Poe main characters almost seem to live for suffering as some people live for happiness. Whatis prime example of a main characters in one of Poe's stories who brings suffering upon thereself. (who, why, and how?) Thank-u, amanda

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2001

Answers

What about the narrator in the Bernice? He grew up sickly and rather miserable in contrast to his healthy cousin(Berenice), that is, till a malady struck her & Berenice's form even became ghostly and waverish. Yet the narrator still intended on marrying her. Don't be mistaken however for the narrator, i quote: "had never loved her." Marrying Berenice (like marrying to ghostly gloom forever) is like an obligation to the narrator, a very much natural move since the two characters seemed to live in isolation from the rest of the world. The narrator thus would not have a choice of wives it appears. Thus it seemed like a fate he accepts.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001

The melancholic pose was so much in vogue that it deeply effected the young orphan's choice of muse.(Byron, Shelley, Coleridge etc.)That Poe was afflicted with real suffering is without doubt as well- and that he did not like it at all, especially the death of Virginia which mockingly echoed his idealized "deaths" of young maidens in early literary works. Bitterness and defiance and horrid fascination don't appear much like enjoyment to me. "The Imp of the Perverse" explains Poe's own awareness of his self-destructive tendencies and anyone would be easily spooked into paranoia etc. by the tragedies and deprivations Poe suffered. Someone said he had more of a share of such than any other American poet, modern examples included. The characters coping with the genre horror in his gothic tales is only one example of his writing but one containing the cruelest ironies. He treasured happiness even if just a memory.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001