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The problem of mental illnesses has accompanied mankind for centuries. Many generations of thinkers, philosophers, artists, and doctors were analyzing the impact of mental illness on the mind of a human being and its various dimensions – psychological and physical – repeatedly emphasizing the relationships between them. Many authors have tried to use this subject in their works. Edgar Allan Poe in his novels is often referring to various mental diseases. The characters in his novels tend to be psychotic and obsessive, and mental disorders are usually leading to tragedy in the end.
In the novel ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, the narrator is invited by his old friend Roderick Usher to visit him in his mansion. Roderick suffers from an unidentified illness, which probably has a psychological background. The illness is manifested by hypersensitivity, hypochondria, and serious anxiety. The disease slowly leads Roderick to madness. The narrator tries to help him as much as possible, but the man is convinced that this is a hereditary and incurable illness. Interestingly, the mental state of Roderick’s mind manifests itself in the appearance of the residence. Once it was a beautiful house of the Usher family, but now the place was in ruin, just like Roderick’s mental state. The same disease has probably affected the mind of his sister Madeline. Her mental state is described as “a settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character”. As the story progresses, we learn that Roderick has buried his own sister alive because he expected it to happen in the future. In this way, he created his own fulfilling prophecy. It was his mental illness that put him into such a tragic act.
Another good example of how mental illness can lead to tragedy is the story of Egaeus in the novel ‘Berenice’. The main character suffers from a very specific type of illness called ‘monomania’. Because of this illness, his mind is obsessively focusing on banal objects. Because of this condition, the main character becomes obsessed with the teeth of his beloved cousin Berenice. As the obsession grows stronger, he begins to fall into madness. He imagines himself holding the teeth in his hands and turning them around. This state lasts for several days and brings the hero to commit a terrible deed. At some point, a servant enters the room of Egaeus and informs him about the death and burial of Berenice. When consciousness comes back to Egaeus, he realizes what he has done. He notices spots of blood and mud on his clothes, then he opens a box containing dental tools and thirty-two tiny white objects that have crumbled on the floor. The full description is not given, but we can come to the conclusion that somehow Egaeus managed to dig her up and extract all of her teeth. The mental illness of the protagonist in this story is the most important theme leading the reader to this horrific finale.
The main character of the novel ‘The Black Cat’ also struggles with mental illness. It does not reveal itself from the beginning, but over time it becomes noticeable. The man who loves his wife and animals becomes cruel and mean. He also falls into alcoholism, which aggravates his disorder. Through his psychosis, he begins to hurt his wife mentally and physically. One night, for not entirely justified reasons, he picked an eye out of his cat. After what happened, he felt pangs of conscience and a feeling of regret, but it did not stop him from other atrocities. With time, he realized that what he did gave him pleasure. He wanted to experience it again, that's why he killed his cat by hanging him on a tree. In this way, he got rid of the animal, which he began to miss. However, the greatest tragedy comes later. In the spurt of anger, he kills his wife. It happened by an accident because his goal was a cat who had been taken in earlier. At this point, the disease completely dominated his mind. Instead of admitting to committing a crime and accepting punishment, he preferred to hide the body. Even during the investigation, he did not show any emotion that would indicate his guilt. In this way, mental illness radically changed a good and calm man into a cruel monster who was able to commit murder.
There can be no doubt that the theme of mental illness is very often used in novels written by Edgar Allan Poe. The characters in his books are usually very conflicted. They are struggling with mental diseases, but ultimately lose and the disease takes control of them. They allow horrible deeds that in normal circumstances would not happen. His novels are always ending bitterly or tragically.
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