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Ligeia (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

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The Narrator, a learned man enslaved to the memory of a woman whose powerful will once triumphed over death itself to return to him. Half insane through grief after Ligeia’s death, and addicted to opium, he nevertheless remarries. Forgetful of Ligeia for a month, he abandons himself to Lady Rowena; but memory returns, and love turns to hatred and loathing. He witnesses (or so he believes) the dropping of poison into some wine he gives Rowena when she is ill. After Rowena’s death, he is awed by the rising of her corpse, which he recognizes not as that of...

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