Life goes on somehow

Thievery in Oliver Twist, an Analysis

| Jun 3, 2009
This project will try to help you find out the answers for the questions below:

“Oliver Twist is full of thievery. Some of it is committed by criminals like Sikes against respectable people like the Maylies, while some of it is committed by “respectable” people like Mrs. Mann and Mr. Bumble against poor. How are these two types of thievery different? What do they have in common? Also, consider the various ways in which other people “rob” Oliver of his identity. What does the prevalence of thievery in the novel say about the world that it portrays?”


THIEVERY IN OLIVER TWIST

The story Oliver Twist is the masterpiece of Charles Dickens who lived in the 18th century. Although his family lived a poor life, Charles Dickens lived as rich and famous in his lifetime. With Oliver Twist, he wants to make it clear to his readers and the public that in their world they lived in, there were many crimes done by “respectable” people against poor and by poor people against respectable ones. Therefore, the public would be shocked by his this work and it really worked. In Oliver Twist, Bill Sikes is the brutal criminal and he lives a poor life. His crimes always are against the respectable people. There are also Mrs. Mann and Mr. Bumble who are other thieves or criminals in spite of their “respects” in the story. These thieves, criminals, are from different walks of lives but in common, they have the adjective “criminal” for themselves. In the story, Oliver Twist has a hard life. Because, his identity sometimes is changed by careless people and he is left alone in life. The world the story portrays is the crime’s life or its place in our world that is full of criminals and crimes.


First of all, thievery is a bad behavior for all of the people. In the novel, the crimes thieves that Bill Sikes commits, who is portrayed as the most brutal one, are against respectable people. Bill has jealousy in himself for the rich people and that is why he wants to make their lives become what they do not want to it to be. For this purpose, he commits crimes but also, he does not want to be like them, a rich person. Because, he believes that rich people are not good so, he wants them to be like him in a way maybe he wants them to suffer because of that they make him a criminal. In the novel, this fact is not directly given but once one think about why a person commits a crime, the answer to that would be because he is poor, he needs what he steals, or the inferiority complex inside of them which comes out from the thoughts of them that they would not be a rich and respectable people like them. Bill Sikes hates their respectable situation but also hates being respected because of the feelings against them.

The other crime committed by Mrs. Mann is not just a crime. It is a pity that she does it against poor. Actually, she has a pity thought for them. She is angry with their families, so she believes she can decrease her sore by behaving in this way. Does she have right to do that? Of course not. It starts when we ask this question. Why? Is she respectable person? Yes. Does she have enough salary; we cannot know that. However, we know that she has something inside her that makes her steal the money that is supposed to be spent for the orphans. Although she can have a normal life and a happy life, she has some problems. These problems may actually be psychological ones. As I mentioned before, she is obsessed with the families of orphans, she is angry with them because they left their children alone. At the end, it is again a crime doing that.

Another one who is a criminal in the novel is Mr. Bumble. What does he do? He treats the orphans badly. Charles Dickens, here with the character as Mr. Bumble, criticizes the Victorian era. As known, in this era there is classification among people. People are made to believe that if they have money they would be respected if not they would not. Mr. Bumble, as his character must do its job to represent the class difference, treats the children, orphans, not pitifully but mercilessly. This crime actually is the public’s crime, too. If there is a classification, there it is because the public adopt it. Charles Dickens did not want this difference among people so he created that character and the others as well.


These criminals in Oliver Twist, especially Bill Sikes, Mrs. Mann, and Mr. Bumble represent the crime world in the 18th century. Charles Dickens created them for a purpose. It was the intention to make people realize the facts in their lives. These criminals differ from each other according to their purpose of committing crimes. Mrs. Mann has an internal affair against poor so she commits it; also, her aim is to be wealthier. Mr. Bumble is another different character who is guilty in society normally but he represents different thing in the novel. While he is supposed to make the orphans be a useful citizen, he maltreats them as a matter of classification. Bill Sikes has something special feature in the novel. The crimes he commits are both psychological that concerns the public and sociological that concerns the world. He is a bad man and inside of him, there is an evil. He has no pity inside but jealousy against rich people as well as hate for them. He does everything that may pretend him, or reaching his purpose; as he killed poor Nancy who has pity inside. Nancy has pity for all of the people; but she commits crimes, and steals something just to live, or maybe fear of Bill. Anyway, Bill Sikes has no mercy, which is the last to say.


When all is said and done, in the novel “Oliver Twist,” the criminals all represent the classes of criminals in the 18th century. Bill Sikes is the cruelest one and has no feeling and pity in him. He has just the feeling of jealousy and hate against rich people. He wants to take revenge from them because he believes that he is a criminal because of them. He does not want to be a rich because he knows when he is, he would be also a person that is hated by a criminal who thinks rich people are the responsible for the situation that he is in. apparently he has psychological problems. Mrs. Mann is also a thief. She is really in a pitiful situation because she steals the money of orphans. She is supposed to spend that money to take care of the orphans and to buy clothes and food for them. Maybe because she blames the orphans for they have not good families. Mr. Bumble is just going after his life and he is chasing the “respect.” Overall, Charles Dickens shows us the realities, and the wrongs of the world of that time with these “fantastic” characters.

Split Brain

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1.Introduction
People are intelligent creatures that can walk, run, eat, talk, think, and who do many things unconsciously. What is the power behind all these? What makes us run when we feel we are late for school, or what makes us want to eat when we are hungry? Who or what gives this decision? All these questions have a simple and easy answer: it is the head and powerful part of human body, brain. Brain is the decision-making organ that leads us to do everything we need to survive. Brain is the boss of our body. It runs the show and controls just about everything you do, even when you are asleep. Not bad for something that looks like a big, wrinkly, gray sponge.[1]

Brain has many parts that control our body and our movements. First of all, it has two parts that have their own specialties. Each of these main parts is called ‘hemispheres’. Hemispheres that let us control our movements and feelings directly communicate and convey their own data via corpus callosum. Corpus callosum is the connecting part of our brain that unites the hemispheres. The corpus callosum is a broad, thick band running from side to side and consisting of millions and millions of nerve fibers.[2] In 1960s, this connector was begun to be cut off as a cure for epilepsy that is a kind of storm in brain. This operation brought about the problem of ‘split brain’. After the operation, the patients could still have a normal life and the so-called odd behaviors could only be seen by some special experiments. The hemispheres have also the ability to learn and experience but each has no idea about what the other has done.[3]

In this paper, I will try to show what specialties each cerebral hemisphere has, what are the effects of split brain on human behavior and language performance. I will expand the given data with using different examples and analyzing the experiments done by experts.

2. Specialties of Hemispheres
Brain consists of main two parts called hemispheres. Each hemisphere has its own specialty because there are many parts in brain that have their own specialty. Some of these parts are on the left side of brain and some are on the right. The parts on the left communicate with the ones on the right via corpus collosum which is a connector organ consisting of millions of nerve fibers. Hence, brain does the job it is supposed to do.

The right hemisphere is dominant on spatial abilities, recognizing the faces, visual imagery, and music. On the other hand, the left hemisphere is capable of using language far more effectively, is good at math and prevailing logically. The right side of the body is controlled by the left side of the brain and the left one is controlled by the right side of the brain. In addition, the right hemisphere gathers the sensory information from the left side of the body and vice versa. This is called contralateral.[4]
 
2.1 The Specialties of Right Hemisphere
"The great pleasure and feeling in my right brain is more than my left brain can find the words to tell you." Roger Sperry[5]

As we can infer from this quotation, the main specialty of right hemisphere is its dominance on understanding things and giving sense to them. In addition, the right hemisphere can only produce simple words and phrases, but it is the basis of emotion to give sense to language. Without the help of right hemisphere, the split brain patient is able to read the word “shark” for example, but he can not be able to imagine what it is.5

The specialties of right hemisphere are not only those, there are many of them. First of all, it focuses on the connection between parts of a whole; dealing with wholeness rather than focusing on its parts or different sides or viewpoints which is called holistic[6]. In that, we use the right side while we are trying to solve picture puzzles. In an experiment, the patient was showed a familiar face of whom probably he loved. It is known that the patient knew her but when he was asked who she was, he couldn’t say a word. Everybody knew that he recognized the face yet he couldn’t put it on words.[7]

The cognitive style of right hemisphere is artistic, and sensitive, instinctive knowledge or understanding which stems from feeling rather than thinking which is called intuitive[8]. The language usage of the right hemisphere is ungrammatical and it has no syntax. In addition, it has poor vocabulary to tell the things it wants to express. Executive capacity of the right hemisphere contains low sense of self and it is low initiative.[9]

2.2 Specialities of Left Hemisphere
The left side of the brain apparently is the basis of language usage. It is in the charge of controlling our ability to express ourselves in language and it speaks much better than the right side. It has good grammar and syntax also has rich vocabulary to express itself in language. This hemisphere is dominant on recognizing sequences of words and letters. It is the basis of our logic, our reasoning, and our analytical thought processes. The left hemisphere focuses on details, however it lacks ability to combine the parts to comprehend the whole picture.[10] For example, in an experiment the patient was shown again the face of whom he knew. When he was asked who she was or what he saw, he just said “I saw a face” which means that he couldn’t recognize the owner of the face. He just focused on the details, which are the nose, mouth, cheek that construct the face. So, he expressed himself seeing just a face. He couldn’t comprehend the whole and recognize her.[11]

The cognitive style of left hemisphere is rational and logical. In addition, the executive capacity of left hemisphere is initiative, it has sense of self and it makes self-analysis, examines of its own thoughts and feelings, which is called introspection.[12]


3. The effects of Split Brain on Behavior and Language

3.1 The effects on Behavior
As each side of the brain has its own specialties, being a split-brain patient has simple effects. The hemispheres can no longer communicate and influence differing opinions, emotions, or desires of each other because the connector, corpus callosum, was cut off, and there had been no longer a connection between two hemispheres. One of the effects of it is seen explicitly in an event one patient has experienced. The patient told that one day while he was trying to pull up his pants with right hand, he found his left hand trying to pull the pants down.[13]

Another example of existence of split-brain effects on behavior is that a split-brain patient told that one day he was angry with his wife and he attacked her with his left hand while his right hand was protecting her.[14] We can see the clear effect of being split-brain. The right side of the brain was angry and wanted to give harm to his wife but the left side was unaware of the angriness of the right side so it wanted to protect her.

On another occasion, the patient was shown an ice cream to his left eye, right side of his brain. Firstly, he was asked to say what he saw on the screen when the thing was flashed on it, and then to pick up the thing behind the screen. Once he saw the ice cream he desired to taste it but he said that “I saw nothing on the screen” instead “I’d like to have it”. He was also asked for to pick up what he saw, so he picked up the ice cream but said “why did I pick up this ice cream?”.[15] That is a clear effect of split brain on a human behavior, isn’t it?

3.2 The effects on Language usage
The split-brain patients because of the hemispheres not communicating with each other, as we see in the experiences about the patients was affected directly. If we evaluate the ice cream experiment, we can see the effect of it when the patient said “I saw nothing on the screen” and “why did I pick up this ice cream”, however the patient also knew he saw the ice cream and wanted to say he would like to have it with his right side of the brain but the left side that didn’t see the ice cream on screen because it was shut when it was shown to the right eye said “why did I pick up this ice cream?”. That is because there is no connection and interference of the hemispheres. The usage of language, therefore, was affected by split brain.

4. Conclusion
To come to the point, the brain is the boss in human beings, it is divided into two cerebral hemispheres each of which has its own different functions, and they normally are connected with each other via corpus callosum. Left hemisphere is dominant on language usage with rich vocabulary, good grammar, and syntax. It also can solve the mathematical problems that are a bit more complex than the ones the right side can solve. In addition, the left side has the power of logic in itself. The right side of the brain has dominance on recognizing faces, shapes, and pictures as a whole. It also contributes emotion to the language and it is effective on spatial abilities and music.

When the hemispheres are cut off as a cure for epilepsy, the split-brain problem occurs. The right side cannot transport its data, feelings, its reflections for the things it sees to the left side to express its thoughts. Besides, the left hemisphere has not ability to give emotional tone to the things it can say with grammatically well organized and syntactically good sentences including many vocabularies.
            

[1]Zaoutis, B.Lisa (May 2005), The Brain is The Boss, retrieved 25 Jan. 07, from http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/body/brain_noSW.htm
[2]The Human Corpus Callosum, retrieved 25 Jan. 07, from http://www.indiana.edu/~pietsch/callosum.html
[3] The split brain experiments, retrieved 25 Jan. 07, from http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/split-brain/background.html
[4] One Brain or Two, retrieved 25 Jan. 07, from http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html
[5] The Split Brain experiment, retrieved 25 Jan 07, from http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/split-brain/background.html
[6] Specialization of Two Hemispheres, retrieved 25 Jan. 07, from http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/UBNRP/Split_Brain/Hemispheric_Specialization.html
[7] http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/split-brain/splitbrainexp.html
[8] Specialization of Two Hemispheres, retrieved 25 Jan. 07, from http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/UBNRP/Split_Brain/Hemispheric_Specialization.html
[9] See 8
[10] See 8
[11] See 7
[12] See 8
[13]Behavior of Split Brain Patients, retrieved 25Jan. 07, from http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/UBNRP/Split_Brain/Behavior.html
[14] See 13
[15] See 13

Pride and Prejudice, Differences between the movie and the novel

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With this study, the aim I have is to find and clarify the differences in the movie from the original book of Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice which is a mirror for the time it belongs. A question puzzling everyone may be that whether there have to be a difference or more between a book and its movie version. The answer comes with, “Yes, there are heart-breaking omissions, as must be necessary in any 2-hour version.” told in a review.[1]

Through the past years, many books that have a literary value was transformed into movies and many had bad influence on the fans of the books because they had almost no relation to the original story in details. However, everybody may think that a movie version of a good book is necessary after reading it and may say, “Wow, the movie of that book might be fantastic.” And with a similarity to the beginning of the “Pride and Prejudice”, here is a support for it: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that the best romantic novel in the English language must perpetually be in need of a remake.”[1]

First of all, movies always move a bit quicker than the books. Thus the books have the opportunity to give more details about the actions, movements of the characters and the thoughts of them. Releasing these is much easier in the books for the writers for they have the right to make the explanations of any action or thought of a character longer enough for their satisfaction than in the movies since the movie writers or directors have not chance for releasing the details. Let’s come to the examples for these.

The characteristic of Elizabeth in the movie written by Deborah Moggach, is different than it is in the original book. Elizabeth is presented in the movie as being rude, huffy, ill-tempered and grumpy in contrast in the book Jane Austen presents her as having good humor and being an intelligent woman with a sweet manner.[2]

In addition, the family relations are very different in the movie. For example, the sisters Jane and Elizabeth in the novel have almost no secrets among them and share everything they have in their mind and plan about their futures, hopes and dreams. But in the movie they keep secrets and they are reserved with one another.[3]

In the movie, moreover Elizabeth in the first ball had an eye contact with Mr. Darcy which makes us think something is going to happen between them. Thus it is understood that Elizabeth is affected by Mr. Darcy and makes that affection apparent to the audience with her face expression in the movie. But in the book this kind of thing never happened between them.

Other differences between the book and movie exist in the visiting scenes of Elizabeth to Pemberley, Rosings Park and Hunsford Parsonage. The most apparent difference in these scenes is the time that is compressed in the movie while these visits have much more details in the book. The difference is not just the time for these. Also, the thoughts of Elizabeth in the book like

“And of this place I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. -- But no,"[4]

which is very important are not presented or couldn’t be expressed in the movie which might be difficult to do it.

Another one while Elizabeth is still in Pemberley, the places of some scenes are different in the movie. For example, firstly the servant told Elizabeth, her aunt and her uncle that Mr. Darcy was not at home and he would come the following day. Elizabeth met Mr. Darcy and his sister the same day in the house in the movie but in the book she met him outdoors when the gardener was showing around the garden. Elizabeth met Mr. Darcy’s sister the other day in the book but in the movie as told she met her in the house the same day which is not a very important detail. But in the book there are much more conversations between the visitors, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner and Elizabeth, and the servant about Mr. Darcy which put them in doubt about what they know before their leaving the house. But in the movie these conversations do not occur so longer to make them doubt what only Elizabeth know about Mr. Darcy. Here also in the movie her aunt and her uncle have no knowledge about Mr. Darcy as they have some about what he had done to Mr. Wickham in the book.

The movie also lacks some supporting characters like Louisa Hurst, Mr. Hurst, Maria Lucas, Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, the Gardiners' children and some officers with townspeople.

As a final point, this movie version as it is shortened to just two hours of screenplay according to reviews it is a really good adaptation to movie from the original book despite the major differences in it. The differences in characterizations, actions of them and the places of some scenes must be of course different because the movie watchers would want more seeable or worth watching things in theatres than the book itself presents.


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[1] http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808657001/parentsguide
[2] http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApwBLbL36B_Wh8s0byxTXgMjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20070927174 750AAFRWde
[3] http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2005/11/pride-and-prejudice.html
[4] Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, P.235

The Role of Women

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The basic aim of this project is to make an outcome of the novel called “For whom the bell tolls” written by Ernest Hemingway who was a legend of his own lifetime. I tried to answer and explain a specific question that is “what is the role of women in this novel of Ernest Hemingway”[1]. In this novel, typical Hemingway characters are portrayed and also womanizing and machoism is addressed[2].

Ernest Hemingway, the legendary writer of American literature, was born in 1899 in a prosperous, conformist Chicago suburb. His writing talent was recognized earlier in his life. He started to write in his high school’s literary magazine and student newspaper. After graduating from high school, he started his professional writing career as a reporter for the Kansas City Star. During World War I which affected his writings as it is noticeable, he worked for Red Cross as an ambulance driver. He was sent to Italy where he was injured and then sent to a hospital in Milan. There he fell in love with a nurse that made him write the well known novel “A Farewell to Arms”.

After the war, Hemingway started to work as a newspaper correspondent in Paris. There Gertrude Stein was his spiritual instructor who provided the inspiration for the character Pilar in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, who serves as a mother figure for the protagonist, Robert Jordan.

As correspondent he traveled in Spain and became very interested in Spanish culture, especially in bullfighting which he considered as a tool to live fuller lives because it makes the people face the death[3]. This interest of his in Spanish culture and Spain made him create another masterpiece called “The Sun Also Rises” and a nonfiction work about bullfighting “Death in the Afternoon”.
His For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) takes place during the Spanish Civil War which ravaged the country throughout the late 1930s.[4] I will mention the details of this novel in the following pages.

Hemingway’s characters are somewhat different from other ones of different writers as it is explained here

“Hemingway’s novels are known for portraying a particular type of hero. Critic Philip Young famously termed this figure a ‘code hero’, a man who gracefully struggles against death and obliteration. Robert Jordan, the protagonist of For Whom the Bell Tolls, is a prime example of this kind of hero”. [5]

First of all, the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was written as a result of the Spanish Civil War, and here is the short summary of it. Robert Jordan, who left the United States to enlist on the Republican side in the war, works with Spanish guerilla fighters. He is assigned to blow up a Fascist-controlled bridge as part of a larger Republican offensive by the Republican command. Anselmo, a peasant, guides him to the guerrilla camp the leader of which is Pablo who greets Robert with hostility and opposes the bridge operation. Robert meets Pilar who seems to be the real leader of the guerrilleros. A close relationship quickly develops between Robert Jordan and Pilar who is the main woman character in the novel. The camp also shelters a young woman named Maria who was raped not long before. Robert and Maria are drawn to each other immediately. They profess love to each other and after that day they made love almost every day despite the war and Jordan’s dangerous task. At the end of the novel Robert Jordan is killed but Maria, Pilar and Pablo survived.[6]

This novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is the most serious and politically motivated one by Hemingway. He wants to display his love for the people of Spain and the country itself. Also there are few comic episodes in the entire book and it deals with a very complex war.[7]

When we came to the important aspect of this novel, the women in it have a great participation and role. At first, when we look at the very beginning of the novel you see Pilar is the real leader of the camp that is particularly something to do with the importance of women in this novel. Because it is firstly introduced us that the leader was a man but the fact is not so. Hemingway’s approach to women in this novel is predominantly masculine. The female characters he used are in contrast to his heroes he created. Hemingway presents the women as love objects or anti-love figures to the readers. He doesn’t go into the inner world of women as this world is related to the men with whom they are involved. Hemingway thinks the same for all the women part of the reason of which was because the way he viewed his mother. “He believed his mother to be a manipulator and blamed her in part for the suicide of his father”.[8]

In the novel, women are important just on behalf of their physical beauties. They almost always personify the appearance of the ideal woman. In personality there are two types one of which is “all-woman” and the other one is “femme fatale”. Former gives herself entirely to the hero and the latter one retains herself and prevents the hero possessing her completely. “all-woman” in the work of Hemingway is submitted to the hero.[9] In this novel Maria represents the “all-woman” who wants no other life than with him. For example one night Robert and Maria were talking Robert told that he was thinking about the bridge, Maria replied to him saying “I am thinking about you” which makes it very clear that Maria is an “all-woman” kind.

Women characters in his work also obey the “Hemingway Code”. They are brave in life, choosing reality over thought and face death stoically. In every case, there is a tragic event for the women which makes them stronger and give them the strength to face life this way.[10]

In conclusion, Ernest Hemingway uses the women characters in his works in a different way he presents men, which is called “Hemingway code”. But the women submit to the hero which is the “all-woman” style. The other one “femme fatale” is the more complex character than the former. In the novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, Maria is an example of “all-woman” kind, and Pilar is the one for “femme fatele”.





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[1] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belltolls/study.html

[2] http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Writing-Style-of-Hemingway&id=70613

[3] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belltolls/context.html

[4] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belltolls/context.html

[5] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belltolls/context.html

[6] http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/belltolls/summary.html

[7] See 2

[8] See 2

[9] See 2

[10] See 2

The Legend of Ligeia

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The basic aim of this study is to analyze the very first sample of gothic short stories, ligeia. I tried to explain the gothic symbolization of characters and gothic romanticism in it as it is told “The two stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Ligeia” are very similar to Poe’s other short stories, in that they to have this thread of Gothic Romanticism.”[1]

First of all, the characterization of Ligeia is very complicated and through the story it is symbolized by some terms like “spiritual” (Poe,”Ligeia”) used by the narrator to describe his love for Ligeia. The narrator’s acquaintance with Ligeia is, in the very beginning, managing to get our interest and release the story’s kind to be gothic with supporting details in the following pages and the narrator also manages to draw a gothic character by using the imageries like “the graceful medallions of the Hebrews” for her nose and “the gazelle eyes of the tribe of the valley of Nourjahad” for her eye and for her beauty the familiar “Houri of Turk” (Poe, ”Ligeia”) as imagery.

The narrator also uses vague time and place in the story which shows the story’s gothic aspect. He told he couldn’t remember when, where and how he met his wife and after her death he didn’t mention the name of the place he moved by calling the place “I shall not name it” and also adding it is “in one of the wildest and least frequented portions of fair England”.

The narrator, protagonist, is also a gothic character because he is not normal as told here; “a male character in “Ligeia” is for some reason incapable of functioning “normally” in the outside world. In Ligeia, the narrator suffers from an addiction to opium, causing hallucinations and other side effects which lead to his insanity.”[2]

The other thing in the story is the gothic romanticism. This comes with the gothic symbolization of the characters, the imagery used for Ligeia and the functioning abnormally of the protagonist. The abnormality begins with the love of the protagonist for Ligeia and its degree which made the protagonist insane when she was dead. Before that, the degree of love can be understood by the emphasis on the protagonist’s love. In the story, with “dreamed that I saw, fall within the goblet… three or four large drops of a brilliant and ruby colored fluid” the man thinks his wife, Ligeia, came to take the life of Rowena by poisoning her which is not known exactly it was done by the protagonist himself since he had taken opium seconds ago seeing poison drops in drink.

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[1] "Comparing Gothic Romanticism in The Fall of the House of Usher and Ligeia." 123HelpMe.com. 22 Dec 2007
http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=18789

[2] "Comparing Gothic Romanticism in The Fall of the House of Usher and Ligeia." 123HelpMe.com. 22 Dec 2007
http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=18789