Does anyone have any explanations concerning Poe's slight use of female characters in his short stories, I'm comparing Poe to Stokers "Dracula" so if anyone can link or compare the use of females by the two authours it will be much appreciated. Thanks alot !!!!!!

-- Anonymous, December 05, 2001

Answers

If you look at all the pain he has had in his life from women you'd wonder why he never really wrote about him. Edgar was never really close to a woman except for Virginia who became fatally ill! There wasn't really a way he could learn about women.

-- Anonymous, December 05, 2001

Claire: it's not true that Poe has few female characters. Several of his most important stories are simply called by a female name. Comparing Poe's portrayal to Stoker's is a legitimate essay, but claiming that Poe did not write about women is not.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2001

Yet Poe decidedly avoided probing the female mind. Reactions and musings are solely examined in male characters. Most females are idealized as some object of passion for the male characters. Ligeia might come closest to a strong female portrayay but she is prseented by the narrator and integrally tied to him in this life and her gruesome return. Interestingly Stephen King admitted that shortcoming of not being able to comfortably represent the female mind. Take Dickens' rather shallow, idealized females for exapmple too. Yet they took up the challenge seriously whereas Poe seems only intent on examining paradigms of his own personal mind for the most part. And yes, perhaps it is true Virginia's demise made any probing of his mainly female ghosts too much to bear and their premature absence too remote from his continuing life.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2001