Psychology in Edgar Allan Poe’s Stories
The mind plays an integral role in the way people go about carrying out their duties as it controls all parts of the body. Before a person can move a hand, walk, or lift an object, some form of message is communicated by the brain to the part of the body that is expected to carry out an action. The action is therefore first conceived in the mind and then constructed as a message that is passed on to all body parts by the brain/. Because of the importance of the mind, researchers and philosophers have tried to develop some form of understanding to try and explain how the mind functions and what role it plays in the way people live their lives. Although the concept of psychology is in its early stages of development, it is a concept that has been discussed and examined by researchers throughout history, a good example being the case of Edgar Allan Poe. His stories can be seen as a depiction of his personal life and the challenges he faces in trying to understand how the human mind functions as well as the effect that the brain has on human behavior and this is evident in the stories ‘The Cast of Amontillado’, ‘The Black Cat’ and ‘Berenice’.
In his attempt to understand how the mind functions, Poe focuses on how people respond to various situations an example being how jealousy and pride are an outcome of revenge and this is evident in ‘The Cask of Amontillado’. In the story, the protagonist, Montresor, is so driven to enact vengeance against Fortunato that he does not even remember the specific reasons why he seeks vengeance. According to Poe, the mind greatly influences a person’s decisions and actions to the point where actions are undertaking without the individual knowing the why behind them. Once an idea has been conceived in the mind, there is a high likelihood that the mind will focus all energy towards making the idea a reality (Rahman 6). The concept of revenge is conceived in Montresor’s mind and, despite it being based on jealousy and pride, it is something that he feels he must accomplish. “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge’ (Poe 743). Despite having endured a lot from Fortunato, his mind views the insults as the last straw as it is interpreted as an attack to his pride because Fortunato views himself better than Montresor. This is especially because Montressor sees Fortunato as a snake that he (Montresor) can smash with his foot and is therefore beneath him (Poe 746). However, Poe manages to show the control that the brain has over humans because; while Montresor is determined to enact vengeance, he still cannot decide whether he is seeking it because he is jealous or because Fortunato insult is attack on his pride.
Poe further demonstrates the difficulty he sees in trying to understand the psychology of the human mind through the character Montresor in his quest for vengeance. Even though Fortunato has not harmed Montresor in any way, Montresor is determined to cause him harm in his quest for vengeance. He is however conflicted because, even after stating that Fortunato has hurt him, he still refers to him as a respectable person who is admired by many. He also feels guilty for wanting to cause Fortunato harm in the name of vengeance because he considers him to be Noble (Poe 748). Montresos’ actions are a description of Poe’s understanding of the mind which he considers to be perverse and not easily understood. Even when people know their actions are been controlled by the mind, it is still difficult to understand how exactly the mind works and dilemma it causes is what Poe tries to demonstrate through Montreor in the psychology behind his quest for vengeance.
Through his stories, Poe shows how psychology aimed at understanding the way the mind functions and its influence on our actions is made difficult by the brains tendency to forget, or pay little attention to some of the things we know or experience. In the story Berenice, Poe focuses on the issue of schizophrenia to demonstrate how memory problems can make it difficult for people to understand the psychology behind their actions (Palmadottir 14). This is evident through Egaeus, the protagonist in the short story who is unable to remember a great deal of events that occur in his life. A good example is the case where Egaeus pulls Berenice from the grave where she was buried and proceeds to take out her teeth (Griffin 14). Even though the act of removing the body from the grave and pulling out the teeth was an act processed by the mind, Egaeus cannot remember what he had done even when looking at the teeth and dentist tools. This can be seen as Poe’s way of explaining that understanding the psychology behind human’s actions is greatly challenged by the human mind’s tendency to forget or omit some information. Similar to how Egaeus forgets exhuming his wife’s body, Poe could also have reached a conclusion on how psychology can be used to explain and control human interaction but he forgot all about it.
Poe further believes that people can still carry out actions communicated through input from the brain even when they do not remember intentionally conceiving the idea that needs to be carried out. He demonstrates how people are creatures of habit and the mind has a way of taking this habits and interpreting them as acceptable actions that can be carried out even without the individual recalling ever conceiving the idea or desire to engage in such an act. When Egaeus exhumes his wife’s body, he cannot remember engaging in the act but is full of guilt as is evident from his bodily reactions. “The hairs on my head erect themselves on end, and the blood of my body become congealed with my veins” (Khaufold 46). Even though Egaeus does not recall what he did, his body continues to respond to the act, a demonstration of how the mind is more in control of the body than the individual. The involuntary act of the mind demonstrate how the mind relies on information generated from a person’s pattern of input and actions to a point where the mind can cause actions on its own in response to events that occur even without the person’s knowledge (Poe 5). In the case of Egaeus, his tendency to fixate on things like his wife’s teeth leads him to exhume her body to get them and since such an act is something he would not imagine doing, his mind blocks out the whole ordeal because the main focus was to get the teeth back as they are what Egaeus fixated on.
Poe’s belief that people have no control over what actions they undertake once an idea has been planted in their minds is seen in The Black Cat. In the story, Poe argues that it is rather difficult to resist from engaging in an action once the idea has been conceived in the mind (Robert 7). The story can also be seen as Poe’s frustration with not being able to fully understand the psychology behind the influence that the brain has on people’s actions which could be because he has already given in to the difficult nature of the task he has undertaken (Poe 4). He explains how someone can become frustrated if he fails to fulfill the impulses being communicated by the brain and how this can result to aggressiveness or anger. An example of this belief is when the main character’s wife stops him from killing the second cat. Since the character has already implanted the idea that he has to kill the cat, his wife’s interference fills him with rage to a point where he decides to kill his wife with an axe instead (Poe 4). His reactions can be seen as evidence of Poe’s belief that people are unable to pull away from an act once it has been conceived in the mind.
The Black Cat further adds on to Poe’s belief that people’s actions and thoughts create a record of input that the mind can act on even without the individual’s knowledge. At the beginning of the story, the main character is portrayed as a gentle and loving person who has a fondness for animals. His actions are however changed by the decisions he makes such as over indulgence in alcohol (Poe 3). His alcoholism causes the animals do avoid him and this turns him to violence as he takes out the anger on the cats (Reyes 1). Although his anger is towards animals, it teaches his mind that violence is acceptable and this makes it easier for him to kill his wife with an axe. His mind has become accustomed to killing that he does it without a second thought because this is the impulse he has fed his mind.
Conclusion
Like most researchers, the concept of psychology has proved quite challenging and the case of Poe is no different. The fact that psychology is something that has just begun to be understood proves that it was a concept that was challenging to philosophers like Poe during their time. This is evident in Poe’s short stories as is demonstrated through the characters. Montresor’s determination demonstrates Poe’s ambition to understand psychology even if he does not fully understand the drive behind his motivation. Egaeus further shows how this determination can become an addiction with both positive and negative outcomes. Finally, the main character in The Black Cat shows the effect that research into psychology had on Poe and how frustrating it may have been trying to understand the concept of psychology.
Work cited
Allan, Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado” Booklassic, 2015 print
Allan, Poe. “Berenice” Booklassic, 2015 print
Allan, Poe. “The Black Cat” Booklassic, 2015 print
Diyanni, Robert. “Literture: Reading fiction, poetry and drama” Hill Company: McGraw, 2008. Print
Guony, Palmadottir. “Obsession in Edgar Allan Poe’s Berenice and Ligeia” 2016, retrieved from, https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/24246/1/Sunna_Gudny_Palmadottir_BA- Essay_120175_3009.pdf
Kaufhold, John A. Neuroses of Edgar Allan Poe: A Fever Called Living. Place of publication not identified: iUniverse Com, 2008. Print.
Rivera, Reyes. “The Black Cat” 2018, retrieved from, https://www.academia.edu/22970374/The_black_cat
Shegufta, Rahman, “Significance of symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe’s selected works” 2015, retrieved from, http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10361/4984/Shegufta%20Rahman .pdf
