aracter with a
superhuman will, and to show how, by sheer force of volition, this
person conquered death.

Having thus decided on his theme, the writer of the story was
first forced to consider how many, or rather _how few_, characters
were necessary to the narrative. One, at least, was obviously
essential,--the person with the superhuman will. For esthetic reasons
Poe made this character a woman, and called her Ligeia; but it is
evident that _structurally_ the story would have been the same if he
had made the character a man. The resultant narrative would have been
different in mood and tone; but it would not have been different in
structure. Given this central character, it was not perhaps evident
at first that another person was needed for the tale. But in all
stories which set forth an extraordinary being, it is necessary to
introduce an ordinary character to serve as a standard by which the
unusual capabilities of the central figure may be measured.
Furthermore, in stories which treat of the miraculous, it is
necessary to have at least one eye-witness to the extraordinary
circumstances beside the person primarily concerned in them. Hence
another character was absolutely needed in the tale. This second
person, moreover, had to be intimately associated with the heroine,
for the two reasons already considered. The most intimate relation
imaginable was that of husband and wife; he must therefore be the
husband of Ligeia. Beside these two people,--a woman of superhuman
will, and her husband, a man of ordinary powers,--no other character
was necessary; and therefore Poe did not (and _could not_, according
to the laws of the short-story) introduce another. The Lady of
Tremaine, as we shall see later on, is not, technically considered, a
character.

The main outline of the story could now be plotted. Ligeia and her
husband must be exhibited to the reader; and then, in her husband's
presence, Ligeia must conquer death by the vigor of her will. But in
order to do this, she must first die. If she merely exerted her will
to ward off the attacks of death, the reader would not be convinced
that her recovery had been accomplished by other than ordinary means.
She must die, therefore, and must afterwards resurrect herself by a
powerful exertion of volition. The reader must be fully convinced that
she did really die; and therefore, before her resurrection, she must
be laid for some time in the grave. The story, then, divided its