Morella is a Gothic Horror short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in April 1835.
The narrator has been married to Morella, a woman with scholarly knowledge that she shared with her husband. However, her health deteriorated over time, eventually dying in childbirth - but not without promising that she will die yet she will live.
As their daughter grows, he notices the uncanny resemblance between her and her late mother, and never gave her a name. By her tenth birthday, the resemblance is so noticeable that he resorts to having her baptized in the hopes whatever evil has hold of her would be released, but something else happens that would have a consequence on him.
The story made an appearance in the Roger Corman anthology film Tales of Terror, along with The Black Cat and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar.
The earth grew dark, and its tropes passed by me...and among them I beheld only - Morella.
- Death by Childbirth: Morella dies after giving birth to her daughter.
- Death of a Child: After the narrator gives Morella’s name to his daughter at the baptism without thinking, the child suddenly dies. At that moment, she seems to say “I am here!” with her mother’s voice, seemingly accomplishing Morella’s promise.
- The Lost Lenore: Morella becomes this for the narrator after her Death by Childbirth, to the point where he doesn’t give their daughter a name for ten years because she reminds him of his wife too much.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It has been debated on whether paranormal activity really was occurring on the narrator's daughter, or if he was imagining it all because of his own Sanity Slippage and his inability to forget Morella.
- No Name Given: For ten years, the narrator never gave his daughter a name because of her resemblance to her mother until the baptism.
- Victorian Novel Disease: During their marriage, Morella's health began to decline due to a potent illness before dying in childbirth, though it's not stated what exactly she was dying from.
