An online dictionary defines mental illness as "any of various disorders in which a person's thoughts, emotions, or behavior are so abnormal that they cause suffering to himself... or to other people;" a second definition is “any of various psychiatric disorders or illnesses, usually characterized by impairment of thinking, mood, or behavior” (Thefreedictionary.com). In the story “Ligeia” by Edgar Allan Poe the narrator perfectly meets both of the above definitions. In Poe's story, the unnamed narrator's beautiful wife, Ligeia, lives with him a short time before she dies. After her death, the narrator remarries Rowena, who also eventually dies. At the conclusion of the story, his first, beloved wife returns to him through Rowena's body. In reality, however, Poe's story is very different from what it seems at first glance. The narrator, under the influence of opium, creates Ligeia in his mind and, when she “dies”, kills Rowena himself to bring his first wife back to life. In the article “Poe's Ethereal Ligeia,” Jack and June Davis describe “Ligeia” as the erroneous tale of a mad narrator who “knows Ligeia only through her opium hallucinations but who wants to present her as a real and believable person” (171) . . The narrator uses Ligeia to pursue the elusive secret of eternal life. When she dies, instead of giving up her quest, the narrator arranges for Rowena to present Ligeia with a corpse to return to; therefore, he commits murder to carry out his crazy plot. Since the narrator of Poe's story invents the existence of his first wife, uses her to pursue eternal life, and kills his second bride to bring Ligeia back, he can be classified as mentally deranged. The unreality of Ligeia is strong evidence of the instability... ... middle of paper ...... im. What the deranged narrator once perceived as a victory over death is actually nothing more than a drug-induced psychotic break. Works Cited Basler, Roy. "The interpretation of "Ligeia"." University English. 5.7 (1944): 363-372.Web. April 7, 2012.Basler, Roy, and James Schroeter. Poe's "Ligeia". PMLA. 77.5 (1962): 675. Web. April 9, 2012. Davis, Jack L., and June H. Davis. "Poe's Ethereal Ligeia." Bulletin of the RockyMountain Modern Language Association. 24.4 (1970): 170-176. Network. 9 April 2012.Espejo, Roman. Mental illness. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Print."Mental Illness - Definition." The free farlex dictionary. Farlex, Inc., 2011. Web. April 13, 2012. Rabkin, Leslie Y. Psychopathology and Literature. San Francisco, CA: ChandlerPublishing Company, 1966. Print.