28 pages 56 minutes read

Edgar Allan Poe

Berenice

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1835

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

Beauty Versus Horror

The first paragraph of the story asks whether evil can have its origin in something good. The text suggests that sorrow often originates in joy because “the memory of past bliss is the anguish of to-day, or the agonies which are, have their origin in the ecstasies which might have been” (333). If a person is unhappy in the present time, it might be because they either remember a happier past or are imagining a better future that they cannot achieve. While this opening initially seems to be abstract speculation, the plot of the story demonstrates the process through which something beautiful can lead to something unlovely.

The moment of Egæus’s birth foreshadows that good and evil will be intertwined for the rest of his life. Describing the library, he asserts, “Here died my mother. Herein was I born” (333). He implies that she died in childbirth, transforming a moment of joy into one of sorrow. Similarly, Berenice’s teeth appear to be the most perfect part of her body, untouched by the illness that affects the rest of her appearance. However, their perfection is, ironically, what causes them to be removed from her mouth because their beauty inspires the narrator’s obsession in a way that her less perfect attributes do not.

Related Titles

By Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

Hop-Frog

Edgar Allan Poe

Hop-Frog

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

Tamerlane

Edgar Allan Poe

Tamerlane

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe

The Black Cat

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Conqueror Worm

Edgar Allan Poe

The Conqueror Worm

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Edgar Allan Poe

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Edgar Allan Poe

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Gold Bug

Edgar Allan Poe

The Gold Bug

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Haunted Palace

Edgar Allan Poe

The Haunted Palace

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Imp of the Perverse

Edgar Allan Poe

The Imp of the Perverse

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Lake

Edgar Allan Poe

The Lake

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Man of the Crowd

Edgar Allan Poe

The Man of the Crowd

Edgar Allan Poe

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Edgar Allan Poe

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Edgar Allan Poe

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Oval Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe

The Oval Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe

Study Guide

logo

The Philosophy of Composition

Edgar Allan Poe

The Philosophy of Composition

Edgar Allan Poe