Like many of his other works, Poe’s (1839) the Fall of the House of Usher has taken on considerable significance, particularly within the field of literature. This is in large part to the historical context in which this story was written, speaking to themes of mental illness and oppression and how together, they can impact the body and spirit, especially when these themes are also environmental and structural (e.g. in the walls of the House of Usher). In the following paper, these themes as described by Poe will be explored, particularly in interaction as they helped define the gothic style in literature and art while speaking to broader social and cultural conditions at the beginning of the modern era. In addition, his use of contrast, between his melodic diction and the gloomy subject matter, fiction and autobiography as well as that of the self and other, namely himself and Roderick, and the blurring between them will be discussed in this paper as in addition to the wider socio-cultural relations in which his piece was written, they will highlight some of the main reasons why this fictional, somewhat horror-like story has been the subject of considerable discussion and debate.
Several things are clear at the opening of the Fall of the House of Usher, the most immediate of which is that the story is one of doom and gloom as the first sentence is concerned with a day that is entirely dull and dark and filled with a force so oppressive it weighs down even the clouds. Poe begins to take the reader on a journey written so thoughtfully yet simply at times that despite the sense that this story will not be one of fairy tales or happy endings. It is also evident that he is travelling to the House of Usher, a house that is very significant and symbolic to the narrator, not only because its owner, Roderick Usher, was a longtime companions since boyhood has fallen ill. Although the author admits he hadn’t seen Roderick in many years, he was invited to the House as apparently, he represents the cheerfulness of his society, obviously different from his friend’s, and thus might offer a malady.
What is not yet clear is why the narrator views this visit as what he refers to as a “summons” in going to see his ill old friend at this House and why House represents far more than a structure with rooms and four walls to him. However, given his description of the deficient character of the Usher family line, which implies incestuous relations, when it is noted that Roderick remains the proprietor of the House, and as such, the House is representative of this deficient character. This deficiency is seen as the narrator personifies the objects in his view as he approaches the Mansion, namely vacant windows that appear as if someone is looking out of them, ghastly tree-stems and gray sedge, all signs of lifelessness. Given that Roderick has a “mental disorder which oppresses him,” (p. 3) just as the clouds oppress the day, it seems this lifelessness that surrounds the house might foreshadow what awaits him inside the house, namely the death or Roderick, or his death soon forthcoming.
Until the reader learns the fate of this symbolic lifelessness and deficiency, a considerable part of the story is dedicated to richly describing Roderick’s illness, in part because unlike dominant beliefs at the time that mental and physical health were disconnected, it is evident that this illness manifests in the illness of both. For example, Poe describes Roderick’s “now ghastly pallor of the skin” as well as “an excessive nervous agitation” (p. 5). It is also apparent the “melancholic” mansion of the House of Usher is also a cause of such illness. For the narrator, like the whole of the dark and dull day, the House was surrounded by “an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn — a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued” (p. 4). In this way, Poe advances the idea that illness is not caused by individual or lifestyle factors, but rather through generational, environmental, and atmospheric ones. Indeed, this holistic view of health, or more specifically illness and death as multi-causal was novel at the time, largely because health and illness were the domains of medicine, not “oppressive” forces, and as such cannot be treated through a medical model, if at all given the pervasiveness of impending and actual death.
Despite the rhythmic and artful use of language used throughout, many gory details are spared throughout the story just as one might assume, they would not be. For example, when the narrator was informed that Madeline had met her death, and “that the lady Madeline was no more” (p. 10). Similarly, Roderick’s request for the narrator to help him bury Madeline’s body under the house is described not unlike the weather report. However, in contrast, that which can’t be objectively observed, namely the unknown is described most prolifically, luring readers into what is clearly a world of fear, death, darkness and haunting. This is defined as the “supernatural,” or what the narrator describes as superstitious impressions in the House dwelling which gave way to a supposititious force whose influence was made known in terms “too shadowy” for words that obtained the spirit of the Usher siblings. It is this theme of a dark shadowy force with influence over one’s spirit that both frightens and lures readers and/or audiences is central in the gothic style as well as in entire genres such as horror which has expanded dramatically into various sub-genres (e.g. thriller, slasher film, etc.) evident in literature and media today.
As predicted and foreshadowed, death arrives in the story, first with Madeline, who we learn is the twin of Roderick and thus, anticipates the same fate. However, the simplicity used to describe Madeline’s death by Roderick also speaks to their capacities to be able to have the narrator read a medieval romance story with a title that has meaning far beyond the literal called
“Mad Trist” by Sir Launcelot Canning to calm Roderick’s increasing hysteria so no one can discover the truth about Madeline, a truth that he embodies as well. Again, the gothic theme arises in that Madeline’s ghost appears, which they learn was the source of noises heard by Roderick for many days. And, in true gothic style, bloodied reborn Madeline attacks Roderick to his death leaving the narrator to flee as the house that was increasingly lifeless fulfilled the cycle of the seasons, bringing autumn to winter, and the House to fall to ashes.
In reflecting back on the story after reading it, additional observations arose for me that added a further understanding of how craftily this story was written in less overt themes. For example, I realized, the narrator’s internal world, physical or mental health are lacking, especially in relation to Roderick, and his sister Madeline, who it is soon revealed is a product of incest like her brother. And, also like her brother, Madeline is not surprisingly; very ill as it seems their lineage and environment within and beyond the dark, haunting walls of the Mansion cannot be escaped. Nevertheless, the narrator need not reveal such details per se as despite the words that seem so descriptively alive, they speak to his own beliefs, attitudes, mood, and overall mental state. In this way, particularly as the story progresses it seems as though Poe is speaking to the idea of perspective, that one’s outlook on life determines much of its pathway, unless of course one has an encounter with a vengeful spirit of superstition like Madeline.
The aim of this paper was to point to and discuss some of the main themes that were apparent in my reading of the Fall of the House of Usher by Poe. These included mental illness with a particular focus on how Poe conceptualized it as not simply a product of “madness,” but of several causes, the worst of which cannot be observed or fully known. The theme of lifelessness and impending death was also discussed, akin to Poe’s starting the story on perhaps the darkest, gloomiest autumn day before winter arrives and freezes all life out of the earth. The contrast between graphically, intricately described phenomenon, most notably the superstitious, the bloodied ghost of Madeline versus those described with extreme brevity was also illustrated, a contrast that comes to blur somewhat, like the living and the dead. And, it is in the richly textured and layered writing used to describe death and a sort of rebirth that contributes to a fascination of reading more about this dark unknown that even though readers know will almost certainly lead to the death of any and every living organism in its presence. Lastly, the ways in which the theme of the self and other was reflected in the story was detailed in this paper as was the lack of clarity between one and the other as at times, it seemed the narrator and Roderick were enmeshed.
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