Q&A: What Doubles can be Identified in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
Edgar Allan Poe, one of the most prolific and impressive authors of all time, established himself as the mastermind behind some of the most renowned works of Gothic literature with just an inky pen and a wildfire of an imagination. In 1839, Edgar Allan Poe published, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” a Gothic tale that would unlock the young minds of the future and unsheath the marriage of romance and horror that is the Gothic genre. One of Poe’s most prominent features in his works, the concept of doubles, or as Merriam-Webster coined it, “having a twofold relation or character,” remains unfailing in its presence and impact. His use of literary doubling greatly influenced the Gothic genre of literature, as it presents the reader with a direct contrast of colors, moods, characters, etc., and offers an opportunity for interpretation and perspective analysis.
“The Fall of the House of Usher,” plants the reader in a dark, gloomy setting as they follow the unnamed narrator navigating their stay at their ill companion, Roderick Usher’s, home: the House of Usher. The narrator discusses the House of Usher as emanating, “a sense of insufferable gloom [that] pervaded [their] spirit.” From the description alone, it is evident that the house has an unmistakably dark presence that causes a visceral reaction from those who lay their eyes upon the House of Usher. The narrator later describes the, “iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torutre into aught of the sublime,” to supplement the uneasy feeling exerted from the house. They even go so far as to use the phrase, “utter depression of soul,” which further drives the idea that perhaps the narrator should simply turn around and flee in the other direction. However, the, “mere house, and simple landscape features of the domain [...and] bleak walls,” describes the more literal or physical appearance of the house, which seems to directly contrast the striking aura. The double is the bleakness of the physical building versus the horrifying and unsettling aura exuding from within. This disparity, a clear demonstration of Poe’s use of doubles, showcases contrast between the physical setting and the psychical environment. It touches upon the concept of fear itself, as fear is simply the thorns that plague the mind’s consciousness. Although the physical home has no particularly striking features, the narrator’s mind creates a feeling of alarm or fright at the sight in which they relay to the reader. In essence, the triteness of the material home lacks in its remarkableness, but does not lack in its emotional parasitism within the onlooker.
When he eventually greets the narrator upon their entrance into the home, Roderick’s, “vivacious warmth,” reassures them of their closeness to him. Just as the narrator is urged to arrive at the House of Usher by his childhood companion, they begin to understand the extent of Roderick’s disease. The observed symptoms include, “morbid acuteness of the sense; 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.” These observations most understandably concern the narrator, as the disease seems to be destroying Roderick from the inside out. Although grim, the symptoms depict Roderick as a source of light or comfort for the narrator, and assumingly vice versa as Roderick seeks the company of his friend, the narrator during this troubling time. Progressing on in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator spends time with his dear friend, alleviating Roderick of some of his emotional peril through painting and reading together. While in Roderick’s bedroom, the narrator notices what seems to be a shadow of a person, Madeline, Roderick’s twin sister. The fact that Madeline and Roderick are twins is a double in itself, one that Poe often implements into his works, becoming with the Gothic genres of literature and general horror. She, too, appears very ill as she “passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and without having noticed [his] presence, disappeared.” The narrator notes Lady Madeline’s disease and the confusion it caused amongst physicians, finally determining Madline a, “gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character.” The “cataleptical” character of Madeline’s condition directly contrasts that of Roderick’s illness. Lady Madeline appears ghostly and far from consciousness while Roderick has a hyper-sensitive sense of his perishability or, more specifically, his humanity. This double classifies itself through the twins’ illnesses as mortal manifestations of life and death. As Roderick is extremely sensitive to his humanness and provides a “warmth” for the narrator, he portrays life and humanity. On the other hand, Madeline captures mortality and the ghostly haunting of a comatose state of being. This double creates a deeper means for analysis, as the concepts of life and death dramatically present themselves in the closing of the short story.
The end of “The Fall of the House of Usher” follows the narrator escaping the decrepit, crashing building, leaving it to sink through the Earth, after witnessing Madeline and Roderick’s demise. The finale of the story begs the question: what just happened? This response is entirely acceptable, as it often encourages the reader to re-read, which is an impressive detail within the Short Story genre. The closing scene reveals the true identity of the title, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The House of Usher is not just the house itself, but also Roderick and Madeline, the flesh and blood living isolated within the building’s dilapidated walls. This double gives the context for the full experience of the conclusion of the story: The House of Usher versus the House of Usher. The House of Usher, specifically Roderick and Madeline, the final members of the bloodline, are directly connected to the physical home. As the Usher family gained wealth, influence, and household-members, the home had a sturdy, cheerful standing within the community. However, as time went on and the home’s members dwindled to a mere two twin siblings, the building wore down and decayed. The lyrics of the song, “The Haunted Palace,” explains the Houses’ journeys from fortitude to deterioration. The House of Usher is the physical manifestation of the power of the House of Usher family’s bloodline. The double meaning of the “House of Usher” not only shows contrast between the two subjects, but their interwoven nature with one another. At the end of the story, when Roderick and Madeline both fall to the ground, stricken by expiration, the material house falls, crumbling to the Earth as well. The title, “The House of Usher,” mirroring within itself demonstrates the meta possibilities of Poe’s impressive doubles usage.
Edgar Allan Poe’s use of doubles remains one of the most impressive literary tactics, and is thoroughly demonstrated in his writing of “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The ordinary material home versus the eerie aura of the home, Roderick’s hyper-life-like illness in contrast with Madeline’s ghostly and deathly illness, and the interrelated connection between the familial House of Usher with the physical House of Usher, are simply a few of the many doubles Poe introduces through his literary genius. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe effectively delves into doubles regarding the physical and metaphysical aspects of the universe, providing a potentially deeper interpretation and experience.
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Sources
1) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double
2) https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.659.8957&rep=rep1&type=pdf
“The Fall of the House of Usher,” plants the reader in a dark, gloomy setting as they follow the unnamed narrator navigating their stay at their ill companion, Roderick Usher’s, home: the House of Usher. The narrator discusses the House of Usher as emanating, “a sense of insufferable gloom [that] pervaded [their] spirit.” From the description alone, it is evident that the house has an unmistakably dark presence that causes a visceral reaction from those who lay their eyes upon the House of Usher. The narrator later describes the, “iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torutre into aught of the sublime,” to supplement the uneasy feeling exerted from the house. They even go so far as to use the phrase, “utter depression of soul,” which further drives the idea that perhaps the narrator should simply turn around and flee in the other direction. However, the, “mere house, and simple landscape features of the domain [...and] bleak walls,” describes the more literal or physical appearance of the house, which seems to directly contrast the striking aura. The double is the bleakness of the physical building versus the horrifying and unsettling aura exuding from within. This disparity, a clear demonstration of Poe’s use of doubles, showcases contrast between the physical setting and the psychical environment. It touches upon the concept of fear itself, as fear is simply the thorns that plague the mind’s consciousness. Although the physical home has no particularly striking features, the narrator’s mind creates a feeling of alarm or fright at the sight in which they relay to the reader. In essence, the triteness of the material home lacks in its remarkableness, but does not lack in its emotional parasitism within the onlooker.
When he eventually greets the narrator upon their entrance into the home, Roderick’s, “vivacious warmth,” reassures them of their closeness to him. Just as the narrator is urged to arrive at the House of Usher by his childhood companion, they begin to understand the extent of Roderick’s disease. The observed symptoms include, “morbid acuteness of the sense; 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.” These observations most understandably concern the narrator, as the disease seems to be destroying Roderick from the inside out. Although grim, the symptoms depict Roderick as a source of light or comfort for the narrator, and assumingly vice versa as Roderick seeks the company of his friend, the narrator during this troubling time. Progressing on in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the narrator spends time with his dear friend, alleviating Roderick of some of his emotional peril through painting and reading together. While in Roderick’s bedroom, the narrator notices what seems to be a shadow of a person, Madeline, Roderick’s twin sister. The fact that Madeline and Roderick are twins is a double in itself, one that Poe often implements into his works, becoming with the Gothic genres of literature and general horror. She, too, appears very ill as she “passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and without having noticed [his] presence, disappeared.” The narrator notes Lady Madeline’s disease and the confusion it caused amongst physicians, finally determining Madline a, “gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character.” The “cataleptical” character of Madeline’s condition directly contrasts that of Roderick’s illness. Lady Madeline appears ghostly and far from consciousness while Roderick has a hyper-sensitive sense of his perishability or, more specifically, his humanity. This double classifies itself through the twins’ illnesses as mortal manifestations of life and death. As Roderick is extremely sensitive to his humanness and provides a “warmth” for the narrator, he portrays life and humanity. On the other hand, Madeline captures mortality and the ghostly haunting of a comatose state of being. This double creates a deeper means for analysis, as the concepts of life and death dramatically present themselves in the closing of the short story.
The end of “The Fall of the House of Usher” follows the narrator escaping the decrepit, crashing building, leaving it to sink through the Earth, after witnessing Madeline and Roderick’s demise. The finale of the story begs the question: what just happened? This response is entirely acceptable, as it often encourages the reader to re-read, which is an impressive detail within the Short Story genre. The closing scene reveals the true identity of the title, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The House of Usher is not just the house itself, but also Roderick and Madeline, the flesh and blood living isolated within the building’s dilapidated walls. This double gives the context for the full experience of the conclusion of the story: The House of Usher versus the House of Usher. The House of Usher, specifically Roderick and Madeline, the final members of the bloodline, are directly connected to the physical home. As the Usher family gained wealth, influence, and household-members, the home had a sturdy, cheerful standing within the community. However, as time went on and the home’s members dwindled to a mere two twin siblings, the building wore down and decayed. The lyrics of the song, “The Haunted Palace,” explains the Houses’ journeys from fortitude to deterioration. The House of Usher is the physical manifestation of the power of the House of Usher family’s bloodline. The double meaning of the “House of Usher” not only shows contrast between the two subjects, but their interwoven nature with one another. At the end of the story, when Roderick and Madeline both fall to the ground, stricken by expiration, the material house falls, crumbling to the Earth as well. The title, “The House of Usher,” mirroring within itself demonstrates the meta possibilities of Poe’s impressive doubles usage.
Edgar Allan Poe’s use of doubles remains one of the most impressive literary tactics, and is thoroughly demonstrated in his writing of “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The ordinary material home versus the eerie aura of the home, Roderick’s hyper-life-like illness in contrast with Madeline’s ghostly and deathly illness, and the interrelated connection between the familial House of Usher with the physical House of Usher, are simply a few of the many doubles Poe introduces through his literary genius. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe effectively delves into doubles regarding the physical and metaphysical aspects of the universe, providing a potentially deeper interpretation and experience.
---
Sources
1) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/double
2) https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.659.8957&rep=rep1&type=pdf
I completely agree with the doubles that you identified in The Fall of the House of Usher. One double that particularly stood out to me is how you described the house itself being a double. The physical description of the gloominess and darkness or its appearance, while also having a bleak and dooming presence within the house demonstrates Poe's fantastic writing when it comes to doubles in literature. I think that the doubles in this story really help accentuate the Gothic tone and are impressive literary tactic to drawing these similarities and contrasts between elements of the plot. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteI like how well you showcased the various doubles within "The House of Usher". Some of them I was aware of when initially reading the story but it's clear that pretty much the entire story revolves around doubles. The double of the buildings vs. the aura is particularly interesting to me, because it's kind of like a simplified version of Roderick's entire character, and could be interpreted as a metaphor or simply a representation of mental health issues. And then of course as Roderick's death (could also be viewed as the death of the Usher bloodline as well) the building also dies, reiterating the connection between the two.
ReplyDeleteI never really knew that there were so many doubles in this story, but I can definitely see how Poe's work is based on them in this story. I find it interesting that so many things parallel each other within The House of Usher and how they add more depth to the possible meanings Poe was getting at. One of my favorite doubles is probably the House in comparison to Rodrick and Madeline, and just how sentient the house seems to be; collapsing when both Rodrick and Madeline fall. Overall wonderful post!
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