The "Other" Women In Allan Poe' Short Stories

"Of about seventy stories he presented," Allan Poe,the 19th American writer, was once commented, " all were truthful records of his life experience or some special reflection of his mental activities while writing." A certain kind of autobiographical element was devoted to the images of Poe's stories which underlined the author's examination and imagination toward the universe and life. Text analysis reveals that, in some of his works, male narrators who are almost the writer himself are mostly portrayed in mourning the death of their lovers. And the female characters,on the other hand, become the mother or the wife of the writer himself. This distinctive function the female characters play in narration reveals Poe's multilevel imagination toward females. Through those women, we can probe into Poe's mysterious psychological world.With detailed analysis of Poe's typical novels such as The Oval Portrait Eleonora,Moreira Berenice and Ligeia, the thesis categorizes the female characters with different personalities into several types:obedience and silence of the wife in The Oval Portrait and Eleonora; rebellion and struggle of Moreira and Berenice; self and innocence of Ligeia. Feminist Theory adopted, the thesis analyses the similarities of those females and their striking features, explores the deep roots for the formation of those characters in the light of New Historism. Backed by evidence from the texts, the thesis helps us examine Poe's feminism more objectively and more truthfully.