Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most notorious and formidable writers in not only American literature but World literature. His works are often associated with horror and mystery. I chose to read The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar by Poe, it was published in 1845 and is one of his more gruesome and detailed short stories.  My interpretation of this written text is that death is unavoidable and there is no way to make a person immortal. When medical experiments are done to combat death the result is usually terrifying. 

The Facts in the case of M. Valdemar is a story about a mesmerist who decides to conduct a medical experiment as his friend is on his death bed. As the man is laying there dying, the mesmerist puts him into a hypnotic state which results in prolonging the man's life although failing to show typical signs of life such as a pulse. The man is in this trance state for 7 months, he is unresponsive to anything except for the words of the mesmerist. The mesmerist often repeats the question to the man, "M. Valdemar are you asleep?" Even though life has seemed to retreat from the man's body, he responds saying "yes; asleep now. Do not wake me! - let me die so!" (Poe, Page 26). M. Valdemar goes on to say that he feels no more pain anymore due to the tuberculosis that is claiming his life, yet he insist to let him die in peace. After 7 months the mesmerist decides to snap M. Valdemar out of his trance. The motionless body immediately begins to decay and decompose into a gelatinous clump right in front of the observers eyes. The conclusion of this short story backs up my interpretation that death is not something that can be avoided under any means. Throughout history men have sought elixirs and tricks to prolong life or to reach ultimate immortality. When you interfere with the natural death process you will most likely be worse off, it is better to let nature take its course. When the mesmerist conducts his experiment he does not know what to really expect. He finds that by hypnotizing this man he has kept M. Valdemar's soul somewhat intact but physically nothing remains of him. It is only when the Mesmerist loosens his grip on M. Valdemar's life that Valdemar's body begins to shrivel up and die in a particular gruesome fashion. This insinuates that interfering with death will result in a horrendous ending. 

Poe often uses extreme detail when describing M. Valdemar's state throughout the story. As an example Poe writes "The eyes rolled themselves slowly open, the pupils disappearing upwardly; the skin generally assumed a cadaverous hue, resembling not so much parchment as white paper; and the circular hectic spots which, hitherto, had been strongly defined in the centre of each cheek, went out at once The upper lip, at the same time, writhed itself away from the teeth, which it had previously covered completely; while the lower jaw fell with an audible jerk, leaving the mouth widely extended, and disclosing in full view the full view of the swollen and blackened tongue." (Poe, Page 27) This use of imagery is very important in the story because it utilizes the reader's senses and allows you to become more involved in the story. Poe also uses imagery extremely well during the climax of the story when he writes "As I rapidly made the mesmeric passes, amid ejaculations of "Dead! Dead!" absolutely bursting from the tongue and not from the lips of the sufferer, his whole frame at once- within the space of a single minute, or even less, shrunk- crumbled- absolutely rotted away beneath my hands. Upon the bed, before that whole company, there lay a nearly liquid mass of loathsome- of detestable putrescence" (Poe, Page 29) This quote comes at the very end of the story to give a horrific visual scene of what happened to the mesmerist's medical subject after seven months avoiding death.    

Poe was haunted by demons all his life; it is reflected in his work and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar is almost to the extent of how dark and gloomy his works could be. Poe's life was full of heartbreak, mostly due to a majority of his loved ones dying of tuberculosis. Many of the themes that appeared in The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar also show up in his other works. Themes such as curiosity about death and the inevitability of it. The inspiration for this story came from Edgar Allen Poe's own medical research and curiosity; Poe also attended lectures on Mesmerism. The vivid imagery he shows in this story can be attributed to him witnessing his own wife, Virginia, dying slowly of tuberculosis. The story itself when published in 1845 was thought to be a true account of what happened when someone was in a state of hypnosis during the time of death. Poe received several letters from doctors who gave their results when they tried something similar. Edgar Allen Poe replied by saying that it was a hoax.

The Fact in the Case of M. Vladimir is one of Edgar Allen Poe's most horrifying works of literature due to its gruesome detailed imagery. The theme of the story is that there is no way around death, it is a part of nature and to attempt to prolong it will only make the actual moment of death worse. Death is inevitable and no magic potion of method can alter what is going to happen to you eventually. In the case of M. Vladimir, the life of his soul remained while his actual body deteriorated and when he finally snapped out of the hypnosis he faced a terrifying end. 

