The ideal beauty in the 1800’s was pale, alabaster skin, and sickly thinness. In other words, to be beautiful, one had to resemble a walking, talking corpse. Poe used the connection between beauty and death and disease in many of his short stories, but most predominantly in “Ligeia” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. In these stories, Poe used the characters; Ligeia, Lady Rowena, and Lord Roderick Usher, to prove that the link between the beautiful and the sick was truly there.

          In the story “Ligeia” Poe went to great lengths to describe the exquisite beauty of the main character, Ligeia. Her beauty was, apparently, of the sort that “no maiden ever equaled” (2). And, true to the ideally pale skin, Ligeia was described as having “skin rivaling the purest ivory” (2). Anyone as pale as “marble” (2) is not healthy! Skin is not supposed to look anything like ivory or marble, until one is indisputably dead.

          And, as if to prove Poe’s beauty/death/disease idea, the narrator said, quite clearly, “Ligeia grew ill” (5). He spoke of Ligeia struggling with “grim Azrael” (5) and of the fact that he knew Ligeia would die. However, at the same time, the narrator continues to reiterate how beautiful she is, remarking, moments before her death, on her “white arms” (7). Without a doubt, in life, as in death, Ligeia was beautiful… For there was virtually no alteration in her appearance!

          But what of Lady Rowena? The narrator spoke of her as being “fair-haired and blue-eyed” (7), and it may be assumed that she was beautiful, though the narrator never clearly states his own opinion on the matter.

          However it is undeniable that the Lady Rowena was “attacked by a sudden illness” (9). The narrator mentions Rowena’s “emaciated countenance” (9), a by product of her disease, and by so doing, proving, at least, that she was ghastly thin. During Poe’s time period, much like today, thinness was a part of being beautiful. It was the fashion to waste away to nothing.  Lady Rowena’s malady was said to leave “a wanness even more than that of marble” (11). The beauty of Rowena shone through more predominantly, after she succumbed to the disease.

          Poe’s discovery of beauty in death and disease can be found in “Ligeia”, in the words he uses as descriptions, such as Ivory or marble. Using inanimate comparisons flaunted the connection between beauty and death, for neither ivory nor marble is living. It is also inarguable that both women were “taken out” by the same disease, Tuberculosis. In Poe’s day, it was commonly called the “White Plague”, because of the pallor it gave to its victims. Convenient for Poe, wouldn’t you say?

          While Poe did predominantly use disease to accentuate the beauty of women, he did not restrict himself to them. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe portrayed Roderick Usher as a beautiful, perhaps slightly feminine man, the Johnny Depp of the 1800’s.

          The narrator noticed that Roderick had a “miraculous luster of the eye” (17), or, in more plainer, simpler words, he had pretty eyes. The narrator then goes on to describe just about every beautiful aspect of Usher’s face, while continuously pointing out his “ghastly pallor of the skin” (17). Usher, himself, says he is “the hopeless and the frail” (129) Frailty was not a socially endearing quality for a man to possess in the 1800’s, for men were expected to be strong, authoritive figures. However, Ushers frailty, and feminine features, would have struck the readers, at that time, as being eloquently handsome.

          Anyone might jump to argue that Usher had merely a pretty face, and that that does not make him in any way ill. But Poe spoke of Ushers “cadaverousness of complexion” (17) and immediately follows it with describing his eyes as being “large, liquid and luminous beyond comparison” (17).  Speaking of some one as though they resemble a corpse does not convey the idea that they are even remotely healthy.  For when does one stroll down the street and think, of someone who is in perfect health “My, he does resemble the living dead!”? As with Ligeia and Lady Rowena, Poe used something inanimate and lifeless, in this case a cadaver, to point out the connection between beauty and death. This connection made, he goes on to point out how Usher’s pallor accentuated his eyes, making them seem larger and more “luminous” (17). If that is not enough to allay suspicions, Usher, himself, admitted to his having an “acute bodily illness” (15). The narrator, too, remarked that “his [Usher’s] countenance, convinced me of his perfect sincerity” (17) as to suffering from some malady or other.

          Did all three, Lord Usher, Lady Rowena and Ligeia. Suffer from the same disease? It is quite possible; for Poe seemed to base his stories on what he knew, giving everything a gothic twist. And in his time, Tuberculosis ran rampant, killing off thousands.  Whichever, there is no denying that Poe found a certain beauty in death and disease. Disturbing as it may sound, even in this day and age, this fascination continues. In the modeling world, models diet until they are ghastly thin, and even go a far as to have ribs and teeth removed to gain a more “emaciated countenance” (9). And this is considered beautiful. Perhaps Poe has had an even larger impact on society that any one person is willing to admit. For it was he who first brought to light the fantastic beauty of Death.