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Edgar Alan Poe
23
Catherine Heath, Zack Smolinsky, Nick Soldo
Point of View
The point of view in the story Berenice is first person. Egaeus is the narrator who is telling the story. Egaeus is a likeable and very smart person, but most likely has a compulsive disorder.
Theme
Obsession is shown throughout the story because he is very fixated on his wife's teeth because every other part of her was deteriorating except for her teeth.
Symbolism
The teeth of Berenice are portrayed as pearly white and pure which gives a sense of purity, anglicism, and virginity.
Mood
The mood of the short story is sad and creepy. As well as being suspenseful, it keeps the reader guessing as to why Egaeus is so interested in the teeth.
Characters
Conflict
Berenice
The conflict within Berenice is internal. This conflict is Man vs Self because of his internal self struggle with compulsion. He becomes obsessed with his wife's teeth and cannot stop thinking about them, leaving him to dig up the body and remove them.
Berenice is Egaeus' husband who was diagnosed with a life ending disease much like epilepsy. She became very pale, her hair turned yellow and her eyes were lifeless. Her teeth stood out because they had not changed, they remained long and white.
Imagery
Egaeus
Poe suffered from an unusual life, throughout his life he wrote about beautiful young women who die. The same situation occurs in Berenice, she is a beautiful women who is buried alive.
Plot
Egaeus is the main character in the story. He is a very intelligent man who stays in the library. He is very obsessive and fixates on numerous things.
A man named Egaeus was preparing was preparing to marry his cousin Berenice when she came down with an unnamed disease. The fatal disease began to cause Berenice's body to deteriorate. One day they were in the library when Egaeus notices how white her teeth were. He begins to fixate and obsess over them. She eventually dies and is buried. It is later revealed by a servant that Berenice's grave was dug up and she was still alive. Egaeus realizes he is covered in mud and has a box. The box contains 32 ivory objects. Berenice's teeth.
Research
Irony
One of the major connections this story has to Poe's life is it includes the death of a young, beautiful women. This relates to the many deaths
One example of irony in Berenice is his obsession. He begins to fixate on her teeth and eventually digs up the dead body to pull the teeth out. It turns out that Berenice was buried alive and his obsession saved her life.