Unique Classics Made Easy (Short Story 1 of 5) "THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE" - Edgar Allen Poe (1847 - Original text Courtesy of the public domain)
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| Where Mysteries Dwell (AI Assisted) |
I've always found something fascinating about Edgar Allan Poe. To me, he wasn't just a mystery and horror writer and poet, but a writer with such a complex mind that his work often left me wondering if I ever completely understood where he was coming from at all.
"The Imp of the Perverse" will be the first of five short stories I'll present in a modified form, which makes the story quite interesting in my opinion.
What It's About
The Imp of the Perverse is one of Poe's many short stories that explores the psychology of the human mind. In this case, he examines the strange human urge to do something simply because we know we should not do it.
Poe takes that idea to an unsettling extreme when the protagonist, having successfully concealed a murder, ultimately confesses to the crime, not because he has been discovered, but because of an almost irresistible impulse to reveal the very thing he knows he must keep secret.
About This Edition
The Imp of the Perverse by Edgar Allan Poe (1845) is presented using public-domain source material available through Project Gutenberg. Poe's original wording is clearly identified as Original Text. The Modern Reader Version is an AI-assisted adaptation created for The Lit Connection to improve accessibility and comprehension; it is not Poe's original text or an official scholarly edition.
THE IMP OF THE PERVERSE
A short story by Edgar Allan Poe (1845 - Public Domain)
In the consideration of the faculties and impulses of the prima mobilia of the human soul, the phrenologists have failed to make room for a propensity which, although obviously existing as a radical, primitive, irreducible sentiment, has been equally overlooked by all the moralists who have preceded them.
In the pure arrogance of the reason, we have all overlooked it. We have suffered its existence to escape our senses, solely through want of belief, of faith; whether it be faith in Revelation, or faith in the Kabbala. The idea of it has never occurred to us, simply because of its supererogation. We saw no need of the impulse for the propensity. We could not perceive its necessity.
We could not understand, that is to say, we could not have understood, had the notion of this primum mobile ever obtruded itself; we could not have understood in what manner it might be made to further the objects of humanity, either temporal or eternal. It cannot be denied that phrenology and, in great measure, all metaphysicianism have been concocted a priori. The intellectual or logical man, rather than the understanding or observant man, set himself to imagine designs to dictate purposes to God. Having thus fathomed, to his satisfaction, the intentions of Jehovah, out of these intentions he built his innumerable systems of mind.
In the matter of phrenology, for example, we first determined, naturally enough, that it was the design of the Deity that man should eat. We then assigned to man an organ of alimentiveness, and this organ is the scourge with which the Deity compels man, will-I nill-I, into eating. Secondly, having settled it to be God’s will that man should continue his species, we discovered an organ of amativeness, forthwith. And so with combativeness, with ideality, with causality, with constructiveness, so, in short, with every organ, whether representing a propensity, a moral sentiment, or a faculty of the pure intellect.
And in these arrangements of the Principia of human action, the Spurzheimites, whether right or wrong, in part, or upon the whole, have but followed, in principle, the footsteps of their predecessors; deducing and establishing every thing from the preconceived destiny of man, and upon the ground of the objects of his Creator.
When studying the human mind and its core driving forces, psychological experts have missed a specific urge. Even though this urge clearly acts as a fundamental, deep-rooted instinct that cannot be broken down into anything simpler, it has been completely ignored by every moral philosopher in history.
We have all missed it simply out of intellectual arrogance. We allowed ourselves to ignore its presence because we lacked belief or faith—whether that means faith in religious scripture or faith in mystical traditions. The idea never occurred to us because it seemed completely unnecessary, like something beyond what was required. We saw no need for such an urge. We could not perceive its necessity.
Even if the idea of this primary motivating force had presented itself to us, we could not have understood how it might benefit humanity, either in our everyday lives or eternally. It cannot be denied that phrenology, and much of early philosophy, was constructed from preconceived ideas rather than actual observation. The intellectual or logical thinker, rather than the observant or understanding person, imagined designs and assigned purposes to God. Having convinced himself that he understood the intentions of God, he built countless systems of the human mind around those supposed intentions.
In phrenology, for example, we first decided, naturally enough, that it was God's design that humans should eat. We then assigned to humans an "organ of eating," and this organ became the tool by which God forces humans, whether they want to or not, to eat. Secondly, having decided that it was God’s will that humans should continue their species, we promptly discovered an "organ of attraction." And so it went with standard traits like aggression, creativity, logic, and building—in short, with every supposed organ representing an instinct, a moral feeling, or an intellectual faculty.
In arranging these fundamental principles of human action, the followers of phrenology, whether right or wrong altogether, simply followed the methods of those who came before them. They deduced and established everything from a preconceived idea of mankind’s destiny and from what they believed to be the purposes of his Creator.
The analysis continues on the next page...
Continue to Part 2 →
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