(originally published April 1835 in Southern Literary Messenger)
In this horror story, an unnamed narrator falls strangely in
love with a woman named Morella and marries her. The narrator quickly learns
that Morella loves to read and study mystical texts. She is also obsessed with
ideas of identity and of the soul surviving after death. At first the narrator is fascinated by her,
but eventually he grows terrified of her, and begins to secretly wish for her
death. Morella dies during childbirth, first predicting that “I am dying, yet
shall I live”, that the child (a girl) will live, and that the narrator will
from then on live a cursed life. As the child grows up, she begins to bear an
uncanny resemblance to Morella, so much so that the narrator grows terrified of
her, too.
Summary written by Taylor Colegrove, May 2011. Title links to the full text of the story.
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