Gender Roles Edgar Allen Poe Essay

In the 1800s there was a widely accepted ideology of what characteristics made up a adult female and a man. The man was supposed to be reasonable, rational, and unaffected by his emotions. Women, on the other hand, were the exact opposite irrational and all told taken over by emotion. Poe did not necessarily reverse these roles in all of his works, but he definitely toyed with them, giving the majority of his characters the characteristics of some(prenominal) men and women of the clipping.In Poes Annabel Lee both the persona and his buff seem womanly, But we loved with a love that was more than a love- I and my Annabel Lee (lines 9-10). They are both overtaken by such an eager affection and love for one another that it is more than a love. This could repute that they worshipped or were even obsessed with each other. Such an big passion was naturally only seen in woman during this time. Also, the narrator blames the reverse of Annabel Lee on the angels, who were, not half so happy in Heaven and went envying her and me (21-22). Angels do not get jealous. This statement shows the immaturity of the narrator who, as a man, should be sophisticated in all of his ways. Towards the end of the poem another womanly characteristic arises in him, irrationality. Even afterward the death of Annabel Lee their souls are inseparable. His inability to let go leads the narrator to venture forth each night and sleep next to the woman he loves so dearly. In reality, no person of sound judicial decision would ever choose to sleep next to a rotting trunk night after night.In Ligeia Poe did indeed flip the roles of men and women. Although Ligeia does remove a placid cast of beauty and a certain smoothness in her voice, these seem to be her only womanly characteristics (pg. 644). She is not genuinely emotional in fact she is even described in the number one paragraph as having adapted to deaden impressions of the outside world. The only time she does show some sort of emotion is towards the end of her invigoration, when she wouldpour out before me the overflowings of a heart whose more than passionate devotion amounted to veneration (648). Up until now the only feelings that were evident were those of the narrator. Poe also makes clear Ligeias obvious intellectual dominance over her husband in the succeeding(a) line, I was sufficiently aware of her infinite supremacy to resign myself, with a childlike confidence, to her guidance through the chaotic world (pg. 647). This line is very(prenominal) important when discussing gender roles because not only does the narrator admire Ligeias immeasurable intelligence, but he looks up to her for guidance through life and the acquisition of knowledge, which is the opposite of a stereotypical marriage during the nineteenth century. He also describes himself as childish which carries along with it the connotation of immaturity and naivety, characteristics typical of women according to the society Poe li ved in.Although this paper only discusses two of Poes numerous literary works it is evident that his idea of what differentiates a woman from a man was skewed from that of society during the time period in which he lived. Women in Poes mind were sagacious, rational, and strong willed. Men, on the other hand, tended to be more womanly than the women, allowing themselves to be engulfed by their emotions and showing little to no rationality. Works CitedPoe, Edgar Allan. Annabel Lee. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th edition. Nina Baym, Robert S. Levine, Julia Reidhead, Carly Frasier Doria. Crawfordsville, IL W. W. Norton and Company, Inc, 2012. Print. Poe, Edgar Allan. Ligeia. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th edition. Nina Baym, Robert S. Levine, Julia Reidhead, Carly Frasier Doria. Crawfordsville, IL W. W. Norton and Company, Inc, 2012. Print.