Poes The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story which makes the reader feel fear, depression and guilt from the very first page and up to the final scene.
Having read the story up to the end, it seems that Usher and his sister are the most depressive people in the house and a simple guest, Ushers friend who arrived becomes deeply depressed too because of the general conditions and mood in the house.
However, looking at the situation from another angle, it is possible to see that depressed and gloomy atmosphere in the house is much exaggerated because of the pessimistic vision of life by the narrator personally.
Therefore, having read a story attentively, it is possible to doubt the events which took place there and try to consider the situation from another point of view.
The Poes The Fall of the House of Usher is a story about Usher and his family. The house is depicted as the symbol of the atmosphere and relations in the family. From the very beginning the house is shown as the place that gives a sense of insufferable gloom and natural images of the desolate or terrible (Poe, 2000, p. 1264).
The narrator sees the blank walls& with an utter depression of soul& after-dream of the reveler upon opium (Poe, 2000, p. 1264).
Describing the house, the protagonist sees iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart , and barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn (Poe, 2000, p. 1265).
All these descriptions create the gloomy mood before the reader gets acquainted with those who live in the house. Therefore, seeing the health problems the inhabitants of the house have, the reader takes it for granted that the atmosphere in the house is depressive.
Reading of the books, listening to the music and even watching the paintings, in a word, everything the inhabitants of the house do puts the reader to consider the whole situation as depressive because of Usher and his sister.
However, if one takes a closer reading and considers the first lines of the story, everything may be changed.
During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on (Poe, 2000, p. 1264) is the first part from the Poes The Fall of the House of Usher.
Have not seen the house, have not experienced the doom atmosphere there, the protagonist is already depressed. Therefore, this scene makes a reader doubt the events which took place in the story.
Hinzpeter (2012) makes an offer that the first-person-narrator may have suffered from depression or some other sort of causeless melancholy from the very beginning and was therefore easily influenced by the gothic setting (p. 10).
So, it may be concluded that the gothic setting makes the narrator discuss simple life of people who do not communicate with the outside world due to their diseases as a depressive and criminal. The events which happened in the story may be an imagination of the narrator.
However, one detail makes the reader doubt this statement, the perceptible fissure which is not too big at the beginning, and then the fissures are too big at the end and they cause the house fall.
Reference List
Hinzpeter, K. (2012). Unreliable Narration in Poes The Fall of the House of Usher The Narrative Creation of Horror. New York: GRIN Verlag.
Poe, E. (2000). The fall of the house of Usher. In R. Bausch & R.V. Cassill (Eds.), The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (pp. 1264-1277). New York: W. W. Norton.
Over the years, writers have continuously used literary elements to put across their messages. These literal elements differ from writer to writer depending on the type of story under question. Poe in his work, The Fall of the House of Usher and Hawthorne in his work The Birthmark; they have employed different literary elements. They include foreshadowing, analogy, tone, setting, personification, and paradox. Foreshadowing is giving advance indications of what may happen.
The analogy is the illation that things may mean the same if they are similar in some aspects. The setting means the environment and context in which an event is set, and it may include time, characters, or circumstances, especially in fiction. Personification is giving non-human objects human nature.
Tone, on the other side states the quality of someones voice. It also talks of the pitch of ones voice. Finally, paradox means a statement that negates itself. These two stories employ literary elements like foreshadowing, analogy, tone, personification, setting, and paradox.
Use of different literary elements
The first literary element used here is a paradox. Hawthorne posits, It was the sad confession and continual exemplification of the shortcomings of the composite man, the spirit burdened with clay and working in matter, and of the despair that assails the higher nature at finding itself so miserably thwarted by the earthly part (Lauter 1368).
Hawthorne uses this kind of paradox to remark on humanity issues like perfection and imperfection. There is also the use of paradox to comment on spiritual and earthly matters. For instance, Hawthorne points, In his grasp, the veriest clod of earth assumed a soul (Lauter 1368). He contradicts these two issues. While he admits that man is imperfect, he expects his wife to be perfect void of the birthmark.
On the other side, Poe employs paradox widely. For instance, Poe states that there was iciness, a sinking, and a sickening of the heart an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime (Lauter 1216). Poe contradicts himself in the sentence; hence, it is a paradox. The iciness and the sinking heart cannot be boring; rather, this environment should be tense not dreary as Poe puts across.
Personification comes out clearly in these two stories. Poe starts by looking to the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain-upon the bleak walls-upon the vacant eye-like windows, upon a few rag edges-and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees& (Lauter 1218). Here, Poe personifies the house and makes it appear as death itself for it had eye-like windows . Hawthorne also uses personification in his work.
He posits, Had she been less beautiful-if Envys self could have found aught else to sneer at-he might have felt his affection heightened (Lauter 1370). Here he personifies envy stating that he (envy), could have felt his affection heightened. He also says, Sleep, the all-involving, cannot confine her specters within the dim region of her sway& (Lauter 1369). Again, in this example, Hawthorne calls sleep her.
Poe uses a lot of foreshadowing in The Fall of the House of Usher. For instance, he says, white trunks of decayed trees, the black and lurid tarn, and the vacant, eyelike windows Lauter 1218-1219). These words used mainly to describe the house that was to fall later foreshadows how things will turn out to be. These words create a dismal environment and the reader cannot fail to sense that something will go wrong in this short story. Additionally, Poe says, Ushers mansion had, barely perceptible fissure (Lauter 1236).
These perceptible fissures foreshadow the inevitable fall of Ushers mansion. Immediately after Hawthorne marries, the birthmark on his wifes face starts to foreshadow his dissatisfaction. He says their sexual life was, now vaguely portrayed, now lost, now stealing forth again, and glimmering to-and-fro with every pulse of emotion (Lauter 1365). These only foreshadow the fall out that these two couples had in the end.
Hawthorne uses analogy widely as he tries to draw similarities between the birthmark on his wifes face and other objects or occurrences. To Hawthorne, this birthmark had become the spectral Hand that wrote mortality, where he would fain have worshipped (Lauter 1325). He equated this mark to mortality and sorrow, and this is an analogy.
Because his wife had this birthmark, he was doomed to, haunting awareness of his wifes liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death (Lauter 1328). On the other hand, Poe uses an analogy when he, feels a depression somewhat like the after-dream of opium, like the hideous dropping off of the veil (Lauter 1256). He also uses Ushers mansion to represent Ushers life and the fall of the former signifies the fall of the latter.
Tone comes out strongly in these two stories. Poe chooses clear-cut words that bring out clearly the tone of the story. For instance, in describing the violent storm Poe says, it was singular in its terror and beauty (Lauter 1268). He also posits that from the roof came sullen waters of the tarn (Lauter 1270).
The tone here also sounds the impending danger. Hawthorne says, The birthmark in question is a tiny strawberry mark in the shape of a singular mark that bore not a little similarity to a human hand (Lauter 1392). This tone indicates the attitude that Hawthorne had towards his wifes birthmark.
Finally, the setting of these two stories stands out vividly. The setting in The Fall of the House of Usher projects the theme of the story. To reach the house, Poe had to walk through singularly dreary tract of country (Lauter 1203). From this setting, the reader can conclude that the Ushers house is located in a dangerous place; therefore, doomed to crumble.
On the other hand, Hawthorne places Aylmer, the main character, in the latter part of the last century (Lauter 1321). Given that Hawthorne questions a lot about nature and creation, this setting, which is probably at the end of the 1700s, coincides with the rising of positivism in early 1800s. Positivism idealists argued that man could learn everything formally, scientifically or physically
Conclusion
Both Poe and Hawthorne employ a rich variety of literary elements. These include foreshadowing, paradox, tone, setting, personification, and analogy. These literary elements are meant to spice up the stories and help in passing the message that the writers intended to put across. Each of these literary elements is used precisely to bring out specific meaning in the discussed stories. The two stories, The Birthmark and The Fall of the House of Usher are epitomes of well-crafted works that appreciates literary composition.
These are must-read stories because they are rich in style, informative, and fun. Even though they were written many years ago, they remain to be masterpieces in the literature world.
Works cited
Lauter, Paul. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Concise Edition. 1936 ISBN: 0-618-25663-6
The American renaissance refers to the American literature in the 17th century era from 1840s through the Civil War period. The renaissance was characterized by efforts by American writers to develop literary works that reflect native issues such as American history, local dialect and geography. As such, the themes revolved around scientific progress, abolitionism, interreligious dialogue and the situation of the Native Americans.
During the American Renaissance, short fiction stories covered a wide range of subjects including Gothic romance, sea tales, and horror and detective stories, among others. The short stories by Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe are representative of the American Renaissance that explored the political and literary concerns of the time.
Poes Gothic work, The Fall of the House of Usher and Melvilles sea tale Benito Cereno reflect the situation of Native Americans in the 18th century era. In particular, their cultural, socio-political and religious practices and beliefs are the overriding themes in these fiction stories. Both authors explore love and tragedy in their fiction stories in the context of the Native Americans.
While Poe employs reincarnation as a literary theme that involves rising the dead back to life to explore love/family relationships, Melville explores conspiracy and mistrust as the causes of tragedy in his fiction story. While the two fiction stories involve different symbols, themes and motifs, the plot development is similar and has a tragic ending.
The Fall of the House of Usher
The narrator, whose identity is not revealed to readers, enters a house of the Usher on invitation in a dull, dark, and soundless day (Poe 1). The house itself belongs to Roderick Usher, his boyhood friend. The house, according to the narrator, appears mysterious and gloomy with decaying trees and ponds surrounding it. The narrator observes that, though the house is disintegrating in certain places, the entire structure remains stable.
Only small cracks appear in front of the building. He visits his friend after an invitation; a letter sent by his friend Roderick requesting his company (Poe 13). In this regard, Poe shows how mutual trust embodied in friendships and social concern in Native American context.
In fact, the main purpose of the narrators visit is to assist his ailing friend. The narrator mentions that Usher had fewer relatives as only one descendant of Ushers family survived from one generation to another. As such, the family had a direct lineage with not many relatives.
The narrator appears surprised of the status of his friends house, with the inside appearing as spooky as the compound of the house. He notes that his friend is frailer and less energetic than before. Roderick reveals to the narrator that he suffers from fear and nerves.
By confiding in the narrator, Poe shows that Roderick trusted and relied on his friend for emotional support. The narrator also observes that Roderick appeared afraid of the status of the house. Additionally, Rodericks sister, Madeline, is suffering from a mysterious illness, the loss of coordination of ones limbs, which the doctors cannot reverse (Poe 9).
Roderick spends several days playing guitar and singing. The narrator tries to cheer up Roderick by reading him stories to no avail. Soon Madeline succumbs to sickness, and Roderick buries her in the tombs in the basement of the house. He does this to avoid doctors exhuming her body for scientific investigations, as the disease was uncommon.
Here, Poe shows the beliefs that shaped the 18th century cultural practices regarding the dead where prior preparation of tombs was common. Additionally, Poe points out to the status of health research during this period; majority of the diseases were not well understood and their medicines largely lacking.
The narrator realizes that Madeline and Roderick were fraternal twins. For the next few days following Madelines death, Roderick becomes even more uncomfortable and weary. One night, Roderick knocks on the narrators door, appearing shaken and hysterical.
The two proceed to a window, from where they observe a bright gas emission around the house. The narrator explains to Roderick that the gas emission is a common natural phenomenon, not a strange thing. The narrator then reads Roderick a medieval romance story, Mad Trist by Sir Launcelot Canning to die the night (Poe 11).
However, as he reads, eerie noises, which correspond to the storys description, fill the house. Here, Poe shows the superstitions regarding the dead spirits and reincarnation in the 18th century period. Roderick reveals to the narrator that the sounds have been there for many days since Madelines death, and he believes that Madeline was buried alive and is trying to escape from the tomb.
The door opens and there stands Madeline wearing white bloodied robes. She attacks her brother forcing the narrator to flee the house. As he flees, the house cracks along the central frame and crumbles down.
Benito Cereno
In Benito Cereno, Amasa Delano is the narrator and the captain of a ship. The story begins with the ship, Bachelors Delight, anchored off Chile. The narrator and the other sailors spot another ship headed towards the direction of the island. Captain Delano decides to sail over with a small boat and investigate.
When he and the crew arrive at the other ship, the San Dominick, they are accosted by black slaves hungry for water and food supplies. Captain Delano sends his men back to the Bachelors Delight to fetch the supplies and tries to investigate the misfortune.
He meets Benito Cereno, the captain of the San Dominick who appears nervous and somewhat strange. Cereno has frequent fainting spells and subsequently under constant care of Babo, a black servant.
Cereno reveals to Delano that they left Buenos Aires and have been sailing for the past six months. Heavy winds near Cape Horn forced them to throw their supplies into the sea to lighten up the ship. Delano notes that Cereno had many coughing fits as he told this: a condition Delano attributes to mental sickness.
Cereno also reveals that most of his crew had died of scurvy after spending many months on the sea and applauds Babo for his loyalty to him throughout this period. Delano offers to assist Cereno reach the next port, briefly cheering him up. As Delano examines the ship further, he develops mixed feelings about the purpose of the sail.
He observes a young black slave beat a white cabin boy of which Cereno does not intervene (Melville 8). Subsequently, Delano seeks to know the owner of the slaves. Cereno tells him that they belonged to Cerenos friend Alexander Aranda, who had died earlier of fever.
Delano questions Cereno again about their ill-fated sail mentioning Cape of Horn. Nevertheless, Cereno responds, Who talked of Cape Horn? (Melville 16). At this point, Delano becomes suspicious. They later take lunch together in the presence of Babo.
Later it emerges that Babo and the black slaves revolted, killing many of the Spanish crew and redirected the ship to Senegal where they planned to escape. However, before the journey is over, they ran out of supplies. Delano sends his men to recover the ship and holds a trial of the slaves led by Babo.
The trial ends with the execution of Babo over his role in the killing of Alexander Aranda. Subsequently, Cereno becomes depressed. A few months later, he dies.
Plot Development
Although the stories revolve around different central themes, the plot development in the two literary works is similar. The stories start with mischief that is not apparent to the narrator; evolve into misdeeds perpetrated by one party and end with a tragic death of the perpetrator.
Poe starts out by describing the narrators visit to his boyhood friend, who, as it turns out was suffering from nerves and had become so frail. The Usher had a sister, who, the narrator came to learn, was a twin sister to Usher.
Here, it implies that the narrator bore different expectations and knew less of his friend including the consistent sounds that that haunted his friend following the death of his sister. Similarly, Melville starts out with Captain Delano visiting a ship, San Dominick, which apparently had been taken over.
In fact, Captain Cerenos earlier explanation involving unexpected heavy winds that forced them to throw away their supplies seemed to convince Captain Delano. However, as it turns out, a revolt led by Babo left the ships control in the hands of the slaves.
In both stories, the narrator is the main character around whom the story revolves. In both stories, the intervention of the narrator to rescue the situation defines the ending of the story. Captain Delano, on learning the truth behind San Dominicks misfortune instructs his men to take the ship back from the slaves.
He holds a trial of the mutiny leader, Babo, resulting to his execution with his head being placed at the top of a pole. Thus, in Melvilles story, the narrator is portrayed as a just and noble person with a goal to assist the oppressed and disadvantaged in society. Similarly, in Poes story, the main character, the narrator, visits his friend who suffered emotional and physical conditions and tries to help him.
Even after the death of Ushers sister, the narrator consoles his friend and helps him overcome his fears over the houses invasion by ghosts. As such, Poe portrays the narrator as an understanding person who offers emotional support to his friend during the difficult time.
Conclusion
The plot in Poes story and Melvilles fiction work is similar. In particular, the ending in both stories is tragic. In Poes story, the narrator hears the sounds that his friend, Usher, had been referring to, and just then, a door opens where he sees Ushers dead sister enter.
Madeline then proceeds to attack his brother. The narrator flees just in time before the house, which was in a bad state, crumbles down. Usher and his sister die giving the story a tragic ending. Similarly, in Melvilles story, after the trial and the subsequent execution of Babo, Captain Cereno falls into severe depression and dies afterwards giving the story a tragic ending too.
Madeline Usher is quite a mysterious character in Edgar Allan Poes The Fall of the House of Usher . We know her as a sick girl in the story. Her personality seems perplexing because she appears only three times: toward the middle of the story she passes through a remote portion of the apartment ; some days after her supposed death she is seen in her coffin, with the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death ; in the final paragraph but one she reappears to die again, falling heavily inward upon the person of her brother.
It is revealed in the story that her brother Roderick is not merely a sibling but a twin. Inside the Usher house, the unnamed narrator encounters the Usher twins, Roderick and Madeline, whose complexions are cadaverous and who both suffer from excessive nervous agitation . Rodericks condition is worsened by the fact that his sister appears to be dying slowly of an unknown disease. After Madeline died, Roderick appears even more distracted and disconnected; he loses all interest in his artistic endeavors and spends his waking hours wandering through the mansion aimlessly. On a particularly stormy night, the narrator tries to alleviate Rodericks condition by reading to him. The story is interrupted by Madelines sudden appearance, as Roderick announces, We have put her living in the tomb!
When analyzed carefully, readers could delineate that Roderick and Madeline are not separate individuals, but they are one. Roderick represents the mental senses and Madeline represents the physical senses. This is why Roderick is extremely affected when Madeline is debilitated physically by her illness. Roderick cannot concentrate on his endeavors and suffers greatly after her death. In the end, his Roderick falls into madness precipitated by his guilt over the premature burial of his sister Madeline, and equally as significant, his refusal to aid in releasing her, despite his knowledge of her struggles within the coffin.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher .
In scary stories, transformation plays a big role in trying to scare the reader and change their emotions by making the story go from normal to unusual. Usually the writer will have different techniques of doing this, transformation is one of them. Without transformation in a story, the story would not be as scary and the reader will lose interest in the story quickly. Transformation is important for catching the reader’s attention and keeping them interested.
In ¨Where is Here?̈ ̈ a family gets a visit from a stranger that claims to have lived in their house in the past. The stranger asks to look around the house to reminisce, the father and mother let him. Soon, the stranger starts to act very strange towards the parents and they get very anxious and worryful. It says, ̈The father and mother were perplexed by these strange words and hardly knew how to respond.¨ (Where is Here, paragraph 18). The stranger went from acting normal to acting very weird, it made the parents curious and anxious. It makes readers fear that the stranger is planning on something that can put the family in danger and or the stranger is not who he says he is. The transformation in the strangers behavior causes the reader to be at the edge of their seats waiting for the stranger to make an unusual move.
Another example is in ̈the Fall of the House of Usher ̈ which the house transforms over time and transforms based on the mental and physical state of the owner, Roderick Usher. ¨Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.¨ (the Fall of the House of Usher, paragraph 5). As Usher gets weaker and weaker, the house follows and the fissure in the wall grows. Once Usher dies, the house falls apart. This makes the reader build up fear and makes them assume the house is not a normal house and is somewhat “alive” because of how it follows the owner. The story makes the reader sit at the edge of their seat waiting for the fissure to grow and spread or for it to soon make the house fall down.
The next example is in ̈The Raven ̈ the narrator is mourning the loss of his lover, Lenore. He now has to get used to living without her, which is something he does not want to do even though he is forced to. ̈ ̈from my books surcease of sorrow–sorrow for the lost Lenore–For the rate and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore–nameless here for evermore.¨(The Raven, paragraph 1). Losing Lenore was a big change for the narrator because it was someone that he loved a lot, this makes the reader feel for the narrator. After the change in the narrator’s life, which was the loss of a loved one, things don’t feel the same and he will forever mourn his loss.
In conclusion,All scary stories use transformation to change the readers mindset and the way they view the story. Transformations will keep the reader reading the story and keep them wanting to read more and more. Without transformation, stories would not be as scary and they wouldn’t be interesting enough for the reader. All 3 stories ̈The Fall of the House of Usher ̈, ̈Where is here?¨, and ̈The Raven ̈ use transformation to catch the reader’s attention
The literary catalogue of Edgar Poe features bizarre, ghastly, and morbid works. Poe’s short stories are synonymous with gloomy themes and dark storylines. “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are some of Poe’s darkest stories.
Even when highlighting the bright aspects of life such as family and love, Poe does not abandon this dark-themed literary style. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe tells the story of a man who is visiting an old friend. The story is about the remaining two members of the Usher family.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe portrays the Usher family as struggling to survive albeit in a gloomy manner that involves degradation, disease, and death.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is a story that investigates the situations that surround a bizarre family. The Usher family is isolated from the rest of the population and it does not exhibit any signs of normalcy. In addition, the family’s existence has almost become a supernatural phenomenon.
Poe portrays the family as one that is surrounded by an eerie atmosphere that scares the narrator from the start. At the start of the story, the narrator is able to paint a vivid picture of the Usher’s family setting.
The narrator notes that during “the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens… (he came) within view of the melancholy House of Usher” (Poe 2).
Poe’s story tells about the bond between Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline Usher. The unidentified narrator who has been called by Roderick to help diffuse the tension ends up being embroiled in the Ushers’ family affairs. The narrator is only able to survive the fall of the Usher family by running away.
To gain insight into Poe’s perspectives about family, one has to consider his family background. As a child, Poe witnessed several tragedies including losing both his parents before he was three years old. In addition to being orphaned at an early age, Poe’s brother died when he was young.
Rosalie, Poe’s younger sister suffered from a mental illness and subsequently became insane. Poe’s familial misfortunes continued when he was formally adopted by John Allan’s family. It is alleged that Poe was mistreated by his foster father when he was young.
As a young adult, Poe had to drop out from university due to his drinking and gambling. After his foster father managed to get Poe admitted to West Point University, Poe was consequently expelled. It is at this point when John Allan disowned Poe as his son. When Poe was 27, he married his first cousin who was thirteen years old at the time.
Roderick tells the narrator that he and his sister share a special kind of connection. Although this ‘special connection’ is not verified in the story, it alludes to some form of kinship. One assumption that can be made from Roderick’s claims is that he and his sister are involved in an incestuous relationship.
According to the narrator, the Usher family has been locked out from the outside world for generations. Moreover, the family did not welcome any outsiders to their house. Previously, Poe had been married to his first cousin and he was therefore privy to the dynamics of incestuous relationships.
However, instead of defending incestuous relationships the author is against these relationships. According to Poe, the doom that befalls the Usher family is closely tied to the destructive nature of incestuous relationships. When the members of the Usher family declined to allow outsiders into their house, they spelt their own doom.
The incestuous portrayal of the Usher family is Poe’s way of condemning the place of incestuous relationships in the society. The narrator does not feel at ease whenever he is at the confines of the Usher family home. Moreover, he is not able to decipher the nature of the relationship between Roderick and Madeline.
The dilapidated condition of the Usher household echoes the conditions of both Roderick and Madeline, the two surviving members of the Usher family. The family’s building exhibits visible cracks and fundamental weaknesses just like Roderick and Madeline.
In one instance, Roderick tells the narrator that the “mansion exhibits some sought of power over him” (Poe 2). The mansion symbolizes the integrity and legacy of the Usher family. Therefore, Roderick is claiming that the power of his family’s legacy has a great impact on his life.
This can be interpreted to mean that Roderick’s current state is as a result of factors that are beyond his control. The same logic can be used to understand Madeline’s state of health. At one point Roderick tells the narrator that even doctors cannot figure out Madeline’s ailment.
The mystery of Madeline’s disease prompts Roderick to bury her inside the house. By so doing, Roderick denies doctors the chance of investigating what killed her sister. However, it later emerges that Roderick’s actions were in bad faith.
The only family in this story is the Usher family. Consequently, the only family bond in the story is that of Roderick and Madeline. In a characteristic manner, Poe leaves the nature of Madeline and Roderick’s relationship as a mystery. Nevertheless, the actual nature of this relationship is the key to Poe’s portrayal of family.
While some speculate that Roderick and Madeline are in an incestuous relationship, others claim that the two are one person split into two. This latter proposition is supported by the fact that Roderick’s chances of survival wane after he buries her sister. Eventually, the two siblings’ existence comes to an end at the same time.
The relationship between Roderick and his sister can also be interpreted to be supernatural. Poe portrays the Usher family as having a relationship that is hard to define and one that borders on the supernatural. This portrayal might be the key to Poe’s core understanding of family. According to Poe, family is a complex unit that borders on the supernatural.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is an eerie account of an isolated family. The house of Usher’s account resonates with Poe’s dark writing style. Poe portrays a family that is isolated from the rest of the world at its own peril. Even the strong bonds between the family members of the Usher family are not enough to save the family from doom.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher, New York, NY: Langworthy & Swift, 1903. Print.
It is tempting to ascribe to events and characters those supernatural and irrational qualities that author tries to enforce on readers. But what in literary world seems to be unconditioned and free-floating “eidos” in reality is determined by scientifically constructed patterns and laws. Thus, we need to rely more on the common sense than on the visionary and esoteric perspective. Science tends to transform literary multidimensial space in transparent casual plane. So, let’s follow it in this effort, while discussing Poe’s story The Fall of the House of Usher.
From the beginning of the story when narrator comes to the Usher’s house on his invitation, we can easily that Usher’s behavior which would later form the symbolic fabric of the story is determined by the number of symptoms that can be scientifically identified. Among them are hyperesthesia (high sensitivity to light, smells, and sounds), hypochondria and hyper anxiety. So this deceases that can be easily discerned and analyzed are main reasons for Usher’s strange behavior and thoughts such his believe that the house he lives in is sentient and that this particular sentience results from the specific arrangement of the vegetation and masonry circling it.
After Usher’s sister dies they decide to hide her body in the house’s vault. After a week narrator and Usher become anxious. This can be explained not for some mysterious reason as a coming storm or some irrational reasons but more likely by the fact that Usher’s anxiety and psychological instability transmitted to narrator, thus creating the atmosphere of something entirely supernatural taking place. Common sense could also explain this strange atmosphere by the coming storm, which must be understood not as some mysterious force but just as simple nature phenomenon.
The supernatural features of the story are also exaggerated by the fact that the bog surrounding the house glows in the dark like it glowed in the painting of Usher. This is also simple nature phenomenon determined by the natural law and the fact that bog glowed in Usher’s painting too is simply a coincidence.
When narrator reads the story of The Mad Trist and light-electric and sound effects start to fill the house as the story unravels it can be easily explained that the strength of the storm and the mystique of the story interlaced to produce this affect on those men’s consciousness.
Then, the comeback of Usher’s sister which was considered to be dead and then her real death with her brother can be explained by the fact that she never died and her death was the play of Usher’s imagination. Moreover, Usher could simply place her sleeping in the vault and that explains why she died in real after coming back. A week in vault without water and food made her naturally sick and she got finally exhausted. Usher was so psychologically destructed that after seeing his sister, who he considered dead was so stunned that died of fear.
Finally, the destruction of the Usher’s house can be explained by the fact that its base was not solid and the change in weather conditions caused it destruction. Moreover, the level of Victorian engineering was not so high so there could be some deficiencies in house construction.
As we see, rational and common sense explanation is the only possible way to understand the reality even if it is depicted in the literary form. Everything that happens has its natural grounds – this is the lesson of Enlightenment and we, modern people must follow it and do not fall into esoteric prejudices debunked by the pace of science and technology, which are the liberating force of modern civilization.
In its essence, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Poe is similar to his other short story “The Black Cat.” However, instead of the narrator, a person of insanity is observed through someone else’s eyes. Both stories possess dark imagery and symbolism of burial behind a wall, which in turn lead to gloom imagery of the Usher house and family that serve as a direct contrast to the narrator.
Both “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Black Cat” have imagery of burial behind walls. In “The Black Cat” the narrator uses the wall as a hiding place to put away the body of his murdered wife. It is a cowardly and fearful burial, meant to hide a hideous act. Meanwhile, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the burial of Madeline was the last farewell to send the woman to her grave. Both burials happened under strange circumstances and caused people discomfort. The entombment in the wall can be seen as an improper burial, and those with belief in the supernatural, such as the narrators or Roderick Usher, could be haunted. However, it is most likely a psychological phenomenon of being overwhelmed by guilt. In “The Black Cat,” the narrator is persistently haunted by a cat whose reality is questionable. In “The Fall of the House of Usher.” There are hints that Madeline was buried alive or that Roderick had something to do with her death judging from his behavior. Both narrators suffer from psychosis in modern psychological terms. The burial in the wall serves as a catalyst to their behavior and anxiety.
From the first lines of the story, Poe establishes the gloomy atmosphere of the Usher house in the narration. “The shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher” (Poe 64). Melancholy served as the expression of the Usher house, as it was in the heart of Roderick. The narrator uses heavy imagery to give a sense of darkness and bleakness to the house, almost overwhelming him at first. Poe writes “…utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation” (64) to give a sense of the eerie atmosphere emanating from the house. Analyzing the mood and colors of the Usher house, scholars state that the imagery presents a connotation for the reader of what awaits inside the house. The house is a direct representation of the lineage of Usher, and perhaps even a reflection of Poe himself (Avelar 174).
The house’s gloomy tone serves as a contrast to the characterization of the narrator. It can be considered symbolic, as the narrator is a small light entering the depths of darkness, and in the end barely managing to escape as the House of Usher plummets into metaphorical hell. The character is not well described, but it is known that he is a childhood friend of Roderick Usher. Through the narration, the man is kind and hopeful. “It was the apparent heart that went with his request…I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still considered a very singular summons” (Poe 65). The narrator is willing to come and dedicate weeks of his life to spend time with an ill but long-forgotten friend. With dedication, the narrator helps Roderick bury and mourn his twin sister, and attempts to heal the melancholy by reading and singing to Usher. However, the protagonist is always placed as an outsider to the ongoing events, helpless to affect anything, acting as an observer as the events unfold. Finally, the dark atmosphere begins to burden the narrator, and as everything comes crashing down, he manages to escape in horror of events witnessed.
The dark imagery and symbolism of burial within walls directly reflected on the gloomy atmosphere of the house and contrasted with the kindhearted nature of the narrator. A connection can be made between these writing elements that Poe masterfully utilized. In turn, this allows the reader to be immersed in the story and make a psychological analysis of the characters.
The essay is a critical examination of how evil and good are portrayed in two literatures; Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. The Tempest is thought to have been written between 1610 and 1611. The story revolves around a remote area in which Prospero the main character is trying to ensure that together with his daughter they get back what is rightfully theirs.
Ideally the play lets the reader know that Miranda and her father were kicked out of their rightful position by Antonio, Prospero jealous brother. This leaves them stranded for 12 years and Miranda’s father is working day and night to reclaim their deserved position. Through such efforts, it is evident for the reader to clearly see through Shakespeare glasses the manner with which good and evil as themes are clearly depicted (Shakespeare par.5).
The second literature that will be used is The Fall of the House of Usher written by Poe. It is a short story of Gothic horror narrated in first person. The work was published back in 1893. In this gothic story, readers are told of the family of Usher; Roderick and his twin sister Madeline.
The two suffer from a disease which is unknown and cannot be cured. Their transgression which includes mental illness and incest are clearly brought to light by the author. To successfully accomplish this task, it would be rational to provide an understanding of the terms evil and good. In this context good will refers to that which is morally right. This means that good is that which helps and does less harm to others in the society.
On the other hand, evil is that which is not morally acceptable. It is an act of not being concern about others as well as knowingly and intentionally seeking to harm the interest as well as welfare of other human beings. It is worth to acknowledge that there is a controversy between good and evil and as suggested by other scholars hence difficult to determine whether one is evil or good (Herman 234). However, for the purposes of this paper every act will be analyzed independently.
Portrayal of good and evil in ‘The Tempest’
In the play The Tempest, Shakespeare has managed to clearly depict evil and good through characterization. It is through such characters as Prospero, Miranda, Ferdinand, Alonso, Ariel, as well as Antonio among others that the audience can see good and evil as intended by the author (Cantor 106).
In the beginning of the play readers are made to clearly understand that Prospero’s jealous brothers with the assistance of Alonso who was the King of Naples was toppled and set adrift with his daughter who was only 3 years old. This is an evil and inhuman act done to him and his daughter. The main reason that drove Antonio to do this was because of his selfish interest in gaining power to rule the people of Milan. This is shown in the following line
[Wow, is it exposition time already? Okay, kiddo, listen up: I used to be the duke of Milan, but then my asshole brother and the King of Naples put you and me on a boat and we ended up here]
On the other hand, through secretly supplying the boat used by Prospero with adequate food, water, clothing as well as books from his study room, Shakespeare manages to make readers understand that this was a good act. This was done by Gonzalo who was counselor to the King. Another act of evil is depicted when Ariel was trapped in a tree. This was the work of Sycorx who was a witch who trapped the later for his own selfish gain.
Despite his help to Ariel and teaching Caliban religion and other important things such as language, it was evil for Prospero to enslave Caliban and Ariel and later took power ad controlled the people living in the island. This is exemplified in the words said by Caliban, “You taught me language; and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid you, For learning me your language” (Cantor 71).
Similarly another act of evil is portrayed through an attempted rape where Caliban attempted to rape Miranda. Shakespeare wanted the audience to know how some evil acts are directed to certain gender. It is worth noting also that evil can be done by a group of people. The author makes the readers understand that the rebellion planned by Caliban, Stephano and Triculo failed (Graff & Phelan 49).
It is indeed difficult to establish whether it was good or evil for Prospero to raise tempest through his magic making the ship carrying his brother Antonio, Alonso, Gonzalo and two of Alonso’s brother sons to capsize. However since he did this to revenge, it was an evil act as portrayed by the author.
Shakespeare has tried to make readers hold the view that the acts of the various characters resulting to a good or evil activity is largely motivated by how every person perceives his position relative to those of other characters. Interestingly, the concept of evil and good has been successfully portrayed through the various themes in the poem. For instance, it is due to power that the readers are able to establish the motives behind the actions of Prospero and his brother Antonio (Grant 89).
Portrayal of good and evil in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’
In this story, the author manages to bring the concept of good and evil in a completely different way when compared to the first article written by Shakespeare. Nonetheless there are instances where there seems to be some similarities. It is worth noting that Poe managed to use imagery to bring about the concept of evil (Kennedy 47).
For instance, it has been widely accepted that darkness is associated with evil things. In the beginning of the story the narrator while visiting his friend describes the surrounding and he uses the following words, “During the whole of a dull and soundless day……. When the clouds hung oppressively” (Krutch 62) this clearly depicts that there was an act previously committed that was morally wrong.
Additionally the narrator describes how the house of his childhood friend looked like; he said “I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (Kennedy 74) It is no doubt that Usher residence was one place that a lot of evil had taken place that even a new visitor will be met with a sad environment.
Additionally Poe manages to portray evil by making the narrator fully describe how the house of the Ushers looked like. This not only depicted the nature of evil but also its consequences; it fully destroys a family. The decaying and crumbling building symbolizes the effects of evil (Auberlen 207).
[I looked upon the scene before me – upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain – upon the bleak walls – upon the vacant eye-like windows – upon a few rank sedges – and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees – with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium – the bitter lapse into everyday life – the hideous dropping off of the veil.
There was iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart – an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime] (Poe par. 6).
Through the narrator and Usher Roderick the readers are made aware of incest in Usher’s family. Upon arrival of his friend, Usher makes his childhood friend understand that the illness he is suffering from is a ‘family evil’ (Walter 98).
The narrator since was a long-time family friend to the Ushers, clearly knows that the family did not allow any member to be married by other members of the society and for that reason they engaged in inbreeding. This led to a very weak blood-line of the family since the family became one and the same genetically. As a result majority of the family members died due to complications related to inbreeding leaving only Usher and his twin sister who are also suffering from a deadly disease (Corben 153).
Through Madeline, the nature and effect of evil is depicted. She also suffers from serious disease that is unknown and incurable. Madeline and Usher engaged in an intimate relationship despite the fact that they were siblings. Similarly the cries heard while the narrator was loudly reading a story to comfort Usher as well as the crumbling and submerging of Usher’s house is a symbol of evil (Poe, par. 12). This is supported by the following.
[…my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder – there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters – and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the “House of Usher] (Poe par. 40)
This is the ultimate punishment for engaging in morally unacceptable activities. It is also worth noting that through Usher, his act of prematurely burying his twin sister was morally unacceptable. Interestingly, through paintings and music, the author manages to use these tools to bring out the concept of evil and good.
Concerning morally acceptable deeds, the narrator has taken the duty of heeding his friends call. He pays Usher a visit since they were childhood friend. It is through the narrator that we see that he takes the responsibility of staying; talking and comforting Usher who was very seek. Additionally the narrator helped Usher lay the body of his sister in a tomb within the family house. From the short story it is apparent that the issue of evil outweighed good (Poe par. 3).
Conclusion
From the review of the two stories, The Tempest and The Fall of the House of Usher, it is evident that the theme of evil and good are clearly depicted. However the authors used different mechanisms to accomplish this. Shakespeare managed to use characters to portray good and evil.
For instance it is through the main protagonist Prospero that other characters are developed conveying the same themes. On the other hand, Poe used imagery and symbolization, painting, music and first person narration through an unnamed narrator to portray good and evil. For instance Poe uses terms such as ‘mansion of gloom’, ‘a ghastly pallor of the skin’, and ‘darkness’ among others. This makes readers understand all these are linked to evil activities.
The common ground to both the authors is with regards to theme development, where the evil and good are manifested through characters. Although the authors used different mechanisms to portray the theme of evil and good, readers are able to appreciate these classical works. From these two classical works, it is apparent that evil is bad and leads to serious consequences.
Works Cited
Eckhard, Auberlen. “The Tempest and the Concerns of the Restoration Court: A Study of the Enchanted Island and the Operatic Tempest”. Restoration: Studies in English Literary Culture, 1660–1700, 15.1 (1991): 71–88. Print.
Cantor, Paul. “Shakespeare’s The Tempest: The Wise Man as Hero”. Shakespeare Quarterly, 31.1 (1980): 64–75. Print.
Corben. Richard. Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales of Terror, London: Del Rey, 2005. Print.
Graff, Gerald and Phelan, James. The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy, London: MacMillan, 2000. Print.
Grant, Patrick. The Magic of Charity: A Background to Prospero, Oxford University: Oxford University Press, 1976. Print.
Herman, Barbara. The Practice of Moral Judgment, Harvard University: Harvard University Press, 1993. Print.
Kennedy, Gerald. Introduction: Poe in Our Time, collected in A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe. Oxford University: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
Krutch, Joseph. Edgar Allan Poe: A Study in Genius. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1926. Print.
In this article, Walter Evans discusses the narrative style of Edgar Allan Poe and speaks about the peculiarities of such a short story as The Fall of the House of Usher. This novella occupies a distinctive place in the creative legacy of this writer, and it is included in many collections or anthologies. This literary work has always attracted a close attention of many literary critics who intend to study the literary elements and techniques used by Poe.
On the whole, Walter Evans believes that this literary work does not comply with narrative principles advocated by Poe in many of his critical articles (Evans 137). Moreover, in the author’s opinion, Poe adopts a dramatically different narrative approach which was virtually unprecedented in the nineteenth century. Thus, the readers should consider this issue in order to assess this short story.
These are the main arguments that this scholar tries to elaborate in his discussion. In his critical works, this writer lays stress on the necessity to create the “preconceived effect” by inventing or combining the so-called “incidents” that enable the author to grasp the attention of a reader and produce a specific impression on the audience (Evans 138). In this case, the word incident is used to describe various elements of the narrative that help the writer to achieve his/her goals.
This writer believed that every literary element had to be subordinated to the main effect that the author tried to produce. This method was advocated by many writers in the nineteenth century. Poe applied this approach to many of his short stories. Yet, Walter Evans believes that Poe does not use this principle while writing The Fall of the House of Usher. The scholar describes this short story as “a series of vivid and superficially disjointed images” (Evans 140).
Apart from that, in Evans Walter’s view, the narrative elements do not play an important role in this short story. There are some important events that are critical for the development of the narrative, but Edgar Poe does not pay much attention to them. For instance, one can mention the alleged death of Lady Madeline (Evans 140). Furthermore, the readers know very little about the factors that contributed to the downfall of Roderick Usher. This is the major distinctions that the scholar identifies.
Overall, in this short story, Edgar Poe uses literary elements that help him create vivid imagery. In particular, one can speak about the use of metaphors that are necessary to create striking descriptions of the house in which the main character lives (Evans 143). These descriptions produce a strong impression on the readers who want to know why this house is depicted in this way. This is why this detail should be taken into account. Additionally, these literary devices are importa
This description help readers place themselves in the position of the story-teller. Overall, Walter Evans argues that The Fall of the House of Usher can be viewed as the example of a lyric short story in which the sensations of the protagonist are more important than different elements of the plot (Evans 144).
This issue should not be disregarded because it is vital for the evaluation of this short story. This approach was later adopted by many writers in the twentieth century. In particular, it is possible to mention such authors as Sherwood Anderson and James Joyce.
The author’s discussion shows that Edgar Poe could depart from the aesthetic principles which he discussed in his critical reviews. However, in this way, he was able to create innovative works of literature. These are the major points that the scholar makes in this article. One can argue that this article can be of great use to people who are interested in the works of Edgar Poe.
His literary legacy is still closely examined by many critics, and his narratives are still open to various interpretations. Furthermore, this source can help a reader understand different approaches to writing short stories. So, this information can be useful for analyzing various narratives created by other writers. More importantly, the source can help readers better appreciate fiction. These are some of the main benefits that can be distinguished.
This is why this article can be of great interest to students or even teachers. Certainly, the reading of this source may require some background knowledge. For example, one should learn more about the works of Edgar Poe and his views on literature and story-telling. Additionally, students may read various short stories written by this author. In this way, one can better understand the arguments that Walter Evans makes.
This is one of the limitations that should be considered. However, this article contains an in-depth and thought-provoking analysis of Poe’s short story, and it can show how one can examine a work of literature, especially the techniques used by the authors. This is why it should not be overlooked by the readers.
Works Cited
Evans, Walter. “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Poe’s Theory of the Tale.” Studies in Short Fiction 14.2 (1977): 137-144. ProQuest. Web.