for a report i chose to do it on one of poe's lesser known stories berenice....but i'm having trouble analyzing it and finding the interpretation of the story. the more times i read it the more i realize jus how hard he is to understand. if anyone has any opinions or remarks i will glady use u as one of my report sources. thanx

-- Anonymous, February 19, 2003

Answers

Remember the narrator is telling the story of Berenice(Morella, Ligeia). Stepback and take a hard look at the strangeness of the narrator, his obsessions and not merely the "strangeness" of the women. These are guys attracted/repelled by their experience with some facet of their obsession. The events, the truth, the women and everything else dissolves into the emotional ride of the narrator. This works for other narrator stories. If the narrator perceptions are extreme or odd, whether true or not, it is the mindtrip of the narrator that is important to him. His self-deceptionin the process can trapus too, part of the charm of this kind of writing. Unfortunately we can stupidly miss the main point. Madness, fugue state, drunkeness, loss of personality show how swallowed up the narrator gets in each case- and willingly despite the horror. Read "The Imp of the Perverse". Usually in each story the author descirbes his thought processes, his philosophy, his emotional fixations to focus the whole attention on this climax of awe and horror. What the narrator does to his victim is selfishly not even in the equation, the true self invertedness of the Romantic poet. Hence he yanks teeth, kills, fantasizes, etc. And break it down. By simpleemotionaleffect and organizationit is easy to understand. The nineteenth century Romantic hero's mind is very odd compared to ours, but you dare not neglect it in wrongly focussing on the sensational plotline for its own sake.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2003

Remember the narrator is telling the story of Berenice(Morella, Ligeia). Stepback and take a hard look at the strangeness of the narrator, his obsessions and not merely the "strangeness" of the women. These are guys attracted/repelled by their experience with some facet of their obsession. The events, the truth, the women and everything else dissolves into the emotional ride of the narrator. This works for other narrator stories. If the narrator perceptions are extreme or odd, whether true or not, it is the mindtrip of the narrator that is important to him. His self-deceptionin the process can trapus too, part of the charm of this kind of writing. Unfortunately we can stupidly miss the main point. Madness, fugue state, drunkeness, loss of personality show how swallowed up the narrator gets in each case- and willingly despite the horror. Read "The Imp of the Perverse". Usually in each story the author descirbes his thought processes, his philosophy, his emotional fixations to focus the whole attention on this climax of awe and horror. What the narrator does to his victim is selfishly not even in the equation, the true self invertedness of the Romantic poet. Hence he yanks teeth, kills, fantasizes, etc. And break it down. By simple emotional effect and organization it is easy to understand. The nineteenth century Romantic hero's mind is very odd compared to ours, but you dare not neglect it in wrongly focussing on the sensational plotline for its own sake.

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2003