The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay
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Unity in Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher
There is a remarkable unity of structure in Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Fall of the House of Usher. Every element in the tale is inextricably linked with the central image of the house itself and is thus linked, and ultimately identified with, every other element: including the Usher family, Roderick, Madeline and the narrator. Everything presented in the story evolves from the unity of this central symbol, expanding throughout the story, only to collapse back into oneness at the end of the tale.
The story begins with the narrator s arrival at the House of Usher. As the narrator observes the house he considers what he knows of its inhabitants. The narrator captures the evolution of the Usher family. This family produced only one male heir in each generation, with the family mansion passing to that heir. As a result, the surrounding villagers began to perceive the house and the family as one. The reader is led to believe that the family built the house and the house evolved from the family. Roderick Usher was convinced that his whole surroundings, the stones of the house, the fungi, the water in the tarn, the very reflected image of the whole, was woven into a physical oneness with the family, condensed, as it were, into one atmosphere the special atmosphere in which alone the Ushers could live. And it was this atmosphere which had molded the destinies of his family (Lawrence 378). Not only did the house become the House of Usher, as the narrator was to discover, but the house took on the resemblance of its heir, Roderick Usher.
As the narrator arrives at the house, he begins to form a mental picture of the house.
The narrator feels a sense of insufferable gloom pervading his spirit. He pauses to look at the mere house, trying to account rationally for its total weird effect. But the scene still produces in him 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. . .an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart an unredeemed dreariness of thought. . .it was a mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered. (Thompson 88)
The now apprehensive narrator continues to the house to meet his boyhood friend, Roderick, whom he has not seen in many years. He is ushered through the house by the valet to Roderick s studio. As he sits, he observes Roderick closely.
Roderick has changed dramatically in such a short period of time. Yet, at the same time the narrator notes these changes, he also is reminded of the remarkable, unfaded character of Roderick s face. His face is such a contrast of remembered features, altered to so great a degree.
Usher s face has a generally decayed aspect, like the house itself, but especially noticeable are his large and luminous eyes and his hair of more than web-like softness and tenuity. This tangled, web-like, silken hair, of a wild gossamer texture, thus imagistically merges the facelike structure of the house with Usher s face, the arabesque expression of which the narrator cannot connect with any idea of simple humanity. (Thompson 93)
Maurice Beebe, emphasizes the physical similarity of the house with Roderick: The wild inconsistency between the house s perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones is the inconsistency which arises from Roderick s feeble and futile struggle to overcome an habitual trepidancy. The crack in the building corresponds to Roderick s struggle against insanity, his effort to maintain his composure against what may be called the kingdom of inorganization. (153)
David Herbert Lawrence goes so far as to explain: . . .it is no surprise to find that the Usher mansion has vacant eye-like windows, and that there are mysterious physical sympathies between Roderick Usher and the house in which he dwells. The House of
Usher is, in allegorical fact, the physical body of Roderick Usher, and its dim interior is, in fact, Roderick Usher s visionary mind (edt. in Wilbur 264).
To understand the relationship of the house to the narrator, it is important to first understand the relationship of the narrator to Roderick. As the narrator stands at the very edge of the tarn, looking into the reflection of the house, he remembers Roderick s letter and the fact that he was Roderick s close and only friend. He also considers the nature of the letter and the reasons given for Roderick s request. It was the manner in which all this, and much more, was said it was the apparent heart that went with his request which allowed me no room for hesitation; and I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still considered a very singular summons (Poe 1158). During the next several days of the narrator s visit, Roderick switches between a gifted and creative maniac and a foreseer of doom. Roderick discusses his impressions of his illness and his superstitions, and these begin to greatly influence the narrator.
As Roderick explains his fears to the narrator, the narrator begins to experience those same fears himself. He begins to share the illusions that Roderick experiences as
his own. It is Usher, for example, who remarks to the suggestible narrator that the house is alive and has exerted a malignant influence on his mind (Thompson 92). Patrick Quinn, in his article, The French Face of Edgar Poe, describes the narrator s experiences as he arrives at the House of Usher. The narrator of this story does not come upon the conditions of everyday life at Usher s house. Rather the reverse: he has left everyday life behind him when he enters upon a scene in which decay and death are the presiding elements. His lapse is into a dreamlike state, and a hideous veil has been let down rather than removed (317).
The longer the narrator associates with Roderick, the more he realizes the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical universe, in one unceasing radiation of gloom (Poe 1161). After Madeline s death and interment, Roderick begins to change. The narrator observes:
At...
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