The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

The motif of sleep is present in a literal sense and a figurative sense throughout the story, feeding into the Liminality of Death and helping the reader to explore the concept of the body versus the mind. The practice of mesmerism aims to put its subject into a trance, or a sleep-like state, and the Narrator achieves this with Valdemar, causing him to slumber undisturbed for seven months. Much of the story’s tension derives from the Narrator’s attempts to discern if, and when, Valdemar enters into the mesmeric trance, and, once he is satisfied that his experiment has indeed been successful, to discern whether Valdemar is still alive (and only sleeping), or dead.

Sleep is a sort of hazy midway point between a more active, living status, and totally passive death; Valdemar’s hovering in a state of strange sleep or trance makes his condition always mysterious, a source of intrigue exploited by Poe. The Narrator constantly asks Valdemar if he is “sleeping,” and readers are left in anticipation as to if and when he will awaken. Notably, Valdemar is also stretched out on his bed during almost the entirety of the story, his personal bed becoming his literal death bed by its end.