Edgar Allan Poe: First Conspiracy Theorist or Drunk?

Cause Before Symptom - With Your Host James Carner

Show more

Edgar Allan Poe: First Conspiracy Theorist or Drunk?

Edgar Allan Poe born January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849 was an American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

EDGAR ALLAN POE has been more misunderstood than any other poet of the recent past. While his life was beautiful and inspired, yet aspersed, his last moments had more of sublimity than those of any of his contemporaries. Throughout his life, Edgar Allan Poe lost the women he loved, including his mother, adoptive mother and wife, many to tuberculosis. Their absence played a huge role in his writing. He married his 14 year old cousin and as offensive as the marriage may be to modern mores, it appears to have been motivated by Poe's understandable desire to unite what little family he had, while his aunt, Maria Clemm—Virginia's mother—consented to the union, and always lived with the couple afterward.

Netflix did a show called the fall of the house of usher which was inspired by Edgar’s book the raven. His story tells a tale of Uber wealthy families and their selling of their soul to the devil. The price they pay doesn’t compare to the huge amount of death that follows the familes’ fortunes. They lose their loved ones but at the cost of millions who fell victim to their fortune. The movie spins hope which isn’t included in the book, about one family member who ends up saving the lives of millions giving the impression that evil and good cancel each other out. I don’t buy it. Edgar was the first recorded conspiracy theorist trying to expose the royal family bloodlines through poetry and short stories. The masses were brainwashed through controlled publications and the only logical way to expose the evil corruption is through code.

Readers of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous prose and poetry might be unaware of how often he wrote about science. As John Tresch explains in “The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science,” in the late 1840s, near the end of his life, Poe had established for himself “a unique position as fiction writer, poet, critic, and expert on scientific matters – crossing paths with and learning from those who were producing the ‘apparent miracles’ of modern science.”

Poe exposed pseudoscientific hoaxes – and then, to get his own writing noticed, created them himself. He finally received critical acclaim for his now-classic short stories, among them “The Tell-Tale Heart” (which Tresch describes as “an act of violent irrationality [detailed] in the language of scientific method”) and “The Raven” (which Poe himself proclaimed “the greatest poem that ever was written”). Tresch has painted a full landscape of the journalism of the time, describing the conflicts between writers who made serious scientific observations and those eager to sensationalize or misrepresent new discoveries. “Poe saw his age’s many humbugs and its ‘men of science’ pushing for foolproof forms of scientific authority as secret partners,” writes Tresch. “Together they were establishing the modern matrix of entertainment and science, doubt and certainty. Those who successfully denounced the tricks of charlatans were precisely those with the skills to make themselves believed.”

Speculation and controversy were rife in the press. “In the 1830s and 1840s, the lines between legitimate science, political provocation, and crowd-pleasing quackery were exceedingly difficult to define,” he writes. His descriptions of the way the popular press blended news, entertainment, and hype will remind readers of the media landscape of present-day America, though Tresch himself refrains from explicit comparisons. Poe was also deeply interested in formulating theories about the origins of the universe and the nature of God. Near the end of his life, he wrote a philosophical-scientific treatise called “Eureka,” which has, for reasons that Tresch makes clear, fallen into obscurity. Poe boasted to a friend that “Eureka” was destined to “revolutionize the world of Physical & Metaphysical Science,” but the result was something more confusing than revolutionary. The biographer labels it “a serious mess, a glorious mess, but a mess.”

Despite his success, Poe succumbed to the “perversity” that he believed was built into human nature: When the going got good, he began to sabotage himself. “One of the searing ironies of Poe’s life,” writes Tresch, “was that during this rise to fame, as he developed an ideal of the quasi-omniscient author in total control of the creative process, his life was falling apart – his career, his relationships, and his very mind – a victim of bad luck, alcohol, and self-sabotage.” In the end, the telltale heart of “The Reason for the Darkness of the Night” is this: “Poe’s fantastic tales, detective stories, and nonfiction writings dramatized the act of inquiry and the struggles, fears, hopes, and delusions of the human being undertaking it. His ... search for hidden causes places him at the center of the maelstrom of American science in the first half of the nineteenth century.” Tresch has produced a steady, clever, engaging literary biography that provides an excellent survey of an overlooked aspect of Poe’s writing.

Poe was a warning to all nations about the hidden elite, their pacts with the devil and what their true intentions are. To steal, kill and destroy everything in their path for profit. The love of money is the root of all evil and those that partake become murderers. Not only was Poe a gifted writer, his heart was to expose evil and through wisdom has continued to show the true intent of corporations and countries and their pursuit for world domination and everlasting life in human form to keep their riches.

Theories abound about Poe’s death, but there has yet to be one that proves definitive—a fittingly mysterious end for the master of mystery.

No subject regarding Edgar Allan Poe ignites as much controversy as his sudden death at the age of forty, which remains shrouded in mystery. What we know is that Poe planned trip from Richmond, Virginia to New York City, during which he traveled by steamer and stopped in Baltimore on September 28, 1849. His actions and whereabouts throughout the next five days are uncertain.

Was Alcohol Involved?

On October 3, 1849, printer Joseph Walker found Poe inside or near Gunner's Hall tavern, and sent a note for J.E. Snodgrass, one of Poe’s acquaintances in Baltimore. Walker described Poe as appearing in "great distress.” 

Snodgrass noted that the clothes Poe wore looked disheveled and out of place: "he had evidently been robbed of his [own] clothing or cheated in an exchange." Snodgrass and his uncle, Henry Herring, both presumed that Poe was in a drunken state and agreed to send him to Washington College Hospital. Once there, Poe was taken to a room reserved for patients who were ill due to intoxication.

Poe lapsed in and out of consciousness for the next few days, and according to Dr. John J. Moran, who questioned Poe about his condition, Poe's answers were incoherent and unsatisfactory. Moran also prevented visitors due to Poe’s “excitable” condition. 

Moran later noted in a letter to Maria Clemm, Poe’s mother-in-law, that during a period of consciousness, Poe held "vacant converse with spectral and imaginary objects on the walls. His face was pale and his whole person drenched in perspiration." Poe died quietly before sunrise on Sunday, October 7, 1849.

It may be logical to assume that alcohol played a role in Poe's death, given that it intermittently surfaced as a negative influence during his adult life. But how does it explain why Poe was wearing somebody else's clothes? Nor does it provide any insight into the circumstances that caused him to be found in such an unfortunate state.

Was Poe a Victim of Cooping?

One of the most popular theories about Poe’s death stems from the fact that Poe was found on Election Day, and Gunner’s Hall was a polling location. It is possible that on that day, Poe fell victim to cooping, a common method of voter fraud in the 19th century. Cooping victims were kidnapped, drugged or forced to drink, and disguised several times in order to cast several votes. Others have suggested that perhaps Poe was beaten and robbed, or even that he contracted rabies.

Theories abound about Poe’s death, but there has yet to be one that proves definitive—a fittingly mysterious end for the master of mystery.

A Deeper Dive into Poe's Hidden Meanings
While Edgar Allan Poe's works often explored dark and mysterious themes, the specific interpretation of "hidden meanings" is subjective and open to various interpretations.

Many scholars and readers have analyzed Poe's work to uncover deeper meanings related to:

* Psychological exploration: Poe often delved into the depths of the human psyche, exploring themes of madness,guilt, and the fear of death. His characters often represent aspects of the human condition, such as the struggle between reason and emotion.
* Social commentary: Some argue that Poe's works contain subtle social commentary, reflecting the anxieties and fears of his time. For example, "The Tell-Tale Heart" might be seen as a critique of the oppressive nature of guilt and conscience.
* Gothic elements: Poe's stories often employ Gothic elements, such as haunted houses, supernatural beings, and a sense of impending doom. These elements can be interpreted as symbols of the unknown, the irrational, and the forces that threaten our sense of order.
* Existential themes: Poe's work often grapples with existential questions about the meaning of life, death, and the nature of reality. His stories can be seen as explorations of the human condition and our search for meaning in a seemingly meaningless universe.

It's important to note that these interpretations are not definitive and can vary depending on the reader's perspective and understanding of Poe's work. Many of Poe's stories can be interpreted in multiple ways, and the "hidden meanings" are often left up to the reader to discover.

Here are some examples of how different readers might interpret Poe's work:

* "The Raven": Some interpret this poem as a metaphor for the loss of a loved one and the speaker's descent into madness. Others see it as a commentary on the limitations of human knowledge and understanding.
* "The Tell-Tale Heart": Some interpret this story as a psychological exploration of guilt and paranoia. Others see it as a critique of the oppressive nature of conscience.
* "The Fall of the House of Usher": Some interpret this story as a metaphor for the decline of a family, society, or civilization. Others see it as an exploration of the power of the imagination and the mind's ability to create its own reality.

Ultimately, the interpretation of hidden meanings in Poe's work is a personal journey that can lead to a deeper understanding of both the author and the stories themselves.

It's likely that Edgar Allan Poe made some people angry during his lifetime. His works often explored dark and controversial themes, and his personal life was marked by controversy and scandal.

Here are some possible reasons why Poe might have made people angry:

* His controversial themes: Some of Poe's stories and poems dealt with taboo subjects, such as death, madness, and the supernatural. These themes could have been offensive to some readers and critics.
* His personal life: Poe's personal life was marked by controversy and scandal, including his battles with addiction and his involvement in a plagiarism scandal. These controversies may have alienated some people.
* His criticism of society: Some of Poe's works contained subtle or overt criticism of society. For example, his story "The Tell-Tale Heart" can be seen as a critique of the oppressive nature of guilt and conscience.

He struggled financially throughout most of his life. His income was primarily derived from writing, and he often had difficulty making ends meet. He frequently relied on loans and advances from publishers to survive.

Edgar Allan Poe's political affiliations were complex and not always consistent. While he was often associated with the Whig party, particularly during his early years, his views were not always aligned with the party's platform.  

Some scholars suggest that Poe's political views were more nuanced and that he may have held anti-democratic, anti-Jacksonian, and even proslavery sentiments. However, these interpretations are often based on limited evidence and can be debated.  

Ultimately, Poe's political views remain a subject of scholarly debate, and there is no definitive consensus on his affiliation. His work, however, provides some clues about his thoughts on society, politics, and human nature.

Based on the limited information available about Edgar Allan Poe's political views, it's difficult to say definitively what he believed in. However, some scholars suggest that he may have held the following beliefs:

* Anti-democratic: Poe's work often expressed a distrust of democracy and a preference for a more hierarchical social order.
* Anti-Jacksonian: Poe may have been opposed to the policies of Andrew Jackson, a populist Democrat who was president during Poe's lifetime.
* Proslavery: While there is no explicit evidence of Poe's support for slavery, some scholars have suggested that his views may have been influenced by the prevailing attitudes of his time and region.

Edgar Allan Poe's work explores a wide range of themes, but some recurring motifs include:
* Death and loss: Many of Poe's works deal with the themes of death and loss, often exploring the psychological impact of these events on individuals.
* Madness and the supernatural: Poe's stories often delve into the realms of madness and the supernatural,exploring the boundaries between reality and the unknown.
* The macabre and the grotesque: Poe's work is often characterized by its macabre and grotesque imagery, which can be unsettling and disturbing.
* The human psyche: Poe was deeply interested in the human psyche and often explored the darker aspects of human nature, such as guilt, fear, and obsession.
* The limitations of human knowledge and understanding: Many of Poe's works explore the limitations of human knowledge and understanding, suggesting that there are aspects of the world that we cannot fully comprehend.

It's difficult to say definitively what Poe was trying to achieve with his work. However, it's clear that he was interested in exploring the darker side of the human experience and challenging traditional notions of reality. His stories often raise profound questions about the nature of existence, the human psyche, and the limitations of human knowledge.

A Deep Dive into Poe's Cryptic Codes
While there's no definitive evidence of a hidden government or societal code within Poe's writings, his works do contain complex linguistic patterns and symbolic imagery that can be interpreted in various ways.
Poe was a master of language, and his works often demonstrate a deep understanding of literary devices and techniques.These include:
* Symbolism: Poe frequently employs symbolic imagery to represent deeper meanings. For example, the raven in his poem of the same name can be interpreted as a symbol of loss, grief, and the irrational.
* Alliteration and assonance: Poe's use of alliteration and assonance creates a musical and rhythmic quality to his writing, often enhancing the emotional impact of his poems.
* Repetition: Poe often repeats words, phrases, or images, creating a sense of emphasis and reinforcing key themes.

While these linguistic patterns can be interpreted in various ways, there's no clear evidence that they constitute a hidden code related to government or societal structures. Poe's works are primarily focused on exploring the human psyche and the supernatural, rather than on conveying secret messages or exposing hidden agendas.

It's important to note that while there are no definitive codes within Poe's writings, his work has been the subject of much speculation and analysis. Some readers have proposed that Poe may have hidden secret messages or ciphers within his works, but these claims have not been substantiated.

While Poe's writings contain complex linguistic patterns and symbolic imagery, there's no clear evidence of a hidden government or societal code. His works are primarily focused on exploring the human psyche and the supernatural, and any interpretations of hidden meanings are speculative.

Conspiracy theorists often interpret Edgar Allan Poe's work as a series of coded messages or warnings about secret societies, hidden agendas, or government conspiracies. They may point to specific passages or symbols in his stories and poems as evidence of his involvement in or knowledge of these secret plots.

Some common conspiracy theories related to Poe include:

* Secret societies: Some theorists believe that Poe was a member of or had knowledge of secret societies like the Freemasons or the Illuminati. They may cite references to secret symbols or rituals in his work as evidence.
* Hidden messages: Conspiracy theorists often claim that Poe's work contains hidden messages or ciphers that reveal secret information about government conspiracies or the true nature of reality.
* Government involvement: Some theorists believe that Poe was involved in or had knowledge of government conspiracies, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. They may point to specific references in his work as evidence.

It's important to note that these are just a few examples of conspiracy theories related to Edgar Allan Poe, and there are many other variations. These theories are often based on speculative interpretations of Poe's work and have not been substantiated by any credible evidence.

Here are a few examples of conspiracy theories related to Edgar Allan Poe:

1. Illuminati Connection: Some theorists believe that Poe was a member of the Illuminati, a secret society that allegedly controls world events. They point to references to secret symbols and rituals in his work as evidence.
2. Hidden Messages: Conspiracy theorists often claim that Poe's work contains hidden messages or ciphers that reveal secret information about government conspiracies or the true nature of reality. For example, some believe that the poem "The Raven" contains a hidden code that references the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
3. Government Involvement: Some theorists believe that Poe was involved in or had knowledge of government conspiracies, such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. They may point to specific references in his work, such as the mention of a "secret service" in the story "The Tell-Tale Heart," as evidence.
4. Time Traveler: A more outlandish theory suggests that Poe was a time traveler from the future who was sent back to the past to warn people about future events. They point to references to advanced technology or unusual events in his work as evidence.

Here are a few famous quotes from Edgar Allan Poe:

* "I am an artist. I am not a politician."
* "I am a man of paradoxes."
* "Beauty is the province of the soul."
* "The only true paradise is the one we make for ourselves."
* "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
* "I am a man of mystery."
* "I am a man of contradictions."
* "I am a man of sorrows."
* "I am a man of many faces."
* "I am a man of many names."
* “Believe nothing of what you read and only half of what you see”

Did Edgar Allan Poe have the power to travel through time. It’s not just the well-known circumstances of his life—orphaned at birth, father of the mystery novel, master of cryptology, maestro of the macabre. Nor am I referring to the head-scratching details of his death, how he was found in a gutter wearing someone else’s clothes, babbling incoherently about an unidentified man named “Reynolds.” And I won’t even get into the confounding reports of a nameless figure who, for seven decades, would show up to Poe’s gravesite on the early hours of his birthday, dressed in black with a glass of cognac and three roses.

Curious and tragic, yes, but hardly evidence that the acclaimed horror writer could transcend the limits of space and time. No, my time travel theory concerns the author’s creative output, which you’ll soon see, is so flukishly prophetic as to make my outlandish claim seem plausible—nay, probable!

The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is a loosely linked map of flesh-eating floaters, crunched skull-survivors, and primordial particles. OK, here we go…

Written in 1837, Poe’s only completed novel details a mutiny on a whaling ship lost at sea. Out of supplies, the men revert to cannibalism, drawing straws to elect a sacrifice. A boy named Richard Parker draws the shortest straw and is subsequently eaten.

Now here’s where it gets weird(er): In 1884, forty-six years later after the novel’s publication, four men would be set adrift following the sinking of their yacht. Shipwrecked and without food, they too would go the survival cannibalism route, electing to kill and eat a 17-year-old cabin boy. The boy’s name: Richard Parker.

The extraordinary parallel went unnoticed for nearly a century, until a widely-circulated letter from a descendant of the real Parker outlined the similarities between the novel’s scene and the actual event. The letter was selected for publication in The Sunday Times after the journalist Arthur Koestler put out a call for tales of “striking coincidence.” Striking indeed…

In 1848, a railroad worker named Phineas Gage suffered a traumatic brain injury after taking an iron spike through the skull. Somehow he survived, though his personality would change drastically. These behavioral changes were closely studied, allowing the medical community to develop the first understanding of the role played by the frontal lobe on social cognition.

Except for Poe, who’d inexplicably understood the profound personality changes caused by frontal lobe syndrome for nearly a decade. In 1840, he penned a characteristically gruesome story called “The Businessman” about an unnamed narrator who suffers a traumatic head injury as a young boy, leading to a life of obsessive regularity and violent, sociopathic outbursts.

Poe’s grasp of frontal lobe syndrome is so precise that neurologist Eric Altshuler writes, “There’s a dozen symptoms and he knows every single one…There’s everything in that story, we’ve hardly learned anything more.” Altshuler, who, to reiterate, is a medically-licensed neurologist and not at all a crackpot, goes on to say, “It’s so exact that it’s just weird, it’s like he had a time machine.”

Still unconvinced? What if I told you that Poe predicted the origins of the universe eighty years before modern science would begin to formulate the Big Bang theory? Surely, an amateur stargazer with no formal training in cosmology could not accurately describe the machinery of the universe, rejecting widely-held inaccuracies while solving a theoretical paradox that had bewildered astronomers since Kepler. Except that’s exactly what he happened.

The prophetic vision came in the form of Eureka, a 150-page prose poem critically panned for its complexity and regarded by many as the work of a madman. Written in the final year of the author’s life, Eureka describes an expanding universe that began in “one instantaneous flash” derived from a single “primordial particle.”

Poe goes on to put forth the first legitimate solution Olber’s paradox—the question of why, given the vast number of stars in the universe, the night sky is dark—by explaining that light from the expanding universe had not yet reached our solar system. When Edward Robert Harrison published Darkness at Night in 1987, he credited Eureka as having anticipated his findings.

In an interview with Nautilus, Italian astronomer Alberto Cappi speaks of Poe’s prescience, admitting, “It’s surprising that Poe arrived at his dynamically evolving universe, because there was no observational or theoretical evidence suggesting such a possibility. No astronomer in Poe’s day could imagine a non-static universe.”

But what if Poe wasn’t of a day at all, but of of all the days? What if his written prophecies—on the cannibalistic demise of Richard Parker, the symptoms of frontal lobe syndrome, and the Big Bang—were merely reportage from his journey through the extratemporal continuum?

Surely I sound like a tin-foil capped loon, but maybe, maybe, there are many more prophecies scattered throughout the author’s work, a possibility made all the more likely by the fact that, as The New York Times notes, “Poe was so undervalued for so long, there is not a lot of Poe-related material around.”

Was he a Freemason?

Edgar Allan Poe's relationship with Freemasonry is somewhat complex and has been the subject of speculation. While he is known to have had some connections to Masonic circles through his family and acquaintances, there is no definitive evidence that he was openly opposed to Freemasonry as an institution.

Reasons for Speculated Opposition:

1. Personal Experiences: Poe had a tumultuous life filled with personal and professional struggles, including financial instability and conflicts with other writers and editors. Some biographers suggest that his negative experiences with certain individuals who were Masons may have colored his views.
2. Literary Critique: In some of his works, Poe critiques institutions and social structures, which could extend to organizations like the Freemasons. His views on secret societies may reflect a broader skepticism about the influence of such groups on society.
3. Themes of Isolation: Much of Poe's writing explores themes of isolation and alienation, which could be interpreted as a critique of exclusive social organizations, including the Masons. His characters often grapple with feelings of being outsiders, which might resonate with his views on such groups.
4. Masonic Symbolism in His Work: Some scholars argue that Poe’s use of Masonic symbols and themes in his stories could indicate a fascination with or critique of the organization rather than outright opposition. This duality complicates the interpretation of his stance.

In summary, while there are indications that Poe may have had a complicated relationship with Freemasonry, there is no clear evidence that he was explicitly opposed to it. Much of what is suggested is based on interpretation of his life experiences and literary themes rather than documented opposition.

Poe wasn’t opposed to Freemasonry. As a social fraternity, he did reference it - famously - in The Cask of Amontillado, which was written only 3 years before his untimely death.

There was a political movement - the Anti-Masonic party - that was “sort-of” active during his lifetime, but he wasn’t ever listed as being part of it, nor was he particularly political.
There’s no record of Poe ever joining - or even applying to - the fraternity. Interestingly, though, conspiracy nutbags seem to like to tell a story about Poe being rejected for membership because he was a drunk.

That’s not really a reason for rejection.
Destitution, on the other hand, is - and history indicates that Poe was the first writer to ever make a living solely as a writer. He was a poet. As a writer who makes his money as a writer, I can tell you that being a poet isn’t the best choice if a writer is shooting for anything even close to solvency. If a man is going to end up being a burden on the Lodge, then he is usually politely told that he was rejected for membership.

But, again, there’s no record of Poe being rejected for membership.

Edgar Allan Poe vigorously denounced the Jeffersonian ideal of democracy. He had no sympathy with abstract political notions such as those which had produced liberal republican theory in America and elsewhere. Like Edmund Burke, Poe was highly suspicious of the “well-constructed Republic.”

In 1839, for example, the editor Rufus Griswold, who would later feature as perhaps Poe's most famous enemy, and New England poet Park Benjamin revolutionized American periodicals by launching cheap literary magazines, the Brother Jonathan and New World.

But was he the first conspiracy theorist? Maybe we can find some clues here.

Poe's Argument against Utopia

Introduction

Poe's reaction to perfectibility theory reflects predilections deeper than just an intellectual stance. Because of his psychic drive toward self-alienation, he mistrusted on an instinctual level all forms of society. This bias manifested itself variously, from his well-documented dislike of politicians to the abundance of misanthropes scattered through his fiction. For example, the narrator in “The Man of the Crowd” dismisses with almost a sneer the mania of his subject, suggesting a moral in keeping with the tale's motto by La Bruyère: “Ce grand malheur, de ne pouvoir être seul.”(1) Consequently, Poe could not agree with philosophers such as Condorcet because they dealt with civilization, whereas he would rather ignore society and instead analyze the relationship between man and universe.
One aspect of Poe's social reticence evident in his [page 39:] writings is a counter-utopian element. He pursues similar themes in three short stories: “The Devil in the Belfry,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether.” All three works present an enclosed society, seemingly- utopian in character, but each is doomed by some inherent fallacy.(2) As Hawthorne tried to do in The Blithedale Romance, Poe may have intended to comment on the social experiments of his day. Undoubtedly Poe opposed such communities. In his 1845 response to the review of The “Raven” and Other Poems in The Harbinger, Poe labeled the editors, who were associated with Brook Farm, as “respectable Crazy-ites.” He dismissed the reviewer's comments as “all leather and prunella,” hoping “that, in future, ‘The Snook Farm Phalanx’ will never have any opinion of us at all.”(3) Although his quarrel concerned literary matters, Poe's tone indicates that his dissatisfaction had a more fundamental basis — so deep-rooted that he could never agree with any conclusion drawn from such an experimental culture.

Here, though, one critical difficulty arises: Poe's perfectionists probably would have disapproved of utopian communities. For example, Priestley believed that rapid [page 40:] change would achieve little lasting affect.(4) Also, perfectibility theory predicts large-scale social improvements. For proof the perfectionists analyzed the rise and fall of major civilizations throughout history; projects of the size of a Brook Farm or Fruitlands would be beneath their notice. Condorcet envisioned that the political advances in revolutionary France would affect the world.(5)

On the other hand, nineteenth-century utopian communities for the most part retreated from the main current of American history. Thus, to perfectionist theory these communities would represent only isolated, insignificant variations that ultimately failed to promote the general condition of the human race.

Nonetheless, Poe's treatment of utopias in his fiction has partial origins in his views on perfectibility. In one sense, the societies in “The Devil in the Belfry,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” demonstrate at least one aspect of perfection in microcosm. Using both comic and Gothic motifs, Poe traces an ironic downfall in each case — a degeneration based upon the principle he elaborated in Eureka: “In the Original Unity of the First Thing lies the Secondary Cause of All Things, with [page 41:]the Germ of their Inevitable Annihilation.”(6)

As the beauty of the universe must end in-nothingness, so societies — regardless of how perfect in conception — must eventually fail: moreover, the cause of their destruction will be internally spawned. Thus, in exposing the imperfections of small-scale cultures, Poe demonstrates the pitfalls for larger civilizations Likewise, since utopians pretend to goals similar to those of the perfectionists, Poe's fictional treatment of one has implications for the other. In essence, then, perfectibility theory flounders because all things, including perfection, cannot be sustained. Even if the “rapt day-dreams of De Staël” become reality, they would be short-lived and, consequently, meaningless. For Poe, civilization always returns to some previous wretched point-in the cycle of history.

“The Devil in the Belfry”

In his comic tale “The Devil in the Belfry” Poe attacks utopia's delicate balance. The community of Vondervotteimittis incorporates various social infrastructures that make it appear ideal. Its demography has a mathematical regularity. In a “perfectly circular valley,” sixty dwellings are equally interspaced along a quarter-mile circumference that defines the town's border. Each home lies sixty yards from the center of [page 42:] the circle. The repetition of the number sixty implies minutes and seconds, suggesting that one important symbol in the story will be time.

Vondervotteimittis itself seems laid out according to an algebraic formula in which time is a key variable. Poe supports this theme by placing “a circular path, a sun-dial, and twenty-four cabbages” — obviously alluding to the number of hours in a day — in each domestic garden.(7)

Poe follows the clock-like precision of the town's layout with other uniformities. For example “[t]he buildings themselves are so precisely alike, that one in no manner be distinguished from the other.”(8) Constructed of red bricks with black ends, the outside walls resemble “chess-boards] upon a great scale.” Poe continues the geometric pattern inside each dwelling with square-tiled floors. All objects — indoors and out — seem positioned to fulfill some role in perpetuating the town's limited perspectives and purpose.(9)

Perhaps proposing in jest a relationship between [page 43:] physical stature and moral character, Poe inflates the girth of the town's citizens: in each home all are corpulent, from the head of the house to the tabby cat. In fact, the higher a villager's social status, the facter he will become. Above the average citizen are the members of the “Town-Council [who] are all very little, round, oily, intelligent men, with big saucer eyes and fat double chins.”(10) The most exalted official of the town is the belfry-man, whose “stomach [is] very far bigger — than those of any other old gentlemen in the village; and as to his chin, it is not only double, but triple. “(11)
The belfry-man's function is to tend the great clock located atop the council building in the center of the village. The clock's seven faces indicate the seven days of the week.(12) In the memory of the oldest inhabitant of the town, the clock has never malfunctioned, nor has anything changed in vondervotteimittis. This stagnation owes itself to the town philosophy, articulated in the council's three resolutions:

“That it is wrong to alter the good old course of things:” [sic]
“That there is nothing tolerable out of Vondervotteimittis:” [page 44:]
and —
“That we will stick by our clocks and our cabbages.”(13)

The narrator of the tale claims that the Dutch borough was once “the finest place in the world.” It has all the earmarks of the ideal: it is isolated from the terrors of the rest of civilization; it has physical and social structures that are intricately balanced, and its citizens are content with their condition. The philosophy of intransigence dooms the town, however. Anything from the outside world — that is, anything new — must disrupt the social machinery. Consequently, when a devilish-looking man invades the town from the east, attacks the clock keeper and causes the perfect clock to strike thirteen at noon, public harmony irrevocably shatters.(14)
Critical interpretation of the tale reveals several facets of Poe's quarrel with the perfectionists. Whereas Condorcet believed that no limitations existed for the perfectibility of man, Poe saw boundaries in such perfection, characterizing them as anti-intellectual, artistically confining and morally stagnant. He based this assessment on the notion that social perfection entails a fixed social order. Poe regarded this balance as being so precarious that no growth can be permitted, for any new idea would tilt the scales of [page 45:] public harmony. No society can exist free from outside influences, however. Even if the perfectionists achieved their ideals on a planetary scale, Poe would still argue that external forces could upset civilization. In “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion,” for example, a cosmological cataclysm intervenes into the affairs of men, as a comet destroys the earth. Thus, in describing Vondervotteimittis, Poe projects his conception of the logical consequence of human progress theory: by exposing the town's internal flaw, he demonstrates allegorically the fallacies contained in perfectionist assumptions.

“The Masque of the Red Death”

Prospero's world in “The Masque of the Red Death” bears striking similarities to Vondervotteimittis. Both cultures pursue voluntary isolation from the outside world. Both have an omnipresent enemy. To defend against this antagonist, each constructs a philosophy in which alienation becomes a virtue. As a physical and intellectual defense mechanism, though, alienation fails, for its practical foundation is unsubstantial. In adopting such a tenuous belief, then, the two societies in effect promote their own dissolution, especially in light of the stealth and inexorableness of their chosen enemies. [page 46:]

Prospero's enemy is death.(15) His foe assumes death's most extreme form, a plague that claims its victims with the rapidity of wildfire. Characterized by intense pain, nausea and epidermal bleeding, the “Red Death” has already claimed half the kingdom's population as the tale opens. In confining himself and a thousand followers “to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys,” Prospero flees on a literal level from horrible death, but on a symbolic one he tries to escape all death, suggesting a desire to live forever.(16) Interestingly, in his writings on human progress, Condorcet courts the same notions in his discussion on the advances of medicine:
Organic perfectibility or deterioration among the various strains in the vegetable and animal kingdom can be regarded as one of the general laws of nature. This law also applies to the human race. No one can doubt that, as preventive medicine improves and food and housing become healthier, as a way of life is established that develops our physical powers by exercise without ruining them by excess, as the two most virulent causes of deterioration, misery and excessive wealth, are eliminated, the average length of human life will be increased and a better health and a stronger physical constitution will be ensured. The improvement of medical practice, which will become more [page 47:] efficacious with the progress of reason and of the social order, will mean the end of infectious and hereditary diseases and illnesses brought on by climate, food or working conditions. It is reasonable to hope that all other diseases may likewise disappear as their distant causes are discovered. ...

So, in the example under consideration, we are bound to believe that the average length of human life will forever increase unless this is prevented by physical revolutions; we do not even know what the limit is which it can never exceed. We cannot tell even whether the general laws of nature have determined such a limit or not.(17)

Although he did not target the French philosopher's views specifically in the tale, the similarity between Poe's reaction to perfectibility and the moral of “Masque” demonstrates the remarkable consistency of his intellectual stance with his artistry.

Unlike Vondervotteimittis's geological barricade, Prospero protects himself with man-made structures: high walls, iron gates and welded entrances. He adopts a philosophy, though, that resemble's the town council's resolution:

... With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the “Red Death.”(18)

The resemblance between the societies in “Masque” and [page 48:] “Belfry” continues in Poe's use of time symbolism. Both cultures are mesmerized by the chiming of a clock.(19) The inhabitants of Prospero's palance fall hourly into catatonic trances: “And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commensed the sounding of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before.”(20)

Although Vondervotteimittis's great clock had seven faces to ensure that no villager could escape its influence, the chimes of Prospero's clock pervade seven rooms. The significance of the number sevenbecomes apparent in Poe's imaginative panorama of the abbatial floor plan. Critics have maintained that each chamber represents a chronological life-stage.(21) The seventh compartment is decorated in red and black — obviously symbolic of death. Although the other chambers are well-occupied, few people stray into the last room — in fact, on the fatal day of the masquerade, the cell is uninhabited, as if man was not meant to enter voluntarily. [page 49:]

When the grisly apparition of the Red Death materializes, Prospero pursues it from the .first room through to the sixth. On the threshold of the last, death claims the prince. Symbolically, therefore, the universe limits man's development as a species to the sixth stage of life. Correspondingly, Poe mentions that Prospero schedules the masquerade “five or six months after his seclusion,” indicating that the self-imprisoned society could not last a seventh month.(22)

As Poe uses them, the numbers six and sevensuggest biblical associations. The week symbolically represented by time elements in “Belfry” becomes in “Masque” the biblical week of creation. Traditional interpretation of Genesis ascribes denotations of perfection to seven. Because he was created on the sixth day, man perpetually lies one step short of that perfection. For Prospero, then, his human limitations dictate that his corporeal existence cannot enter death's room. Implicitly, Poe suggests that man's only chance for perfectibility is in death.
Prospero fears death, however. He creates a superficial utopia to stave it off, yet his bizarre imagination designs the stimulus to his destruction — the macabre chamber in which the Red Death conquers.

In his attempt to lock death outside his world, Prospero only accentuates its effects, for the inhabitants [page 50:] take painful note of each hour's passing.(23) In the enclosed utopia a horrible death becomes more horrible. Whereas the external world has resolved itself to the presence of the Red Death, Prospero's society believes that the disease no longer poses a threat; so when the final cataclysm befalls, three more psychological effects augment the already grisly list of symptoms: surprise, panic and astonishment. Also, in the barricaded castle the malady infects all, an attrition rate twice that experienced by the external world. By its own design, therefore, Prospero's carefully architected universe collapses ironically from within.

“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”

“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” touches upon the connection between social progress and cultural order. The first of two utopian societies described by Poe in the tale can be observed in the principles behind the “soothing system” as elaborated by Monsieur Maillard, who stresses the liberty permitted the psychiatric patients under such treatment methods.(24) The ideal humanity that underlies the soothing system inspires admiration in the dim-witted narrator, so much [page 51:] so that he feels compelled to visit the institution when in the vicinity. Upon arriving, he discovers that the most progressive program of dealing with the insane in the country has been dismantled; later he learns that the beneficiaries of the system — the inmates — had taken advantage of the permissive atmosphere by revolting against their benefactors.(25)

Given that he chose to locate the asylum in France, Poe may have intended to analyze by allegory why the ancien regime failed. Many historians in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries suggest that one cause for the French Revolution was the monarchy's attempt to promote public welfare: with each small success, popular expectations of the government rose — eventually so fast that Louis XVI could not keep up with demands, thereby instigating the revolution in 1789.(26) In “Tarr and Fether” these reforms in pre-revolutionary France become the soothing system. In context of Poe's political conservatism, the soothing system must fail — as did the ancien regime — because it grants too much freedom to the “mob.”(27) Without adequate authority society falls [page 52:]victim to the unscrupulous. Thus, for Poe altruism by authority only results in social disorder.

Poe continues the French Revolution allegory with Monsieur Maillard's mad reign of the Maison de Santé. The lunacy of Maillard's anarchic society burlesques Robespiere's Reign of Terror. Even the guillotine has a fictional equivalent in the tarring and feathering of the keepers. At the dinner table each inmate pursues to the full his or her peculiar individuality, resulting in a chaotic social structure. Consequently, when their keepers free themselves and counter-revolt, the patients have no defense other than to flee. Their escape is mental, however, for each retreats to some form of schizophrenia such as crowing or spinning.

Resembling many aspects of the weakly constructed communities in “Masque”(28) and “Belfry,” the society in “Tarr and Fether” is utopian in the eyes of its members. As Maillard explains: “Fact — it all came to pass by means of a stupid fellow — a lunatic — who, by some means, had taken it into his head that he had invented a better system of government than ever heard of before — of lunatic government, I mean.”(29) As [page 53:] prosperity begot obesity in Vondervotteimittis, Maillard too is portly, suggesting that overindulgence figures in his social status; both he and the keeper of the belfry are the fattest members of their communities, reflecting their leadership. Until the narrator arrives, the inmates have had no dealings with outsiders, parelleling the villager's xenophobia in “Belfry” and Prospero's precautions against the Red Death. This isolation is supported by food and wine stores, recalling Prospero's provisions for his abbey. Eventually, though, the “Tarr and Fether” inmates must exhaust their supplies. Because their seclusion cannot endure, their mad utopia of self-gratification is fore-doomed. The patients themselves secure their own overthrow.

Although he knows that exposure involves risks, Maillard invites the narrator to enter. At the dinner table all the inmates commit Freudian slips that threaten to expose their identities. Ultimately, Maillard parades the details of the takeover before the narrator, who is too dense to surmise the truth. Because all the patients attend the party, moreover, they allow the unguarded keepers to effect an escape and thereby to resecure the institution. The yells of the attendants-both during and after their captivity — frighten the madmen into temporary mental withdrawals, a response similar to that caused by the tolling clocks in Vondervotteimittis and Prospero's [page 54:] castle.(30) The narrator of “Tarr and Fether” describes the scene:

... when the point was very effectively and suddenly accomplished by a series of loud screams, or yells, from some portion of the main body of the château.

My nerves were very much affected, indeed, by these yells; but the rest of the company I really pitied. I never saw any set of reasonable people so thoroughly frightened in my life. They all grew pale as so many corpses, and shrinking within their seats, sat quivering and gibbering with terror, and listening for a repetition of the sound. It came again — louder and seemingly nearer-and then a third time very loud, and then a fourth time with a vigor evidently diminished. At this apparent dying away of the noise, the spirits of the company were immediately regained, and all was life and anecdote as before ... (31)
Each shout represents another knell against Maillard's doomed society. For Poe its fall demonstrates the inevitable hazards of excessive liberty.

Conclusion

The common themes among the works analyzed above provide ample evidence of Poe's quarrel with utopian experiments. Considering the possibility that “Tarr and Fether” comically allegorizes French revolutionary culture, critical interpretation of the counter-utopian motif has simultaneous implications for Poe's view of perfectibility theory, because the five [page 55:] philosophers upon which he based his definition either anticipate, celebrate or react to the overthrow of unpopular regimes in America and France.

If Poe was a conspiracy theorist and tried to uncover the bloodline rituals and the fakery of ethos with parties to divide and conquer, then his writings were for the tiny few who were awake to begin with. Only the critical thinkers and data crunchers that can read between the lines. I believe Poe was against the aristocracy bloodlines and tried to expose them without getting murdered. Telling poems and tales of fiction gives him plausible deniability but since he died at 40 under a mysterious death, one could assume he wasn’t careful enough.

Sources

Gemini AI

The Mystery of Edgar Allan Poe's Death (U.S. National Park Service)

Total War Center Forums

Is it true that Edgar Allan Poe was opposed to Freemasonry ? If so then what were his reasons behind it ? - Quora

Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Articles - Poe and the Perfectability of Man (R. A. Fusco, 1982) (Chapter II)

1. The Politics of Publishing (Chapter 21) - Edgar Allan Poe in Context
www.cambridge.org

1. The Politics of Publishing (Chapter 21) - Edgar Allan Poe in Context
www.cambridge.org

Show less