted as a symbol of evil,

often called the evil eye. Osiris is also frequently portrayed as a panther or a leopard with

eye-like spots on the skin, and as Argus, the many-eyed god (Meerloo 52). Even today, in

the Dutch language it is common to speak about Argus ogen, which refers to a mistrusting

look by another person. Although this is usually the context in which the eye symbol is used,

in Egyptian mythology, the eye was not always evil, but was also seen as a benevolent symbol


17/38

1

based on the myth of Horus, who lost an eye while saving mankind. The blue protective eye

that is a remnant of this myth is still common today.

The importance of the eye in Egyptian mythology and culture is also due to the story

of Ptah, the father of gods and men. He was said to have given birth to both gods and men,

gods from his eyes and men from his mouth. The Egyptians used the eye in their language, on

amulets and painted on walls and mummy-cases. Besides Osiris, there were several other gods

to be assigned the eye as a symbol, like Isis the mother goddess, Ra the sun god and Horus,

the son of Isis and Osiris and falcon god of the heavens.

Illustration: The Eye of Ra (www.wikipedia.org)

The eye was held second in importance after the Egyptian scarab, the sacred dung beetle. In

ancient Egypt, it was referred to both as a benign symbol of protection and an evil symbol.

To sketch a positive context for the eye symbol, it was said that Horus lost an eye

during a fight with the evil god Seth while trying to protect mankind. The eye of Horus

gradually became a symbol of martyrdom for the salvation of mankind, a benevolent symbol,

which developed into a protective symbol in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region.

Even today, the eye is painted on many prows of boats in the Mediterranean Sea and is worn

in jewellery for good luck, protection and warding off evil (Gifford 67).

The ancient Egyptians were thus among the few who also believed in the good powers

of the eye, as Gifford also point out:

This faith in the beneficent power of the divine eye may have saved the ancient

Egyptians from the belief in the evil eye so common among their neighbors, for the

belief does not appear in ancient Egyptian literature. However, the successive

conquests of Egypt by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans in the last millennium

B.C. introduced the fear of the evil eye and led to the use of the eye symbol as a

protection (Gifford 67).


18/38

1

As expressions of the belief in the malevolent eye, Egyptians ascribed many ailments and

illnesses to the effects of the evil eye. For instance, mothers who blamed their childrens

hollow eyes, swollen bellies and scrawny limbs to the evil eye, rather than to malnutrition.

Islamic bridegrooms upheld the tradition of going to the mosque with a friend on each

side, who is dressed exactly like the groom himself. This is done so that evil glances cannot

harm the groom (Gifford 34). Similarly, the bride is usually veiled, so that she cannot be

harmed by the evil eye.

Alan Dundes, in The Evil Eye: A Casebook, points out a passage from a travel account

to Egypt in 1743 concerning the evil eye among the Egyptians:

They have a great notion of the magic art, have books about it, and think there is much

virtue in talismans and charms; but particularly are strongly possessed with an opinion

of the evil eye. And when a child is commended, except you give it some blessing, if

they are not very well assured of your good will, they use charms against the evil eye;

and particularly when they think any ill success attends them on account of an evil

eye, they throw salt into the fire (16).

This passage shows that the superstition of the evil eye was very much alive among the

Egyptians in the eighteenth century, and through travel accounts like this one, facts of their

culture were also known in America, where Poe was able to use this information for his own

writings.

In 1782, the divine and magic eye was also adopted to appear on the reverse of the

great seal of the United States, where it was placed on top of a thirteen-step pyramid

representing the thirteen original colonies. In America, the apotropaic eye symbol was

associated with the protecting eye of God and providence, as it has persisted to be even

through to today on one dollar bills (Gifford 68).

2.2. Symbolism of the (evil) eye

According to Joost Meerloo, we are afraid of anything that can peer into our conscience

(Meerloo 12). In his bookIntuition and the Evil Eye, Meerloo explains that the superstition of

the evil eye is born from a fear that another person can read our innermost thoughts. And what


19/38

1

would be more fearful than a fascinating1gaze into the windows of our own soul? The fear of

exposing our private feelings, thoughts, emotions and anxieties lies at the heart of the folklore

of his superstition. Many illnesses, deaths and bad luck have been blamed on the evil eye, a

fascinating gaze of someone who enviously causes the subject to suffer from any form of

misfortune. Meerloo further points out:

This ancient conception of the evil eye as an ensnaring malignant agent had to justify

primitive mans continual fears and anxieties. It is very difficult indeed to admit our

inner weaknesses and a good deal easier to attribute our cowardice or guilt or defeat to

some malevolent emanation coming from some outside diabolical power. Here in a

nutshell we have the origin of blaming and prejudice (31).

This also, to an extent, explains the enormous role sexual taboos and dangers play in the

myths of the evil eye. Voyeurism is directly connected to this superstition, the urge to see

something forbidden and then infect it with the fascinated gaze of the evil eye. Envy, guilt and

sexual frustration play a big part in this context. Often enough, impotence was ascribed to

some evil spell imposed by a castrative glance by an enemy. Although seeing and being seen

with various sexual adornments are part of the common mating-pattern in animals, in man this

pattern becomes distorted due to an irrational and superstitious fear of the destructive evil eye.

Meerloo describes the classic peeping Tom, who secretly watches forbidden things to ward

off some feeling of impotence or anxiety. He finds himself stuck in a vicious circle, as the

more he looks at forbidden sexual objects, the more this promotes further anxiety about

himself (98). Even in popular cult movies today, voyeurism is seen as something forbidden

and that we feel like we deserve punishment for our transgressions. The magazine SFX(issue

188) recently devoted an article on the topic of ocular trauma:

Horror movies encourage voyeurism (all those killers points of view shots, all those

loving pans down the nubile bodies of showering scream queens), invite us to

gazethen poke us in the pupil. We had it coming. (34)

Death is also a big influence on the superstition of the evil eye. The open eyes of a dead

person represent the universal fear and realization that death is inevitable for all of us. The

1 . , , .


20/38

20

deathly stare reminds us that the body is a shell after the life and soul have left it. Yet, at the

same time, the open eyes feign an all-seeing power from beyond death, which brings out the

biggest fear of all: will we be next?

A gaze of fascination could also be directed to a person by his image in the mirror.

The expression that the eyes are the window of the soul, is also used in the form that the eyes

are the mirror of the soul. In line with this thought, the Greek philosopher Plutarch (46-120

AD) explored the possibility of a person fascinating himself. He cited the tale of Eutelidas, a

handsome young man who literally overlooked himself. He gazed so long at his own

reflection in the water that his beauty and health had eventually faded away. Note also the

similarity to the story of Echo and Narcissus as recounted by Ovid (fromMetamorphoses

III.340 350). Narcissus wasted away by gazing at his own reflection in the water until he

turned into the flower which now bears his name (Gifford 12). While in both these cases the

youths are threatened by the gaze of their own evil eye (fascinated by themselves), there is

also the implication of the permanent emotional sterility resulting from excessive self-love

(Gifford 12).

When taking a broader cultural perspective on the symbol of the eye, it can be

concluded that there are many variations that shape the mythology behind this superstition. A

reasonably constant factor in European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture is that the

fascinating gaze of the eye can have only evil consequences. Traits that have been attributed

to the evil eye, and that influence the outcome of an evil gaze are for instance the desire for

vengeance. William Carleton (1794-1869), an Irish novelist, wrote of the eye being not

uncommon in Irish folklore and superstition, but not necessarily in an evil sense, unless

vengeance is a clear motivation for casting the glance upon the intended victim (Gifford 16).

Eye color is also very important, and may be sufficient in some cultures to adopt an

evil reputation. Different coloring of the eyes, which is due to a congenital anomaly or caused

by an infection, is something which was severely feared by the British peoples, especially the

Scots. In the Mediterranean countries, as in the Middle East and Egypt, the eyes are normally

of a dark color, as opposed to the lighter and blue-colored eyes of people from Northern

Europe. Someone with blue eyes would immediately be looked upon with suspicion in

Southern regions. This is also the meaning behind a Moroccan proverb: Dont marry a blue-

eyed woman, even though she has money in her box (Gifford 22). In the same sense,

vampires and other evil creatures of the night are said to have blue eyes in Greece (Gifford

28).


21/38

21

In fact, looking through the history of folklore and superstition, it becomes apparent

that any, even the slightest anomaly of the eyes like prominent, glittering, moist or drooping

eyes - leads to suspicion and fear of the evil eye.

2.3. Conclusion

In Egyptian mythology, the eye was very prominent. Gods were assigned either evil or

benevolent powers of the eye, like the given examples of the evil eye of Osiris, Ptah and the

protective eye of Horus. Travel accounts and studies of Egyptian language and artifacts

provided information for American culture and were of both malignant and benevolent beliefs

in the powers of the eye.

The symbolism of the evil eye reaches far and wide. At its core lies the fear of

exposing ones innermost feelings, anxieties and weaknesses. Taboos like voyeurism lead to

punishment for being curious and trying to ward off ones own sexual anxieties. However,

this again leads to the fear (a renewed anxiety) of being punished by the evil eye. The stare of

dead eyes invoke one of our deepest fears, which is the fear of death itself and what could

come for us from beyond the grave. Self-fascination is also a danger of the evil eye, as is

shown by the tales of Narcissus and Eutelidas. For may people in the regions of the

Mediterranean, the Middle East and Egypt, light colored eyes are a sign of the evil eye and are

feared as such. In fact, any anomaly of the eyes would be treated with suspicion and explained

through superstition.

The growing interest in anything Egyptian has sparked an interest in using Egyptian

elements in nineteenth-century American culture. Poe was himself fascinated by the powers

of the eye, and what it could add to the intensity of his tales. For Poe, Egyptian mythology,

superstition and symbolism of the eye was bound to be of interest to use in his work, as I will

demonstrate in my analysis of Ligeia in the next chapter.


22/38

22

3 Ligeia

This chapter will focus on the story Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe. Ligeia was first published

in The Baltimore American Museumin September 1838. The magazine itself was short-lived

and only published two issues, of which the first one contained Poes tale. Ligeia was

hereafter often revised and reprinted during Poes lifetime and it was not until 1845 that

Ligeias poem The Conqueror Worm was incorporated in the text and that the tale solidified

into its present shape.

3.1. The narrator

The tale of Ligeia is full of references to the eye and Egyptian culture. The story is built

around perception and deception, making the reader wonder what lies behind eyes, looks and

optical illusions.

In the first paragraph, Poe carefully constructs the connection between perception

and reality. The nameless narrator introduces the reader to his memory of Ligeia, a memory

where certain aspects of her remain a strong image: the character of my beloved, her rarelearning, her singular yet placid cast of beauty and the thrilling and enthralling eloquence of

her low musical language (110). Other memories are blurred or faded: I cannot, for my

soul, remember how, when, or even precisely where, I first became acquainted with the lady

Ligeia (110).

The Narrator clearly has trouble remembering information about his beloved, like

how and where they met, what her paternal name was or even when they married. His

memory of her is solely based on his recollections of her character, his love for her and her

features, especially her eyes.

At the outset of the tale, the narrator wonders about the context in which his time

with Ligeia took place, considering several theories as to what made him forget everything

except Ligeia herself. One of the explanations he considers is that Ligeia herself caused a

playful charge (110), Another is that his intense recollection is part of a wildly romantic

offering on the shrine of the most passionate devotion (110). Both options would depict


23/38

23

Ligeia as a kind of goddess, having the power to influence reality and commanding offerings

on a shrine. The narrator moves on to her divine influence on fate, and compares Ligeia to an

Egyptian goddess:

And indeed, if ever that spirit which is entitledRomance - if ever she, the wan and

the misty-winged Ashtophet of idolatrous Egypt, presided, as they tell, over marriages

ill-omened, then most surely she presided over mine. (111)

According to David Jeffrey, the reference of Ashtophet is here to the Phoenician and

Egyptian mother goddess Ashtoreth, who stands for love and fertility and is also referred to as

the queen of the heaven (Jeffrey 60). The last part of the name Ashtophet is argued to come

from the word tophet, a version of hell that is commonly associated with the worshipping of

Moloch in the Old Testament, the pagan god of sacrifice (Galloway 528).

In ancient Egypt, Ashtophet was worshipped for her blessing on romance and healthy

children, as opposed to how Poe uses the reference. Poe assumes that the goddess had

influence or control over ill-omened marriages and also describes her as wan, which

means that her colour must have been of a gloomy and melancholy paleness. With this

contradiction, Poe projects the narrators feelings to a background in Egyptian culture. The

narrator is confused as to how to see his relationship with Ligeia, on the one hand, relating her

to a positive and powerful goddess or, on the other, blending negative connotations to her

appearance, her power over marriages or the implication that love is sacrificed to Moloch.

There is also a touch of sarcasm in calling Egypt idolatrous: blindly and excessively adoring a

goddess like her, while he suffered that she presided over his ill-omened marriage.

The narrator adamantly says that Ligeias name alone brings forth a certain image in

his mind: it is by that sweet word alone by Ligeia that I bring before mine eyes in fancy

the image of her who is no more (110). The narrator seems to be invoking the rise of a divine

power by uttering the word Ligeia. In this sense Ligeia herself is portrayed as a goddess, the

narrator being her priest and servant while speaking incantations. The portrayal of Ligeia as a

goddess corresponds to the idea that the narrator could have been idolising Egyptian gods

himself, haunted and obsessed by Ligeia, her wisdom and intellect and her dark, Egyptian-like

eyes. To the narrator, Ligeia represents a higher all-seeing power, a source of knowledge and

wisdom. The narrator has an ambivalent feeling towards Ligeias eyes; they both fascinate

and terrify him (114). The terror lies in the revealing powers that he ascribes to her eyes and

the fear of being exposed to the all-seeing and revealing divine eye.


24/38

2

Poe also had a fascination with strong women, as for a large part of his life, he was

surrounded by women on whom he could depend , and that were there for him when he was in

need: his substitute-mother Mrs Stenard, his mother-in-law Mrs Maria Clemm and his wife

Virginia. Like goddesses were deities to ancient Egyptians, to turn to in times of need and to

ask for wisdom and advice, these women had these functions for Poe.

3.2. The figure of Ligeia

The narrator minutely and elaborately describes Ligeias features and ends the lengthy

paragraph with: and then I peered into the large eyes of Ligeia (112), as if this is a

significant turning point in the tale, the strangeness that could not be explained is finally

circled back to the one remaining feature that hasnt been described yet - her eyes:

For eyes we have no models in the remotely antique. It might have been, too, that in

these eyes of my beloved lay the secret to which Lord Verulam alludes. They were, I

must believe, far larger than the ordinary eyes of our own race. They were even fuller

than the fullest of the gazelle eyes of the tribe of the valley of Nourjahad. Yet it was

only at intervals - in moments of intense excitement that this peculiarity became

more than slightly noticeable in Ligeia. And at such moments was her beauty in my

heated fancy thus it appeared perhaps the beauty of beings either above or apart from

the earth the beauty of the fabulous Houri of the Turk. (112)

The narrator here seeks the definition of perfection. He is in doubt whether Ligeias eyes are

of excellent beauty, but he also refers to them as strange and out of the ordinary. He needs a

reference-point, but concludes that the beauty of eyes has never been defined. Sir Francis

Bacon (1561-1626), Lord Verulam, states that excellence in beauty does not exist without a

measure of strangeness in the proportion (111). The narrator here is close to recognizing what

is meant by this when he contemplates the strange beauty of Ligeias eyes.

After establishing that the beauty of her eyes is out of the ordinary, the narrator moves

on to an attempt to describe exactly this strangeness. In the section quoted above, he alludes

twice to something that is not from our race or of beings either above or apart from the

earth. Here again, Ligeia is suggested to be a divine entity, a goddess. The narrator also


25/38

2

considers her dark eyes as abnormal for the human race and as possessing an alien-like quality

due to their fullness.2

Large black eyes and any abnormality in the eyes, was often perceived as a sign of the

evil eye, especially in north African cultures. To the narrator, this must also have been a

reason for not finding them entirely beautiful and for sensing some strangeness or fear.

The reference to the valley of Nourjahad comes from The History of Nourjahad, an

oriental romance by Frances Sheridan (1724-1766) published posthumously in 1767. The

tribe of gazelle eyes seem to allude to a harem of beautiful oriental women that surrounded

Nourjahad in the story. According to Moon and Davidson, Poe is here struggling with a racial

issue, as the description of Ligeia and later the description of the decorations of the oriental

bridal chamber - could mean a racial heritance:

Poes rhapsodic and tortured circlings around the whatnessof eyes that are linked to

those of a dark tribe suggest how masterful had become the euphemisms for marks of

blackness in a land preoccupied with construing purity out of impurity. (Moon and

Davidson 131)

The last line of the quoted passage compares Ligeias beauty to a beauty from outside or

above this world, and to the beauty of the fabulous Houri of the Turk. The houri are

women associated with sensuality, power and wisdom. According to the Islam, they are the

dark-eyed virgins of perfect beauty, who lived with the blessed in paradise. The name refers

to their distinctive eyes, of which the pupils are intensely dark in contrast to the whiteness of

the sclera (Davies).

The blackness of the eyes is a feature full of meaning in ancient Egyptian culture and

symbolism. Black was the colour of death and of the night. Osiris, god of the afterlife, was

also called the black one. The colour was a natural symbol of the underworld, and also

resurrection. In this sense, it could therefore also be used as a symbol for fertility or even life.

Black as a symbol for fertility originated also from the blackness of the Nile, which provided

for the region that was called kemet the black land in ancient times (www.egyptian

myths.net 2010).

2To the modern reader, this brings to mind the popular notion that aliens have large black eyes, as was first

portrayed in the reports from the Roswell-incident in New Mexico, USA in 1947. Accounts stated that the extra-

terrestrial humanoids had large teardrop-shaped black eyes and pale white skin.


26/38

2

In unravelling the question of why Ligeias eyes struck the narrator as strange,

frightful and beautiful at the same time, the answer could very well lie in their size or colour.

But the narrator has already considered this:

The hue of the orbs was the most brilliant of black, and, far over them, hung jetty

lashes of great length. The brows, slightly irregular in outline, had the same tint. The

strangeness, however, which I found in the eyes, was of a nature distinct from the

formation, or the color, or the brilliancy of the features, and must, after all, be referred

to the expression. (112)

The color black also has a sense of contradiction in Ligeia. The blackness of her eyes could

initiate a fear of death in the narrator, or the oncoming doom in his life with her death. At the

moment of her resurrection, the first thing the narrator sees is her raven black hair which was

blacker than the raven wings of the midnight! (126). The moment of truth confronts him

when she slowly opens her eyes and he exclaims: these are the full, and the black, and the

wild eyes (126) of the lady Ligeia.

The narrator ponders about the meaning of her eyes, something disturbs him about

them. He cannot quite understand what it is and feels an overwhelming [struggle] to fathom

it (112):

What was it --that something more profound than the well of Democritus --which lay

far within the pupils of my beloved? What was it? I was possessed with a passion to

discover. Those eyes! those large, those shining, those divine orbs! they became to me

twin stars of Leda, and I to them devoutest of astrologers. (112)

What he is trying to find is a glimpse of Ligeias soul. The well of Democritus is a bottomless

well and the narrator has trouble finding what he is looking for. This could mean that if the

narrator is looking for Ligeias soul, and the windows to the soul her eyes are compared

with the well of Democritus, Ligeia might not have a soul at all. It would even explain the

latent terror the narrator experiences whenever looking into her black and deep eyes.

However, the unknown and feared also fascinates. The narrator is drawn to her eyes, adamant

to find an explanation for the strangeness. This feeling he describes as the passion of an

astronomer, peering towards the sky and concentrating on two stars to find their meaning.


27/38

2

At times he is close to finding an answer to his questions about the strangeness of

Ligeias eyes. He describes it as something that is just at the point of surfacing in his memory,

just below his consciousness:

And thus how frequently, in my intense scrutiny of Ligeia's eyes, have I felt

approaching the full knowledge of their expression --felt it approaching --yet not quite

be mine --and so at length entirely depart! And (strange, oh strangest mystery of all!)

(113)

The narrator is trying to search Ligeias soul, expecting the eyes to be the windows to show

him the truth about her. But even though he is peering into and scrutinizing her eyes, he

cannot find a way inside. And at the same time this frightens him, perhaps he does not trust

her entirely. In fact, it seems that he cannot penetrate her soul, whereas Ligeia is able to

penetrate his: when Ligeia's beauty passed into my spirit, there dwelling as in a shrine.

(113)

This juxtaposition of the male and female role is an explanation for the mixed feelings

the narrator experiences. Ligeias eyes have a castrating effect on him, by paralyzing and

mesmerizing his thinking. He even describes her eyes to have the ability or the potency to

grow larger in connection to her passions. He clearly has a double feeling, caused by the

miraculous expansion of those eyes which at once so delighted and appalled me.(114)

This, combined with his inability to penetrate her soul, renders him completely

impotent. He feels robbed of his manhood by her, as she is his superior in intellect, wisdom,

knowledge and beauty and everything that makes him a man. The strangeness that he is so

frequently referring to might therefore be a dormant jealousy and terror, as her eyes are so

powerful that they can strip him of his maleness and leave him helpless to and dependent on

her strength.

3.3. The active or passive eye

Ligeias eyes are numerous times described as luminous and large. The eyes seem to be

emanating light from within, which would correspond with Platos theory that sight is

something that is generated from within the eye to outward. This is the opposite of the

Newtonian theory of sight of which Poe was an adherent where light from the outside is

absorbed by the eye and converted by the optic nerve into what we see.


28/38

2

Scheick argues that Poe used both theories in his work (Scholnick 9). On the one hand,

the Platonic, which implied that vision results from the emanation of light from the eye

outward, and on the other the Newtonian, which held that sight results from the reflection of

light from an external source on the eye. The Newtonian theory had its origins in the classic

theory on perception by Aristotle (4th

century B.C.), who proposed that light rays derive from

luminous objects and that vision is the result of the reflection of the images of these objects

upon the watery surface of the eye.(Scholnick 80) The Platonic theory had no factual basis.

Nevertheless, Poe was able to draw from it, creating characters that have such strong

imaginations, that real images would have been perceived by the eye:

In this sense the imagination generates something like an interior luminosity behind the

eyeball, and so Poe depicts the highly imaginative person as someone who evinces this

interior light in large luminous eyes, eyes that therefore seem to emanate light from

within. (Scholnick 9)

The Newtonian theory, although accepted by Poe the rationalist, held less appeal for Poe the

poet. In his work he combined the two theories, creating characters whose perception was

ruled not only by the inner light, but whose sometimes confused sense of reality was also

formed by the reflection of light from an external source. William J. Scheick proposes that

this confirmed one of Poes beliefs in the essential similarities of the creative methods

employed by the scientist and the artist. (Scholnick 9) In fact, Poe was known but not

always valued - for his creative way of using science to fit his purpose.

In Ligeia, the eyes of lady Ligeia are large and black, and referred to as orbs, in

which the narrator sees his own reflection and unable to break through to her soul. It is also

optical illusion which distorts the perception of reality in the end, resulting in a feeling of

horror on the narrators part at the sight of the resurrected wife. Throughout the tale, Ligeias

eyes are described as active, able to cause emotions and able to change in expression and even

in size. This idea corresponds with the active eye in Egyptian mythology; the powers of the

(evil) eye of Egyptian gods like Isis and Horus (see 2.1.).

The power of Ligeias eyes terrifies the narrator, due to the castrating effect, the ability

to infiltrate his soul, the changing of size. This last ability might give the reader a glimpse into

the real Ligeia. If her eyes grow larger in accordance with her passions, then what really rules

Ligeia? This could imply that next to perhaps having no soul, she might not have a conscience

either.


29/38

2

In Freudian terms, this would mean that Ligeia is primarily ruled by the id, the basic

human needs and desires. To control the id in order to survive, Freud described the functions

of the ego and the super-ego. The ego is our sense of reality and the super-ego has a

moralizing function (Freud 439-478). Much has been written about what happens when the

super-ego is not functioning. With Ligeia, this might just be the case. She is obviously clever

and wise, so the realistic function of the ego works. What could be another explanation of the

strangeness and the narrators inability to look into her present or absent - soul, is the

absence of the super-ego to steer her passions.

3.4. Ligeias illness

Towards the climax of the tale, Ligeia grows ill, the first signs immediately apparent in her

eyes:

Wanting the radiant lustre of her eyes, letters, lambent and golden, grew duller than

Saturnian lead. And now those eyes shone less and less frequently upon the pages over

which I pored. Ligeia grew ill. The wild eyes blazed with a too - too glorious

effulgence (115)

The narrator describes how the light in her eyes is fading, but at the same time it turns into a

feverish, radiant blazing when she grows ill. Poe is still using the Platonic theory of sight here

that sight is generated with light from within the eye, also expressing the state of mind andinner emotions of the person.

The reference to Saturnine lead can be traced back to an ancient Egyptian cultural

aspect. Egyptians have been known to be excellent metallurgists and alchemists, even in the

ancient times of the dynasties. In combining metal and mysticism, the seven metals were

ruled by the seven planets3, of which Saturn was said to rule lead. Saturn is the largest of the

planets and moves at the slowest speed. Lead has a dull surface and makes a thick, heavy

sound when worked with. It is the heaviest and most stable metal, often used to make tombs.

Lead poisoning was originally called Saturnism, as ingesting quantities from cups or plates

caused physical affections like melancholia, depression and fatigue (Sullivan 24). Ligeia

seems to slip into a combination of these three typical Saturnine temperaments as she grows

sicker.

3, , , , . , , (..).


30/38

30

3.5. Lady Rowena and the bridal chamber

Ligeia eventually dies and the narrator retreats with his grief to an old abbey in England. He

meets and marries the fair haired and blue-eyed lady Rowena Trevanion of Tremaine. In

appearance, the lady Rowena is the exact opposite of Ligeia. The narrators relationship with

her can be typified as affectionate and loyal. He treats her with respect as a dutiful husband is

expected to. It is not a passionate relationship and the strong and wild emotions that the

narrator experienced with his first wife only return when his thoughts wander to the memory

of Ligeia.

Rowenas eyes are blue. In ancient Egypt and other Mediterranean countries, the

colour is seen as abnormal, as opposed to the general dark colors in that region. Abnormality,

or the perceived abnormality, leads to superstition and fear of the unknown. In a time where

travelers from the northern regions of Europe were rare, blue eyes were seen as a sign of the

evil eye.

However, the blue eye also has a positive connotation. As was explained in chapter

2.1, the belief in the benevolent eye had its origin in a myth about the eye of Horus (he

sacrificed an eye to save mankind). Throughout the Mediterranean region, this developed into

a belief that the eye could be a protective symbol and was, as such, used in jewellery and on

the bows of boats. This protective eye has always been and still is blue.Returning to Rowena, she too became struck with an illness and was cared for in the

bridal chamber of the abbey. After Rowena dies, the narrator sits beside her body, holding a

wake. The pentagonal bridal chamber has a most gloomy atmosphere and is described as dark

and spacious, with a single window occupying the southern wall:

Occupying the whole southern face of the pentagon was the sole window --an

immense sheet of unbroken glass from Venice --a single pane, and tinted of a leaden

hue, so that the rays of either the sun or moon, passing through it, fell with a ghastlylustre on the objects within. (119)

The chamber is described as an eye itself. The shape is almost round and the single, large

window represents the pupil. Poe also uses the Newtonian theory of light here. The light

comes from the outside and is converted into vision by the optic nerves within the eyeball


31/38

31

itself. Whereas sight normally entails a diversity of colours, in the bridal chamber, all light is

converted into the same leaden hue. This reflects the mood of the chamber and the events

that occur here. No matter what the narrator tries to overcome his grief for Ligeia a new

wife, a different home, the extravagant decorations of the bridal chamber his perception of

these things remains the same, leaving him with an uncanny feeling about his surroundings.

In order to break his monotonous state of melancholy in the chamber, the narrator has

decorated it with many extravagant and luxurious artifacts and furniture:

Some few ottomans and golden candelabra, of Eastern figure, were in various stations

about --and there was the couch, too --bridal couch --of an Indian model, and low, and

sculptured of solid ebony, with a pall-like canopy above. In each of the angles of the

chamber stood on end a gigantic sarcophagus of black granite, from the tombs of the

kings over against Luxor, with their aged lids full of immemorial sculpture. (119)

The Egyptian influence is apparent here and it could very well be that the narrator is

an Egyptologist himself, collecting ancient artifacts out of fascination and lobbyism as was

not uncommon in Poes time when this tale was written. Although the narrator calls this a

bridal chamber and has decorated it to his taste with items that hold his appreciation and

interest, it is really described as an Egyptian tomb. Instead of celebrating a union between the

narrator and his new wife, the chamber represents his unconscious hopes and thoughts about

Ligeia, in that there is an afterlife and she might come back to him again. The ancient

Egyptians believed in going to the next life after death in our world. The artifacts in the tombs

were put there in honor of the deceased king or queen and to signify that this was an

important person who should have the same status in the afterlife as he or she had in this life.

The artifacts in the bridal chamber could have the same function for Rowena, but also

for Ligeia, to help her pass from one world into another. The narrator unconsciously helps his

beloved Ligeia to pass from the afterlife back into this life. Indications for this are that he sees

the chamber come to life, although opium helps his visions:

Wild visions, opium-engendered, flitted, shadow-like, before me. I gazed with unquiet

eye upon the sarcophagi in the angles of the room, upon the varying figures of the

drapery, and upon the writhing of the parti-colored fires in the censer overhead. (122)


32/38

32

The narrator now feels the history packed in all the artifacts surrounding him and the

idea of life coming back from the sarcophagi worries him. When Ligeia finally rises, she is

covered in bandages like an Egyptian mummy would be. With horror the narrator stares into

her black eyes that have given him a glimpse of death, and the uncertainty that comes with a

seemingly certain concept as that.


33/38

33

4 Conclusion

In this thesis I have explored the measure in which Poe could have been influenced by

Egyptology in his writing and especially in the use of the eye in Ligeia.

In Poes time, the first important discoveries of ancient Egypt were made. One of these

was the discovery and later the deciphering of the famous Rosetta Stone. Other discoveries

included ancient artefacts from the tombs and temples in Egypt that were brought to America

to be further examined. Several leading figures on the American East coast travelled to Egyptand brought back fascinating stories and artefacts of ancient Egyptian culture.

The popular interest in Egyptology grew rapidly and became noticeable in American

culture, architecture and literature. Events were organised to view ancient artefacts and the

unwrapping of mummies. In architecture the Egyptian influence became visible in several

prominent buildings and decorations, and the leading magazines of the time picked up on the

subject by publishing numerous articles.

Poe lived amidst this growing hype in Egyptology and his writing was influenced by

the developments and people around him on this topic. Many of his tales contain Egyptianreferences, like Some Words with a Mummy (1850), The Sphinx (1845), The Gold

Bug (1843) or The Literati of New York City (1846), in which Poe mentions Champollion

as the decipherer of the hieroglyphs. George Robbins Gliddon is a character in Some Words

with a Mummy, which shows that Poe was aware of his work as a vice-consul in Egypt.

Poes interest in cryptic writing, hieroglyphs and symbols, like the eye, also grew from an

interest in Egyptology.

There are more connections between Poe and leading developments and figures on

cryptic writing and symbolism of the time. The deciphering of the Rosetta Stone impacted on

Poes poetic art and the importance of symbols and ciphers in his work. Poe worked on many

articles on cryptic characters and the significance of hieroglyphs and ciphers, while moulding

the ideas to fit his own writing.

Poes also had many connections to Egyptologists through his literary network. He

was a fervent admirer of Alexander von Humboldts work on symbols and cryptic writing.


34/38

3

Humboldt not only knew Champollion, but also had ties with Thomas Young and was a

mentor of the German Egyptologist Lepsius.

Considering the following three facts: 1) the rise of Egyptology during the first half of

the nineteenth century and the impact this development had on American society in general;

2) Poes growing interest in ciphers, symbols and the literary significance of hieroglyphs; and

3) Poes professional connections to leading Egyptologists or enthusiasts of Egypt of the time,

it is likely that Poe was indeed influenced by Egyptology in his writing.

In Ligeia, Poe used many Egyptian references, among which one very important

symbol in Egyptian hieroglyphs and mythology: the eye. In my analysis of Ligeia, I

explored how Poe used this symbol through Egyptian references, mythology and superstition

to enhance the power of his tale.

Chapter 2 presented an overview of beliefs and powers attributed to the eye in

different cultures. In Egypt, the eye was used as a malevolent symbol and as a benevolent one.

The belief in the evil eye originated from a myth about the god Osiris, the god of the afterlife,

underworld or death. The belief in the protective powers of the eye had its origin in a myth

about the god Horus, the national god of life and protection. Other gods also were assigned

the eye as a symbol, like Ptah or the sungod Ra.

Through travel accounts, Egyptian mythology and superstition were brought to

America and sometimes merged with existing beliefs in the powers of the eye. The belief in

the positive powers of the eye can be seen, for instance, as the eye of providence on American

dollar bills or in the form of the all-seeing eye of God. In the Mediterranean region, the eye is

still used as a protective symbol.

The tale of Ligeia is full of Egyptian references and Poe uses the eye as an

instrument to enhance the horror effect on the reader. Ligeia herself is depicted as an Egyptian

goddess, providing wisdom, knowledge and strength to the narrator and commanding his

presence as a priest. The narrator himself has a fascination with Ligeias eyes, they are both

attractive and horrific to him, and he makes an attempt to explain the strangeness of her

eyes. This strangeness has various explanations. There is also a discussion of the scientific

powers of the eye and the two optic theories of Plato and Newton are presented.

Towards the climax of the tale, the bridal chamber of the abbey is described. It is filled

with ancient Egyptian artefacts, indicating to the reader that the narrator might have been an

Egyptologist himself. The chamber itself is comparable to an eye, with its pentagonal shape

and the one large window filling one of the walls. The chamber is also decorated as an

Egyptian tomb would be, to ensure a comfortable passing to the afterlife. All these functions


35/38

3

of the symbol of the eye in an Egyptian setting indicate the source of Poes inspiration for

Ligeia. Considering the various functions of eye-references and Egyptological influences,

Poe has artfully interwoven these aspects to create one of his strongest mystery tales.


36/38

3

Bibliography

Aquaro, George R.A.Death by Envy: The Evil Eye in the Christian Tradition. Lincoln:

Universe Inc., 2004.

Bonaparte, Marie. The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation.

London: Imago, 1949.

Brownell, Charles E. et al. The Making of Virginia Architecture. Richmond: Virginia Museum

of Fine Arts. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1992.

Budge, E.A. Wallis. The Rosetta Stone. New York: Dover Publications, 1989.

Buell, Lawrence.Literary Transcendentalism: Style and Vision in the American Renaissance.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1973.Carrot, Richard G. The Egyptian Revival: Its Sources, Monuments and Meaning 1808-1858.

Berkley: University of California Press, 1978.

Curl, James Stevens.Egyptomania: The Egyptian Revival, a Recurring Theme in the History

of Taste. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994.

Davidson, Edward H.Poe: A Critical Study. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.

Davies, Peter, ed.American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 7th

edition. New

York: Dell Publishing Co, 1973.

Davis, John. The Landscape of Belief: Encountering the Holy Land in 19th

Century American

Art and Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.

DiStasi, Lawrence.Mal Occhio (Evil Eye): the Underside of Vision. San Francisco: North

Point Press, 1981.

Dundes, Alan. The Evil Eye: A Casebook. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.

Elworthy, Frederick Thomas. The Evil Eye: the Classic Account of this Ancient Superstition.

New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1989.

Freud, Sigmund, The Ego and the Id (1939). In Anna Freud (selection). The Essentials of

Psycho-Analysis: The Definitive Collection of Sigmund Freuds Writings. London:

Penguin Books, 1991.

Gamache, Henri. Terrors of the Evil Eye Exposed. New York: Raymond Publishing, 1946.

Gifford, Edward Stewart. The Evil Eye: Studies in the Folklore of Vision. New York:

MacMillan Press, 1958.

Hoffman, Daniel.Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University

Press, 1972.

Humboldt, Alexander von. Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe,Vol. 1. London: Bell & Daldy, 1865.

Irwin, John T.American Hieroglyphics: the Symbol of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics in the

American Renaissance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.

Jeffrey, David L.A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Grand Rapids:

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1992.

Knapp, Bettina L.Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Ungar, 1984.

Long, David A. Poes Political Identity: A Mummy UnswathedPoe Studies23:1(1990): 1-

22.


37/38

3

Maloney, Clarence, ed. The Evil Eye. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.

Meerloo, Joost A.M.Intuition and the Evil Eye: the Natural History of Superstition.

Wassenaar: Servire, 1971.

Moon, Michael and Cathy N. Davidson, Subjects and Citizens: Nation, Race and Gender

from Oroonoko to Anita Hill. Durham: Duke University Press, 1995.

Murray, John.Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries Within the Pyramids,

Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia. London: John Murray, 1820.Pethman, Stephen, ed. The Annotated Tales of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Doubleday &

Company, Inc., 1981.

Pierson, Richard.Archaeology and Gothic Desire: Vitality Beyond the Grave in H. Rider

Haggards Ancient Egyptin Victorian Gothic: Literary and Cultural Manifestations in

the Nineteenth Century. Eds. Ruth Robins and Julian Wolfreys. Basingstoke: Palgrave

Publishers, 2000.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Ligeia. In The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings. Ed., David

Galloway. New York: Penguin, 1986.

---. The Literati of New York City, Godeys Ladys Book, Volume IV 1846.

Quinn, A.H.Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts

Inc, 1941.

Saad el Din, Mursi and John Cromer. Under Egypts Spell: the Influence of Egypt on Writersin English from the 18

thCentury, London: Bellew Publishing, 1991.

SFX Magazine, 188 (November 2009).

Silverman, Kenneth.Edgar Allan Poe: A Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. New

York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1992.

Stevens, John Lloyd.Incidents of Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petrea, and the Holy Lan. New

York: Dover Publications, 1837.

Sullivan, Erin. Saturn in Transit: Boundaries of Mind, Body and Soul. Boston: Red

Wheel/Weiser LLC, 2000.

Tallack, Douglas. The 19th

Century American Short Story: Language, Form and Ideology.

New York: Routledge, 1993.

Thomas, Nancy, ed. The American Discovery of Ancient Egypt: Essays. Los Angeles: Los

Angeles County Museum, 1996.Trafton, Scott.Egypt Land: Race and Nineteenth-century American Egyptomania, Durham:

Duke University Press, 2004.

Ven, Will van de.De Geloofsvoorstelling van het Boze Oog: Inhoudelijke Aspecten en

Theoretische Benaderingen. Nijmegen: Vakgroep Culturele Antropologie K.U.

Nijmegen, 1983.

Wagenknecht, Edward. The Man Behind the Legend. New York: Oxford University Press,

1963.

Waterman, Philip. Superstition and the Evil Eye. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, 2006.

Wilson, John Albert. Signs and Wonders Upon Pharao: A History of American Egyptology.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.

Wortham, John David. The Genesis of British Egyptology 1549-1906. Norman: University of

Oklahoma Press, 1971.

Young, Thomas.An Account of Some Recent Discoveries in Hieroglyphical Literature, and

Egyptian Antiquities. London: John Murray, 1823.


38/38

3

Websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bethune_English (consulted May 2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Amory_Lowell (consulted May 2010)

http://www.britannica.com (consulted May 2010)

http://www.egyptianmyths.net/colors.htm (consulted May 2010)

thesis 12 - optics and orbs

Documents