The idea of mesmerizing someone was taboo during the period in which Edgar Allen Poe wrote his infamous “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.” Valdemar is a man who requested this unspeakable action be performed upon him in order to escape death. The voodoo magic put the man in a trance-like state and kept only one part moving, his tongue. His tongue is symbolic of his request to be in a trance-like state. Poe uses a vast majority of symbolism throughout his writings and abused his knowledge of the language in this book. Edgar Allen Poe uses his description of Valdemar’s tongue to give insight into his mesmerized state and how it’s controlled by the devil and his past soul. 

To begin, Edgar Allen Poe uses a wide variety of descriptive words to paint an image of Valdemar’s almost lifeless body and his one moving part. The narrator “P”, provides a detailed, “scientific” account of his attempt of mesmerizing M. Valdemar. Valdemar states things such as “Do not wake me! – let me die so” (Poe 70), and “…still asleep – dying” (Poe 70). He tells us he is dead but yet can continue to speak and partially respond to “P”. Shortly thereafter, Valdemar goes through the stages of death very quick. P tells us that he jerked, “leaving the mouth widely extended, and disclosing in full view the swollen and blackened tongue” (Poe 71). The blackened tongue symbolizes fear, evil, and death. All of which are expressed in this passage. The idea of fear is exhibited by Valdemar trying to escape death and prolong it. The irony of this is he does “die”, leaving only his blackened tongue in view and able to talk to us. 

By all means, the idea of the blackened tongue plays into every hypothesis that can be formed as to what is controlling it. A more precise definition for his discolored tongue is that the blackness is a symbol of the devil because evil is dark and mysterious. Whatever is controlling his words is described as making “sounds never jarred upon the ears of humanity” (Poe 71). This exemplifies the idea that the devil, or some being not of this world (Hell) is in the presence and communicating through the body of M. Valdemar. Mesmerizing someone had never been done before, that is when the person was on the cusp of death. The experiment could have gone wrong and sent Valdemar into the depths of despair and sent the controller to talk to P and the doctors. P also says, “the voice seemed to reach our ears – at least mine – from a vast distance, or some deep cavern within the earth” (Poe 71). This cavern is hell and provides the idea that someone or something is speaking to the crew from these pits of the earth. When asked, after going through the stages of death, if he was dead, Valdemar uttered “I have been sleeping- and now – now – I am dead” (Poe 71). It is not humanly possible to talk or even perform an action after passing, therefore proving there must be some outside (or inside) force.

Moreover, another plausible explanation for the insanity that is the tongue speaking to P and the doctors would be that it is Valdemar's past soul speaking to them. Through Valdemar’s letter to P, he explains his wish to attempt to prolong and/or avoid death by tuberculosis. He says “I fear you have deferred it too long” (Poe 69). This shows that death cannot be avoided at this point, and Valdemar continues with the process, knowing the process and pain he must endure in order to continue. Slowly and slowly throughout the book, Valdemar is “sleeping,” and wants to just die, but it won’t happen. After all signs of life, except the tongue, had faded and eventually diminished, the physicians and P continued to visit and attempt to bring life back into the body. When finally asked what his feelings and wishes were now, Valdemar says in his hideous voice from the depths of the earth “For God’s sake! – quick! – quick! – put me to sleep –or, quick! – waken me! – quick! – I say to you that I am dead” (Poe 73). This was the first message in nine months, showing that somehow, despite being a vegetable for that time. There is an internal struggle of whether or not to finish the process of death or continue to live the life of one that is unable to do anything. After a decision by P, the process becomes terminated and Valdemar literally disintegrated into a liquid mess. 

On the other hand, one might argue that the blackened tongue means nothing to the story. They might say that it just turned black because the body decayed at an insane rate, and it is just a part of death. These arguments are all false due to the simplistic idea that once one dies, that person cannot do anything, there is no life left. In this case, the tongue is a symbol of evil and darkness, proving the idea that there is some source speaking to the reader through the body of Valdemar. To say that Valdemar’s tongue has no significance to the story is absurd due to the characteristics of his tongue and the magic involved. 

All-in-all, Edgar Allen Poe uses his imagery of the scenes at the house of Valdemar to convey the idea that he is going through the process of death. Poe uses the color black to signify that Valdemar himself is dead, but there is some evil that persists. The voodoo type of magic that was performed on Valdemar brought him to a bad place and tried to delay a natural process of life, making him suffer. Valdemar continued to attempt to bypass his demise and paid a huge price. 