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There are multiple ways to pronounce Berenice, including with a hard 'c' of the ancient Greek from which the name derives, and Poe gives no hints on what pronunciation he intended. The other character being named Egaeus also calls Greek to mind. Still, for the modern audience, a soft 'c' will likely sound the most correct, so that is what I went with.

There are quite a few poems and stories where the characters have weird, obscure names of uncertain pronunciation - I wish Poe had left behind some hints on what he expected for the pronunciations he had in mind. Ah well, we muddle long as best we can.

Also, Poe and his love of French. Grrrr!! There's also some Italian and Latin in there for which my pronunciation may be suspect...

Apparently this story generated a storm of complaints at the time it was published, about the violence implicit in the story. Mind you, just implied violence, not violence actually depicted. Still, when you contemplate the implied violence, it is extremely revolting, so I can understand the public disgust with it even without it having been explicitly written into the story.

To follow along: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2148/2148-h/2148-h.htm#chap2.21