Berenice: Why Is It Obsessive

Edgar Allen Poe is perhaps America’s most loved Gothic author. Many of his stories are dark and frightening, and provoke fear in the readers. What makes his stories so creepy and uncanny? This question can best be answered by reading Sigmund Frand’s “The Uncanny”, a book that explains that “what’s ‘uncanny is frightening precisely due to the fact it is unknown and familiar”. (154). This will help you understand the nature of Poe’s work. To better understand Freud’s ideas, we will examine Poe’s “Berenice” story and apply “The Uncanny” concepts (uncertainty, mental instability and repression) to show how Poe creates a creepy feeling within the reader.

Freud starts his argument by saying that intellectual uncertainty is the key factor in producing the feeling of uncanniness (154). This feeling is what readers get from reading “Berenice”, which Poe uses to describe the character and actions of Egaeus, the narrator. Egaeus gives a brief and vague account of his mental disorder. One can also question the motives of the narrator in the final scene. But this uncertainty isn’t the only reason one might find “Berenice” uncanny. Freud also addresses other aspects that Poe includes that can cause a feeling of uncanniness. Freud also addresses the mind of the character. It is obvious that Egaeus suffers from a mental disorder. This makes the reader feel uncomfortable about the character’s mental state. Freud stated that “uncanny effects…of manifestations insanity…excite the spectator the impression that automatic, mechanical processes are at work behind mental activity’ (157). This is directly applicable to Egaeus’s monomania. Egaeus’s obsessive focus on Berenice’s teeth is what causes his actions later in this story. The narrator appears to be aware of his illness and refers to it as trivial. The reader discovers that Egaeus is obsessed with Berenice’s smile and will even physically remove them from her body to store them in a container. The narrator states that these actions were necessary because he felt that only their possession could ever bring me peace and give me reason (Poe 146). This proves the mental instability of narrator, which is why he enacts the most horrific scene in story.

This story is impossible to tell without Egaeus’ mental instability. The monomania causes the narrator’s obsession with one idea to spiral into a pathological obsession. This obsession is a constant reminder of his thoughts:

“The teeth!” – They were all around me, everywhere and visible. I could feel them in my mouth. These were what I long for, and it was a frenetic desire.” (Poe 145).

Freud spoke of the reoccurring events, situations, people, and things. Uncanniness can be evoked by recurring situations, people, events, and things. This “may not appeal to everybody as a source for uncanny feeling”, but it can be. “An involuntary returning to the same situation…results the same feeling of helplessness or of something uncanny,” he says (Freud 163). The inability of controlling the thoughts makes this “involuntary”, uncanny. Egaeus has “involuntary” thoughts that are not controlled by his illness.

The involuntary repetition and repetition of thoughts poses a risk to the narrator as well as uncanniness for the reader. Egaeus’s repeated thoughts become a problem due to his inability to control his desire to have the teeth. Freud says that only involuntary repetition surrounds what otherwise would be harmless enough (164). Freud’s statement proves that Egaeus would not have involuntary repeated Berenice’s teeth if he didn’t want them. Monomania is the reason that the narrator cannot do this, so he acts out his primitive urges to defile Berenice. Normal people, i.e. This is because ordinary people without mental disorders, i.e.

Poe might have survived without Egaeus’s ability to suppress his thoughts.

The reader wouldn’t have been struck by the uncanny story. Freud asserts that every emotion can be transformed by repression in to morbid anxiety. This class of uncanny morbid anxieties would then not be the same as what was initially aroused dread. Egaeus is in the “Berenice” case. His repression was not enough to cause anxiety. He couldn’t suppress his thoughts and his actions. Freud’s words can still be applied to Egaeus. He experienced anxiety because of his monomania despite not having repression. “[Berenice’s] Teeth–they alone, in their singular individuality, became my mental life.” (Poe, 145). It is clear that Egaeus was not obsessed by fear, but infatuation. This was the root cause of his morbid anxiety, which can be seen in the uncanniness of his actions.

Freud offers another insight into this repetition-compulsion best seen in “Berenice” when the narrator states that his “meditations were never pleasurable” (Poe 143). Egaeus cannot stop thinking about his cousin’s tooth pains. Freud interprets this principle of repetition-compulsion as a “principle powerful enough to overrule the pleasure principle, lending to certain aspects of the mind their daemonic character” (Freud 164). The story’s conclusion shows this daemonic character when Egaeus rips Berenice’s teeth. It is this same principle that “is responsible for a part of the course taken by the analyses of neurotic patients”, which he states, “reminds us of this inner repetition-compulsion is perceived as uncanny” (Freud 164). Freud’s statement indicates that one can get pleasure from thought but can be overruled by obsession, which can lead to moral debasement. Egaeus is now obsessed with Berenice, which ultimately causes him to behave demonically. Freud often mentions the uncanny effect, which is evident in “Berenice”. Freud asserts that intellectual uncertainty regarding whether an object has a physical existence or not is a favorable environment for uncanny feelings. This characteristic is evident in several Poe stories, such as “Berenice”. Egaeus does not reveal his actions to the reader until a servant reveals them. (Poe 147). The reader feels frightened and uncanny, especially as the evidence that Egaeus is disfiguring the body is revealed in the final paragraph.

Freud frequently discusses the possibility of intellectual unpredictability. It can leave the reader in unfamiliar territory, and not knowing what is actually happening. Poe makes use of this effect throughout the story and shocks his audience with his surprising ending. Poe’s short stories can be described as scary, suspenseful, or uncanny. One can understand the mechanisms Poe uses for creating this atmosphere by reading “The Uncanny” by Sigmund Frand. “Berenice” reveals Freuds characteristics of anxiety, mental illness, repression. This allows one to gain a better grasp of what is “uncanny”.