2.3. Characters' Names : A Well Studied Choice :
Poe reflects his theory of sublime through his descriptive style,
adapting certain elements as omnipresent in all his tales. There is a common
use of fatale beauty of female characters, the mixture of imagination and
reality, the focus on neurosis and the intermingled concepts of death and life.
However, Poe adds another technique to intensify the sublime. Throughout the
six tales, there is a use of unusual names of characters and a reference to a
particular set of books that may reflect their inner portrait. Poe's choice of
names is not arbitrary. It serves the general portrait of characters, adding
the mysterious and dark dimension and it conveys the motif of taphephobia. All
characters' names have deep roots either in Christianity (as the origin of
Protestantism, the defining religion of The United States) or in the different
mythologies.
In his tale "Ligeia", Poe presents the protagonist as a perfect
example of femme fatale with a poisonous beauty, characterized by mystery and
danger and who actually drives the narrator insane, by being uncertain about
the circumstances of her death. The mystery of Ligeia lies in her death and her
re-appearance during Lady Rowena's last moments. Critics
6 "My companions said to me that my
troubles would in some measure be relieved if I would visit the tomb of my
sweetheart" (trans. Alterton and Craig).
Layouni 45
express the same puzzlement since her appearance can be explained
in two different ways: either she was buried alive and survived from the grave
or she is a lost soul seeking her revenge. However, the first probability seems
to be more convincing especially when we discover by the end of the story that
the body that stands in the middle of the apartment was Ligeia. In order to
highlight the mystery of Ligeia and to prepare for a shocking end, Poe chooses
a name that refers to one of the famous mythologies that is characterized by
ambiguity, the myth of the Seirenes. Ligeia itself as a name is inspired from
the Greek mythology about sirens who enchanted sailors with their beautiful
voices to shipwreck on the coast and die. It is the same image of beauty and
unknown end. Besides, Poe uses a large set of images (Nourjahad),
angels (Azrael, Houri), places (Delos) and deities
(Ashtophet) to describe her. Thus, the emphasis on Ligeia's perfection
and ideality serves as a way to show her importance in the narrator's life and
how her premature death drove him to madness.
Likewise, in his tale "Berenice", Poe's choice of characters'
name is very significant. In his tale, Poe deals with a neurotic husband and a
cataleptic wife. Unlike the other tales, Poe contrasts between the couple
physically and psychologically stating that
Yet differently we grew - I, ill of health, and buried in gloom -
she, agile, graceful, and overflowing with energy; hers, the ramble on the
hill-side - mine the studies of the cloister; I, living within my own heart,
and addicted, body and soul, to the most intense and painful meditation - she,
roaming carelessly through life, with no thought of the shadows in her path, or
the silent flight of the raven-winged hours. (CTP 166)
Through this description, Berenice and Egaeus are presented as a
physical manifestation of life and death. However, the energy of Berenice is
soon extinguished because of catalepsy. Berenice's sudden illness can be a
metaphor of a future defeat in front of the strong, infectious influence of
Egaeus' gloomy milieu. Berenice's premature burial and her survival from
near
Layouni 46
death experience and from the painful experience of uprooting her
teeth can be related to the choice of the name. The name "Berenice" is known as
a Protestant name, that occurred in the New Testament and particularly in King
James version, twice in Act 25 (25:13 and 25:23) and once in Act 26 (26:30).
According to Women in Scripture, edited by Carol Meyers and Toni
Craven and Shepard Kraemer, Berenice, or "Bernice" as it is mentioned in the
Bible, is the daughter of Herod Agrippa I, the king who killed James son of
Zebedee, one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ (60). Despite the biblical
connotation of the name, Berenice has Egyptian, Greek and Macedonian origins.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it means literally
"bringer of victory". The victory that presents the essence of the name may
refer to the victory of the character over death and her return from the
tomb.
Poe uses a set of symbols as a part of his descriptive strategy
to highlight one side of his character. For instance, he refers to a well
chosen set of books' titles as a strategy to describe characters and to give
some insights about their mental portrait and intellectual background. In "The
Fall of the House of Usher", Poe chooses the library to be the physical
manifestation of Roderick Usher's psyche. This symbol is used to help the
reader to create a picture of the neurotic mind of the character in order to
understand his future deeds and reactions. He presents Roderick Usher as a
mysterious and even uncanny character. His reactions and utterances are usually
ambiguous. For example, his indifferent reaction to his sister's illness and
death is unpredictable and unusual. In order to highlight the uniqueness of
Roderick Usher; Poe refers to a list of books in his library as a way to unveil
the nature of his character and to prepare the grounds for the motif of
taphephobia. Usher shows a fascination with the world of spirits and with the
history of demonic possessions across nations and this can explain his reaction
to his sister's apparent death and his insistence to be buried. Poe enumerates
titles of ten books that share the controversial, mysterious and metaphysical
nature. However, he states that Eymerich's Directorium Inquisitorum is
the Roderick's
Layouni 47
favorite. This particular book is about the forbidden knowledge
of witchcraft and black, demonic magic and it includes conjuring spirits. The
titles of his books show his interest in the folkloric stories of vampires,
spirits, necromancy and sorcery. These books and in particular Eymerich's book
affect the character of Roderick, driving him to bury his sister alive as a
part of his practice of the demonic rituals.
Poe chooses to convey his themes and ideas through an indirect
way, based upon intertextuality, stressing the mystery and ambiguity of his
horror tales. He refers to mythology, philosophy and to other Western literary
works to convey the motif of taphephobia. His own perception of the concept
Sublime drives him to innovate an exceptional descriptive style based
upon the mixture of the basic elements of the Classical gothic literature of
the 18th C with a detailed, analytic description of the characters' mindset,
creating a full image of the abstract psyche. Thus, Poe's descriptive style
aims to create a fuzzy atmosphere where the notions of fantasy and reality,
rationalism and madness are intermingled. Yet, Poe did not study taphephobia in
isolation from its original scientific and medical roots. He rather gathers the
literary and medical fields in order to create a full scientific and artistic
image of the phenomenon.
| 
