A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
Encyclopedia
"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" is a short story
written by Edgar Allan Poe
partially based on his experiences while a student at the University of Virginia
. Set near Charlottesville
, it is the only one of Poe's stories to take place in Virginia. It was first published in Godey's Lady's Book
in 1844 and was included in Poe's short story collection Tales, published in New York by Wiley and Putnam in 1845.
In the text of "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" readers can discover scientific theories of Poe's day such as Mesmerism, and the story also connects with British imperial history as in the kiosk scene in the "Eastern-looking city." The story also includes psychoactive drug
s in Bedloe's daily morphine, the transmigration of the soul to this city and the dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship
as explored in Bedloe's history with Doctor Templeton.
, Bedloe has retained the exclusive services of 70-year old physician Dr. Templeton, a devotee of Franz Mesmer
and the doctrine of animal magnetism
, also called "mesmerism".
Augustus Bedloe had met the doctor previously at Saratoga where Bedloe seemed to benefit from Templeton's ministrations. Though they most likely met in a medical context at the Saratoga mineral springs.
The unidentified narrator recites the tale as told by Bedloe, delivered after his late return from one of his customary long rambles in the Ragged Mountains
, "the chain of wild and dreary hills that lie westward and southward of Charlottesville." At 9:00 that morning, after a breakfast of strong coffee
and morphine
for the pain of his neuralgia, Bedloe leaves Charlottesville heads towards the Ragged Mountains. About an hour later, he enters a gorge of "absolutely virgin" solitude, filled with a "thick and peculiar mist" in which the visual beauty of his surroundings stands out to him in delightful brilliance as the morphine takes effect.
Soon, Bedloe hears unexpected drumming and a metallic rattling sound after which he is startled when "a dusky-visaged and half-naked man rushed past... with a shriek" followed by a hyena. Overcome by this bizarre encounter, Bedloe sits beneath a tree and suddenly notices that its shadow is that of a palm tree
not native to Virginia. In "perfect command" of his senses, Bedloe notices a strange odor on the breeze and hears a low murmur after which a wind clears the fog and he sees "an Eastern-looking city, such as we read of in the Arabian Tales" later identified by Dr. Templeton as Calcutta. Bedloe descends into the city and eventually finds himself barricaded in a kiosk with British officers as a battle rages. In the fighting Bedloe is killed by an arrow shaped like "the writhing creese
of the Malay" that strikes him in the temple.
As Bedloe recounts his inexplicable journey and return, Dr. Templeton strangely seems to know the story already. When the unnamed narrator challenges Bedloe's claim of death, the odd rapport between the doctor and the patient becomes evident as Bedloe trembles in pale silence while Templeton stares with bulging eyes and chattering teeth.
Bedloe then describes the physical and mental experiences of disembodiment and re-embodiment punctuated by distinct galvanic shocks
, on his return from Calcutta to the Ragged Mountains. Though Bedloe cannot ultimately dismiss his adventure as a dream, the story concludes ambiguously leaving us with suggestions that either the power of Dr. Templeton's writing caused Bedloe's disembodied time-travel experience or that Bedloe is the reincarnation of Templeton's friend Oldeb who died in 1780 fighting alongside Warren Hastings
and a group of British soldiers and sepoys during the insurrection of Cheyt Singh.
The story ends with Bedloe's death by the accidental application of a poisonous "sangsue" (sanguisuge) or leech
to relieve a "great determination of blood to the head." The narrator completes the tale with a note of astonished perplexity upon reading the obituary and finding Bedloe’s name accidentally spelled without the 'e' making 'Bedlo' the perfect reverse of 'Oldeb'.
, is the central scientific feature of the story, and was first developed in the 18th century by Franz Mesmer. It is a therapeutic doctrine or system by which a trained practitioner can induce a hypnotic state in a patient by the exercise of a force called animal magnetism.
The problem presented by Franz Anton Mesmer, who died in 1815 (within Poe’s lifetime), was that he had the right facts (the trance and the curious phenomena resulting from it) but the wrong theory. Mesmer believed that he put his subjects into his celebrated trance by infusing their nervous systems with “animal magnetism”, rays of a universal cosmic fluid. This original theory of the founder lingered after the true theory had been put forward by his followers, namely, that the trance resulted from suggestion in the subject’s mind, its cause being psychological rather than physical. When this fact was established, Mesmerism became scientific hypnotism.
Mesmerism had an enormous impact on literature in Europe and America. Poe took his version largely from Chauncy Hare Townshend
's Facts in Mesmerism, which informed him that one human being could control animal magnetism, channel it through space into the nervous system of another human being, and thereby dominate his ideas, volitions, and emotions. Poe, who believed Townshend’s theory, found it an admirable starting-point for a special type of Gothic fiction. In “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains”, thought transference from Templeton could be what causes Bedloe to have hallucinations.
It is apparent that Templeton and Bedloe’s interactions center around their dealings with animal magnetism. Near the very beginning of the story, we are told that Templeton has control over Bedloe and can make him go to "sleep" by "mere volition". Templeton harnesses this power so fully and expertly that it is not unbelievable that he could put Bedloe through a thoroughly fantastic journey.
The authenticity of Bedloe's adventure is never truly known, as Poe forces us to question the unexplainable and embrace the ambiguous. He demonstrates his deftness as an author because, on one level, he uses the occult to bring us to question reality, and on another, he uses it to challenge the validity of Bedloe’s "Tale of the Ragged Mountains".
.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
written by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
partially based on his experiences while a student at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. Set near Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
, it is the only one of Poe's stories to take place in Virginia. It was first published in Godey's Lady's Book
Godey's Lady's Book
Godey's Lady's Book, alternatively known as Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, was a United States magazine which was published in Philadelphia. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War. Its circulation rose from 70,000 in the 1840s to 150,000 in 1860...
in 1844 and was included in Poe's short story collection Tales, published in New York by Wiley and Putnam in 1845.
In the text of "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" readers can discover scientific theories of Poe's day such as Mesmerism, and the story also connects with British imperial history as in the kiosk scene in the "Eastern-looking city." The story also includes psychoactive drug
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
s in Bedloe's daily morphine, the transmigration of the soul to this city and the dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship
Doctor-patient relationship
The doctor-patient relationship is central to the practice of healthcare and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The doctor-patient relationship forms one of the foundations of contemporary medical ethics...
as explored in Bedloe's history with Doctor Templeton.
Plot summary
Set in late November 1827, the tale is begun by an unidentified narrator whose story is the loose outer frame for the central tale of Augustus Bedloe, a wealthy young invalid whom the narrator has known "casually" for eighteen years yet who still remains an enigma. Because of ongoing problems with neuralgiaNeuralgia
Neuralgia is pain in one or more nerves that occurs without stimulation of pain receptor cells. Neuralgia pain is produced by a change in neurological structure or function rather than by the excitation of pain receptors that causes nociceptive pain. Neuralgia falls into two categories: central...
, Bedloe has retained the exclusive services of 70-year old physician Dr. Templeton, a devotee of Franz Mesmer
Franz Mesmer
Franz Anton Mesmer , sometimes, albeit incorrectly, referred to as Friedrich Anton Mesmer, was a German physician with an interest in astronomy, who theorised that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects that he called magnétisme animal ...
and the doctrine of animal magnetism
Animal magnetism
Animal magnetism , in modern usage, refers to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw charisma. As postulated by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century, the term referred to a supposed magnetic fluid or ethereal medium believed to reside in the bodies of animate beings...
, also called "mesmerism".
Augustus Bedloe had met the doctor previously at Saratoga where Bedloe seemed to benefit from Templeton's ministrations. Though they most likely met in a medical context at the Saratoga mineral springs.
The unidentified narrator recites the tale as told by Bedloe, delivered after his late return from one of his customary long rambles in the Ragged Mountains
Ragged Mountains
The Ragged Mountains are a small chain of rugged hills—an offshoot of the Blue Ridge Mountains—southwest of Charlottesville, Virginia...
, "the chain of wild and dreary hills that lie westward and southward of Charlottesville." At 9:00 that morning, after a breakfast of strong coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
for the pain of his neuralgia, Bedloe leaves Charlottesville heads towards the Ragged Mountains. About an hour later, he enters a gorge of "absolutely virgin" solitude, filled with a "thick and peculiar mist" in which the visual beauty of his surroundings stands out to him in delightful brilliance as the morphine takes effect.
Soon, Bedloe hears unexpected drumming and a metallic rattling sound after which he is startled when "a dusky-visaged and half-naked man rushed past... with a shriek" followed by a hyena. Overcome by this bizarre encounter, Bedloe sits beneath a tree and suddenly notices that its shadow is that of a palm tree
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
not native to Virginia. In "perfect command" of his senses, Bedloe notices a strange odor on the breeze and hears a low murmur after which a wind clears the fog and he sees "an Eastern-looking city, such as we read of in the Arabian Tales" later identified by Dr. Templeton as Calcutta. Bedloe descends into the city and eventually finds himself barricaded in a kiosk with British officers as a battle rages. In the fighting Bedloe is killed by an arrow shaped like "the writhing creese
Kris
The kris or keris is an asymmetrical dagger or sword nowadays most strongly associated with the culture of Indonesia, but also indigenous to Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Brunei. It is known as kalis in the southern Philippines. The kris is famous for its distinctive wavy blade , but many have...
of the Malay" that strikes him in the temple.
As Bedloe recounts his inexplicable journey and return, Dr. Templeton strangely seems to know the story already. When the unnamed narrator challenges Bedloe's claim of death, the odd rapport between the doctor and the patient becomes evident as Bedloe trembles in pale silence while Templeton stares with bulging eyes and chattering teeth.
Bedloe then describes the physical and mental experiences of disembodiment and re-embodiment punctuated by distinct galvanic shocks
Galvanism
In biology, galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is stimulated by an electric current. In physics and chemistry, it is the induction of electrical current from a chemical reaction, typically between two chemicals with differing electronegativities....
, on his return from Calcutta to the Ragged Mountains. Though Bedloe cannot ultimately dismiss his adventure as a dream, the story concludes ambiguously leaving us with suggestions that either the power of Dr. Templeton's writing caused Bedloe's disembodied time-travel experience or that Bedloe is the reincarnation of Templeton's friend Oldeb who died in 1780 fighting alongside Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
and a group of British soldiers and sepoys during the insurrection of Cheyt Singh.
The story ends with Bedloe's death by the accidental application of a poisonous "sangsue" (sanguisuge) or leech
Leech
Leeches are segmented worms that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. Like other oligochaetes such as earthworms, leeches share a clitellum and are hermaphrodites. Nevertheless, they differ from other oligochaetes in significant ways...
to relieve a "great determination of blood to the head." The narrator completes the tale with a note of astonished perplexity upon reading the obituary and finding Bedloe’s name accidentally spelled without the 'e' making 'Bedlo' the perfect reverse of 'Oldeb'.
Mesmerism
Mesmerism, a forerunner of hypnotismHypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
, is the central scientific feature of the story, and was first developed in the 18th century by Franz Mesmer. It is a therapeutic doctrine or system by which a trained practitioner can induce a hypnotic state in a patient by the exercise of a force called animal magnetism.
The problem presented by Franz Anton Mesmer, who died in 1815 (within Poe’s lifetime), was that he had the right facts (the trance and the curious phenomena resulting from it) but the wrong theory. Mesmer believed that he put his subjects into his celebrated trance by infusing their nervous systems with “animal magnetism”, rays of a universal cosmic fluid. This original theory of the founder lingered after the true theory had been put forward by his followers, namely, that the trance resulted from suggestion in the subject’s mind, its cause being psychological rather than physical. When this fact was established, Mesmerism became scientific hypnotism.
Mesmerism had an enormous impact on literature in Europe and America. Poe took his version largely from Chauncy Hare Townshend
Chauncy Hare Townshend
Chauncy Hare Townshend, born Chauncy Hare Townsend was a 19th century English poet, clergyman, mesmerist, collector, dilettante and hypochondriac...
's Facts in Mesmerism, which informed him that one human being could control animal magnetism, channel it through space into the nervous system of another human being, and thereby dominate his ideas, volitions, and emotions. Poe, who believed Townshend’s theory, found it an admirable starting-point for a special type of Gothic fiction. In “A Tale of the Ragged Mountains”, thought transference from Templeton could be what causes Bedloe to have hallucinations.
The Occult
In this story, we have already seen the ways in which mesmerism, the aforementioned mysterious scientific practice, sets the landscape for the story. The theory closely resembles hypnotism whereby a trained practitioner can induce a hypnotic state in a patient through the utilization of a force. This procedure appears to be the foundation for the relationship between Dr. Templeton and Mr. Bedloe.It is apparent that Templeton and Bedloe’s interactions center around their dealings with animal magnetism. Near the very beginning of the story, we are told that Templeton has control over Bedloe and can make him go to "sleep" by "mere volition". Templeton harnesses this power so fully and expertly that it is not unbelievable that he could put Bedloe through a thoroughly fantastic journey.
The authenticity of Bedloe's adventure is never truly known, as Poe forces us to question the unexplainable and embrace the ambiguous. He demonstrates his deftness as an author because, on one level, he uses the occult to bring us to question reality, and on another, he uses it to challenge the validity of Bedloe’s "Tale of the Ragged Mountains".
Publication history
"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" was first published in the April 1844 issue of Godey's Lady's BookGodey's Lady's Book
Godey's Lady's Book, alternatively known as Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book, was a United States magazine which was published in Philadelphia. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civil War. Its circulation rose from 70,000 in the 1840s to 150,000 in 1860...
.