The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

A writer and translator who has lived in Harlem, New York, since 1839, possibly Polish in origin (the Narrator says that he translates literature into Polish under the pen name of Issachar Marx, though he doesn’t state his nationality explicitly), Ernest Valdemar is, when the story opens, at the point of dying of phthisis (a medical condition that is likely a form of tuberculosis). The Narrator describes Valdemar as already looking like a corpse before he has died, and he is evidently extremely ill. When he first speaks with the Narrator, he agrees to participate in an unprecedented experiment in mesmerism—having a state of trance induced just at the point of death—and says that he will inform him when the time comes. Seven months before the story’s opening, Valdemar informs the Narrator that his doctors have estimated he has about 24 hours left to live, and so begins the experiment. The Narrator tells us that Valdemar has a calm acceptance of his impending death, and this is perhaps the reason he agrees to participate in the experiment.

Once he has been placed in a trance, we can infer from the events of the story that he eventually dies while under hypnosis but remains in a mysterious state of suspension between life and death, sleeping and waking for seven months while the Narrator and doctors observe him. Valdemar, along with the Narrator, is the only character whose dialogue is directly quoted in the story, and most of this is fragmented, urgent speech delivered in an unearthly, terrifying voice from within his trance or beyond the grave, in which he eventually implores the Narrator to allow him to die or put him back to sleep when they decide to finally awaken him. His body ultimately collapses into a liquid mass at the end of the story. Even though we mostly see Valdemar in the trance and his dialogue conveys a severely limited capacity to communicate with those around him, he is the closest to a dynamic or round character in the story, as Poe allows readers to glimpse Valdemar’s agony and his dismay at being trapped in the limbo of the trance at the point of death; though he agrees to participate in the experiment, it is clear that, by the end of the story, the unexpected nature of the result causes him to regret this and he seeks to be released from the prison of his dead body.

Mr. Theodore L—l is a medical student the Narrator enlists to aid him in his experiments. Similar to the unnamed Narrator, Mr. L—l’s identity is anonymized, with all but the first and last letters of his surname redacted. He is assumed to be trustworthy and competent, as the Narrator tasks him with taking detailed notes of everything that occurs during the experiment. The Narrator states that much of the story’s text is in fact sourced from L—l’s notes. Ultimately, when Valdemar speaks for the first time after he has died, L—l “swoons” (i.e., faints; 101) and needs to be revived by the Narrator and doctors. Unlike the first set of attending nurses, Mr. L—l stays the course and returns to the house after he has recovered from the shock of Valdemar’s terrifying speech. He returns with the Narrator and Drs. D– and F– during the ensuing seven-month period during which Valdemar remains mesmerized. 

Mr. L—l’s function within the narrative seems to be a very basic one—to provide another trained witness to legitimize the Narrator’s events of the story and to function as another reason for readers to believe this account of inexplicable events. Aside from this, we do not learn much about his character. He is a static and flat character who undergoes no change and has no real trajectory.