Death becomes her : a reading of Poe's 'Dying women' tales

Abstract

This dissertation examines certain feminist issues that emerge from Edgar Allan Poe's "Dying Women" tales by analysing the author's treatment of his female characters. The discussion proceeds in the light of psychoanalytic theory, particularly that propagated by the French feminist school. I have opted for the theoretical positions explicated by Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, and Jacques Lacan, due to the affinity of such theories to the feminist elements that prevail in Poe's tales. The particularly innovative and radical theses expounded by the aforementioned theorists adapt themselves remarkably well to Poe's "Dying Women" series, thereby disclosing the tales' radical innovativeness. Throughout this study, I will be endeavouring to assess what it is about the tales that have occasioned conflicting critical views, and to engage with the ambiguity surrounding Poe's dying women. This element of ambivalence is arguably at its greatest in "The Oval Portrait'', "Berenice'', and "Ligeia", and it is precisely for this reason that I have chosen these three tales for detailed analysis. "The Oval Portrait" and "Berenice" are explored in Chapter One, which deals with an examination of the patriarchal phallic gaze and the theme of castration as it appears in these two tales. Chapter Two delves into the idea of liminality in "Ligeia'', while Chapter Three attempts to draw all three tales together by analysing the notion of feminine jouissance, employing Jacques Lacan's theoretical formulations concerning this concept. The first two chapters are discussed and explicated with the use of French psychoanalytic feminist theory. Finally, this dissertation briefly assesses Poe's achievements in transcending the stereotypical nineteenth-century portrayal of women.