answer:
the fall of the house of usher is a classical celebrated literal work of american author, edgar allan poe. it is a horrific tale, which incorporates incest, sickness, evil, death and lunacy with a setting of an ancient desolate and decaying house of usher. the story commences with the narrator arriving at a castle on an autumn evening. roderick usher inhabits the house with madeline usher. in a letter to the narrator, roderick usher had implored the narrator to pay him a visit. the narrator had honoured this invitation in visiting roderick. the houseās walls are bleak and the grounds gloomy. a small lake encircles the mansion and reflects on its image. in the first paragraph that serves to build the story in the mind of the reader, he describes the decay that ominously permeates from the house of usher. voloshin postulates āpoe presents transcendental projects which threaten to proceed downward rather than upwardā (pg. 19). it implies that even though the work is transcendental in meaning, but decaying in character.
roderick usher aptly illustrates this by remarking āsuffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses" while madeline is afflicted with "a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptic character" (poe 1465). voloshin intimates that "madeline matches her brotherās pallor, but her special mark is a faint blush when she is interred and blood on her garments when she emerges" (22). these characters in their portrayal are disintegrating instead of a rebirth.
it is the perfect use of gothic imagery and horrific happenings that illuminates the psychological element and abstract symbolism. poe is remarkably effective in prose and while he obviously puts his effort into projecting some theme in his work, it is perhaps the skilful use of prose that is more remarkable than any of these. he uniquely engages the mind of the reader in this insidious journey through the carefully chosen words, and subjects him psychologically to anxiety and provokes into engagement with the narrators experience in this journey.
the narrators words, āunnervedā by the sight of the house of usher represents the connection between the conscious and physical, which in itself projects the coleridgean dejection which effectively blends the psychological and physical cause (voloshin 21). the fall of the house of usher is indeed a psychologically intense event. it requires the participation of the mind of the reader in the enactment of the scenes through the effective use of unity and intensity to bring out the intended effect.
the narrator beholds the mansion after arrival and the grounds again. there is an eerie atmosphere described as āpestilent, mystic vapourā overhanging the scene. the building is in disrepair, the painting is discoloured and surprisingly, even though individual stones are crumbling, the building is apparently stable. after crossing the bridge the narrator is then ushered into the āstudio of his masterā and there he meets usher, who is lying on the sofa. the narrator remarks that usher had remarkably changed in appearance since the last time that he had encountered him and he looks sickly and pale. āhe suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the sensesā¦ the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.ā this frightens the narrator, who is horrified at his own susceptibility to the departure from life for which every mortal being is wont to, at some juncture in their lifetime. āi feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when i must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, fearā.
ābut, as i placed my hand upon his shoulderā¦ a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and i saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presenceā (poe 328). roderick usher represents the actions of the unconscious mind. the hidden beliefs, attitudes, and fears he has interferes with his everyday life. his heightened senses begin to drive him wild as if the glimpse of light, the taste of food, the smell of a flower, throws off his train of thought. dark, gloomy, bitter; heās stuck in a state of depression almost impossible to overcome. he begins to distance himself from the outside world, knowing only of what he reads in books of philosophy. after burying his disturbed twin, madeline, as if what he thought was her death, he soon realized that the constant voices in his head were coming from her. āmadman! i tell you that she now stands without the do
