Institution: Conflict in characterization

Institution: Conflict in characterization

The major conflict presented in the letters of Edgar Allan Poe to Maria Clem and George W. Eveleth, together with a sonnet to my mother and by the river by Siddhartha is a conflict between life and death, between hope and despair.
Edgar Allan Poe describes a situation where his wife ruptures a blood vessel and he lost all hope in her life, only for her to recover and restore hope. The situation happened over and over again, and he could no longer go through the cycle. It is strange, though, that he only found peace and solace in the melancholy that was the pain of losing his wife. In Letter to George w. Eveleth, he describes a situation where his life routines are rigorous, but this part of his life he describes as studious, his private literary life. He only ever gets excited by drink, perhaps reveling in sorrow and melancholy. These are the times he gets ‘excited’ enough to go to his friends. Those who only ever see him like this often assume that to be his true nature.
In letter to Maria Clemm, he says he was never really insane, except in situations where he had his heart touched. He states that he was once taken to prison for being drunk, but according to him, it was not the true case, and his heart was touched, by Virginia, his late wife (Dwight and Jackson).
Siddhartha, having lost all hope in life, decides to commit suicide, but when he hears the sound of Om, he becomes horrified at his folly, his childish though as he puts it, with the indestructibleness of life even when he killed his own body.

He is at a conflict between the experience of succumbing to his despair and maintaining his indestructible life.
Works Cited
Dwight, Thomas and David K Jackson. The Poe Log: A Documentary life of Edgar Allan Poe
1809- 1849 Boston: G K Hall & Co., 1987