Essay on "Edgar Allan Poe the Fall of the House of Usher"

Essay 4 pages (1537 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe. Specifically it will discuss whether the story is a sincere expression of horror, or whether Poe is simply mocking himself and the reader. Like a perfectly constructed Gothic tale, Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" illustrates the gothic traditions of doubling, haunted houses, and mysterious, brooding landscapes. It is the quintessential Gothic nightmare, and perhaps Poe created it just to put on the reader and parody the Gothic horror structure so popular at the time.

Poe opens this foreboding tale with the gloomy landscape. He writes, "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 the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher" (Poe). Thus, from the very opening of this tale, Poe sets the stage for Gothic horror and misfortune. Nothing good could come from this gloomy landscape, and ultimately, nothing good comes from the story. In classic Gothic fashion, it leaves the reader with a sense of dismay and melancholy as the house slowly implodes on itself, removing any trace of the Ushers and their pathetic lives. Poe is a master of this form of horror, and some critics feel "Usher" is one of his best short stories. Its structure and form could be used as an example of the perfect Gothic horror tale, with its many doubles, stories within stories, and eerie characters. One critic notes, "As critics have long noted, 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is carefully structured, with the interpolated (and previously published) poem, 'The Haunted Palace,' positioned appropriately in the middle to function as a mise en abyme, a miniature of the story that contains it" (Peeples 179). This is just one example of doubling in this story - there are many others, from the twin Ushers to the vault where Madeline is entombed and the vault in Roderick's macabre painting, doubling creates tension and interest in the story, and keeps the reader always on the lookout for more examples of Poe's dexterity as a writer.

The house itself takes on the Gothic tone of the story, as Poe describes the dwelling. He writes, "While the carvings of the ceilings, the somber tapestries of the walls, the ebon blackness of the floors, and the phantasmagoric armorial trophies which rattled as I strode, were but matters to which, or to such as which, I had been accustomed from my infancy" (Poe). His descriptions, though dark, are vivid and bring the house to life, and give the reader the same sense of foreboding the narrator feels. It draws the reader into the story until they feel as if they are walking the halls and seeing the dim walls themselves. Critic Peeples continues, "[H]e shows how powerful such stories can be, and, [...] achieves the spine-tingling effect that can come only when one is not thinking 'this is only a story' but is instead under the spell of, or 'inside,' the text" (Peeples 185). Such is the power of Poe's descriptions; they bring the brooding house and its occupants to life, and could be the ultimate representative of Gothic horror fiction.

So, is Poe putting the reader on? Is this tale simply his attempt at adding every accepted element of Gothic fiction in an attempt to parody the literature? It could very well be. At least one critic sees the story as parody. Critic Peeples notes, "The narrator's paradoxical description of the house's construction has suggested to various readers an Enlightenment tradition still standing but about to collapse, the similarly precarious conventions of Gothic fiction employed and parodied in 'Usher'" (Peeples 182). Since the story contains just about every accepted element of Gothic fiction, it seems Poe has quite decidedly added them to create the ultimate Gothic story, and thus, it is a parody of itself, and a put on to the readers who find it the ultimate Gothic horror tale. Of course it is, Poe created it to be just that, at least it seems so, anyway.

Many elements of the tale simply do not make sense, which is another element of Gothic fiction that many people overlook. The two remaining Ushers are twins, and yet the narrator does not know Roderick had a twin. This does not make sense, considering how the narrator notes he is familiar with the house, and good friends with Roderick. Indeed, the entire situation in the house is ludicrous if the reader really thinks about it. Roderick sends for his friend, who he has not seen in year, because he is fearful of the house and its affect on him, and yet, he does not leave the house, which would be the logical solution. Another critic writes, "[T]he complication which sets the plot of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' in motion is the summons that the hermit-like Roderick Usher has sent to his childhood friend, the narrator tells us, in the hopes that the 'cheerfulness of my society' might alleviate Usher's mysterious and melancholy malady" (Boyd). Many of these elements simply do not add up, but they form the basis of the story. Poe seems to be saying that Gothic fiction simply did not make sense, and the horror elements were too fantastic to believe, which again points to the idea of parody in this work.

Other critics also see Poe's work as a humorous form of parody. Another critic states, "It would seem that Poe is interested in creating more than just a bizarre story or incisive parody -- his dual critique and enactment of the gothic in 'The Fall of the House of Usher' represent an exploration of the very nature of gothic textuality itself and its effects (both aesthetic and psychic) on the reader" (Hustis 3). Thus, Poe's work is the ultimate compliment to Gothic fiction, it parodies it to poke fun, but it celebrates it in the parody. Critic Hustis continues, "Instead of safe havens and reliable narrators, Poe gives his readers and critics a house of mirrors; the resulting dynamic of interpretive uncertainty makes up his texts" (Hustis 3). "Usher" in fact "ushers" in a new way to view Poe's fiction, and Gothic fiction in general. For the most part, critics seem to take Poe's work too seriously. Instead, they should look to his work for humor and parody, and seek out those elements in all of his works, not just "Usher." Poe's humor is often overlooked, but viewing his stories for the humor instead of the macabre gives them new light and new importance, and it just might bring some new elements of Poe's literary mind to the attention of a new generation of readers.

The climax of the tale leaves the reader speechless, because it offers such complete and utter destruction. Poe writes, "[M]y 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). There could be no other conclusion for a story like this; the house had to consume itself and its owner, because there was no other place for the story to go. Clearly, Usher would not leave his ancestral home, and the home itself was possessed with great evil, so it had to be destroyed. For the parody to work it had to end in utter defeat, there was no way it could end happily or successfully. Other Gothic works, like… READ MORE

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