Abstract
 
The dissertation will explore Poe’s feminine ideal from the lady images in his “Death of Beauty” stories---- Ligeia ,Morella , Berenice. A brand-new interpretation of “the other” theory in Second Sex would be given to show the relationship between Poe’s feminine ideal and the lady images in his stories. Then there would be a further analysis of the lady images in Poe’s “Death of Beauty” stories. In the end, there would be an introduction to the female complex in Poe’s life, exploring the effect that women in Poe’s life have done on his view of feminine ideal and the lady images in his “Death of Beauty” stories.

KEYWORDS:lady images; Edgar Allen Poe; Death of Beauty; Second Sex

摘  要

本论文将以爱伦坡的三部以爱情为主题的作品——《丽姬娅》  《莫雷娜》《贝雷妮丝》为文本研究对象，引入西方女权主义者西蒙娜•德•波伏娃在其作品《第二性》中提出的“他者”概念并对其进行重新解读，分析归纳总结爱伦坡作品中三位女主人公的“女性形象”特点，介绍爱伦坡一生的女性情结，从生平原因角度探讨其作品中的女性形象与其生命当中的女性之间的关系。

关键词:女性形象；爱伦坡；美女之死；第二性

1 Introduction
1.1 Edgar Allen Poe and his writing
The feminine ideal, or the ideal image of women is a thought referring to male writer who expresses his vision of feminine ideal in his works. In this Thesis, the feminine ideal are feminine features that Poe takes as a standard of perfection, beauty or an ultimate ideal to exemplify in the female. Usually, the source of feminine ideal comes from the lady images in the writer’s real life.
    In Poe’s stories,” Death of Beauty” is a permanent theme, which firstly prompted in his critics The Philosophy of Composition, that the death of a beautiful woman is the most poetical topic in the world. And in practice Poe employs this theme widely in many of his works through the depiction of angel-like, delicate, wisdom and maternal-like ladies.