Literary Analysis As with many of Edgar Allan Poe's pieces, 'The Fall of the House of Usher' falls within the definition of American gothic literature. According to Prentice Hall Literature, American Gothic Literature is characterized by a bleak or remote setting, macabre or violent incidents, characters being in psychological or physical torment, or a supernatural or otherworldly involvement (311). A story containing these attributes can result in a very frightening or morbid read. In all probability, the reason Poe's stories were written in this fashion is that his personal life was fraught with depression, internal agony, and despair.
Evidently this is reflected in 'The Fall of the House of Usher. ' Conjointly, Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' properly displays elements of American Gothic Literature through bleak setting, macabre incidents, and supernatural presence. Many great stories contain a very fanciful setting to establish believability in the mind of the reader. The author constructs a particular setting as a motive, to create conflict, or to create a mood. A story written in the American Gothic style takes place in an outlandish, dismal location, usually to build a feeling of discomfort in the reader.
Such is apparent in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' at the very beginning when the author describes the house, '... —but with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.... 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 the few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of the soul... the hideous dropping off of the veil,' ('The Fall' 312-314).
Words like gloom, bleak, decayed, depression, and hideous conjunctively allow the reader to paint an eerie image in the mind's eye. Poe utilizes these words to set the medium from the onset of 'The Fall of the House of Usher. ' Similarly, in Poe's 'Masque of the Red Death' a chilly and despondent scene is created through the description of the seventh room. 'The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon the carpet of the same material and hue. .. The panes were scarlet—a deep blood color.... There was no light of any kind... but in the western or black chamber the effect of the firelight that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme,” (“The Masque” 342). Poe brilliantly uses color to achieve the desired mood. The color black often represents melancholy or death. Scarlet, of course, exhibits the color of blood. Poe exploits the use of these two colors, black and scarlet, to create a feeling of macabre.
Violent or macabre incidents are often used in American Gothic Literature to present imposing, though quite unsettling, portraits of the human experience by way of terror. Poe accomplishes this in “The Fall of the House of Usher” at what time Madeline Usher reappears at the end of the story, covered in blood and kills Roderick Usher. “There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame.
For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold—then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated,” (“The Fall” 328-329). Poe creates a similar a similar mood at the very beginning of the 'Masque of the Red Death' when he describes the Red Death itself. 'No pestilence had ever been so fatal, so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and it's seal—the redness and the horror of blood.
There were sharp pains and sudden dizziness, and then profits bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour,' ('The Masque' 340-341). One would imagine that given Poe's ongoing battle with tuberculosis he was most likely preoccupied with death, which is reflected on both 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'The Masque of the Red Death. As is well know, one of the symptoms of advanced tuberculosis is the coughing up of blood. Poe uses blood to symbolize death in both stories. Psychologically and physically tormented characters appear in American Gothic Literature to satisfy the reader's latent desire to participate within the story at a cerebral level. It is important to have the human element in any giving situation so the reader has someone to empathize within the story. Although Roderick and Madeline Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher' are both certainly delirious, Edgar Allan Poe provides the reader with more examples of Roderick Usher's mental anguish.
Roderick Usher vocalizes this towards the end of the tale. ''Not hear it? —yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long—long—long—many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it—yet I dared not—I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movement in the hollow coffin. I heard them—many, many days ago—yet I dared not—I dared not speak! ... Madman! Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door,'' ('The Fall' 328).
Roderick Usher's fear and insanity has paralyzed him from investigating what is actually going on in the tomb, yet Poe cleverly fails to provide the reader with the knowledge of exactly what Usher is thinking. Hence, the reader is left to his own thoughts or conclusions as to how insane Usher has become and the reasons for his insanity. Conversely, in 'Masque of the Red Death' Prince Prospero doesn't admit his insanity, but rather falls into denial, spending the entire story trying to avoid the Red Death.
When the figure finally approaches, Prince Prospero responds in disbelief, charges the Red Death, and is stuck down. 'When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image... he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of terror or distaste; but in, the next his brow reddened with rage.... It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that seized upon all.
He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached... turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry–and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero,' ('The Masque' 347). Through these examples, it can be assumed that Poe believed in importance of acknowledging the behavior of individuals under most drastic circumstances. The Gothic dimension of Poe’s fictional world offered him a way to explore the human mind in these circumstances and so arrive at an essential truth.
For Poe, it is only in these extreme situations that people reveal their true nature. Edgar Allan Poe utilizes the American Gothic Style to tell short stories that captivate readers. His use of bleak setting sets the mood for his stories. The use of violent scenes expresses human nature through horror. Tormented characters allows the reader to enter into the minds of the individuals. All of these element's are exemplified in Edgar Allan Poe's personal life. Given his complexities, the mind of Poe will be analyzed forevermore.
Author: Arron Johnston