In Edgar Allan Poe’s The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, the universal theme that is shown through a build up to the end of the story is the horror that death is inevitable. When Poe wrote this short story, one of the current fads of the time period was the topic of mesmerism. The narrator, who mysteriously, like every other character only has one letter for a name, except for M. Valdemar, has been interested in mesmerism and mesmerizing people for many years. However, he has never put someone in a mesmeric trance before they were dying, trying to see if a mesmeric trance would prevent or put off death.  M. Valdemar is an old man who knows he is going to die very soon, so he makes an agreement that when he knows his death is within the next twenty-four hours, he will send for P, which is the name of the narrator. M. Valdemar agrees for P to conduct his mesmeric experiment on him as he dies, which goes to show that Valdemar is afraid of death. Death is a very horrific and inevitable ideal, we see this through imagery that compares and contrasts to vivid images that the reader can describe, and through Poe’s word choice, that different in depth descriptions and quotations are used in different ways to convey the common theme. By showing that a mesmeric trance can keep a dead man alive in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” Poe illustrates that this short story’s elements converge to further represent the larger message of the passage: horror and the inevitability of death. 

Imagery connects and strengthens the larger message of the inevitability of death from beginning to end of the short story. It is first shown when P hears the news that M. Valdemar is going to pass, and then he speeds to the hospital to try and perform his experiment. As P walks into the hospital and Valdemar is still alive.  P examines Valdemar’s condition and states, “I had not seen him for ten days, and was appalled by the fearful alteration which the brief interval had wrought in him. His face wore a leaden hue; the eyes were utterly lusterless; and the emaciation was so extreme, that the skin had been broken through by the cheek-bones” (Poe 68). P is stating that it is clear that Valdemar is about to die, and it is not pretty. A reader of the passage can picture the physical state that Valdemar is in because of the effective imagery. The imagery that Poe uses with vivid description and detail is very graphic and shows that even in ten days Valdemar’s condition has worsened, as his outward and physical appearance show that he is an utterly helpless man that is on the brink of death. Death is inevitable to everyone, and the physical condition of M. Valdemar demonstrates that his time has come. As Valdemar approaches the time that he is supposed to pass, the narrator continues to put him farther into a mesmeric trance. Dialogue between P and Valdemar continue through the dying tongue of the old man until there was no sign of life. No blood could be pricked from his icy veins. After Valdemar was still in a mesmeric trance while being dead for seven months, P and the doctors decided it would be best to try and wake him up. P starts to release the trance off of Valdemar, and the horror is intensified. P describes the next series of events as he tries to lift the trance, “…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 73). Poe uses imagery again to connect with the reader on a whole new level to show that death is inevitable. The descriptive words and adjectives are put together to form a horrifying image for the reader of the disintegration of a man into a liquid blob of putrescence on a hospital bed to further portray that death is inevitable for everyone. Imagery illustrates the desperate state of death that has fallen upon M. Valdemar, and he does not want to die which is why he agreed to the mesmeric trance. However, through the gruesome imagery that is used to describe Valdemar’s final death, we see that maybe his natural death may have been more pleasant. No matter how much someone tries to put off death, it is still inevitable.

Word choice is another element that ties in to the larger message as whole by using words that relay something specific. As Valdemar is agreeing to being put into a mesmeric trance, P describes the process which occurs, “He still professed himself quite willing and even anxious to have it made, and urged me to commence it at once” (Poe 68). The word choice here is very specific even though the sentence is very short itself. Specific word choice is illustrated by Valdemar being quite willing and anxious, in this case to be put into a mesmeric trance. This specific word choice specifically points to the fact that Valdemar does not want to die and he is afraid of dying. Because he is not hesitant to be put into the trance, it shows that he is willing to do anything no matter how risky to save him from dying. Valdemar just simply does not want to accept the fact that his time has come and death is inevitable. Although throughout the story we see that Valdemar is physically dead, the mesmeric trance technically keeps him alive in spirit because he can still talk through the vibrations of his tongue. We see that Valdemar is in an semi-alive but dead state when he responds back to P and says, “‘Yes; - no; - I have been sleeping – and now – now – I am dead”’ (Poe 71). The word choice here specifically shows that Valdemar is physically dead, yet through the mesmeric trance he is in he is still able to respond to P. Even while being able to respond and talk a little amount, death is still inevitable through a mesmeric trance. Word choice demonstrates that Valdemar’s worst fears have been realized and his death is unfortunately inevitable.

With descriptive imagery that puts an image into the reader’s head and specific word choice that demonstrates the larger message of the inevitability of death, we see that even if a mesmeric trance can keep a man alive, death is still inevitable. 