THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE GOTHIC ELEMENTS IN EDGAR

ALAN POE THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

Using : interpretation of dreams Freudian theory and others

By : Dali Amel

Delbeze Sara imane

2013

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Acknowledgment:

We want to thank our families and friends for supporting and encouraging
us. We would like to thank also our supervisor; Ms Nafa for her openness,
generosity and patience with which she assisted us with writing our Research
Paper.

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Acknowledgment …………….………………………………..……i
Content …………….……………………..……………………..…..ii
Abstract ……………………………..…………………….…….......iii
Introduction …….………………………..……….………………....1
Chapter One: Characters’s Analysis ……………………................5
The Narrator’s Nightmare………………………..…....6
Roderick’s Madness .................................…..….........11
Chapter Two: Themes Involved ………………..…...….................15
The Incestuous Relationship of the Twins……...........16
Death and Sickness ….…………………………...…..23
Chapter Three: Setting and Atmosphere .......................................28
Setting ..….……………………………………….…..29
Atmosphere …………………………………………..32
Conclusion ...…………………………..…….….……….…………35
Bibliography……….. …………..….………….….………………..38

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Abstract:

In Poe’s The Fall of the Houses of Usher, there are many gothic elements.
Our paper explores some aspects of it following psychoanalytical approach, and
Freudian theory of the Uncanny and Interpretation of dreams. In the first chapter
we consider the whole story as a narrator’s own dream. We analyze, as well
Roderick’s insanity which are underlying in this particular tale. In the second
chapter, we will focus more in themes of sibling Incest and Death and Sickness
as ingredients of the gothic fiction. In the last chapter, we study the dark setting;
the house and its atmosphere as incorporating elements of Gothic mode.

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Introduction:

The fall of the House of Usher is a central reference to Gothic fiction within
the Romantic Movement; it explores the capacity for experiencing fear, hysteria
and madness. All that lies on the dark side of the mind; what lurks on and beyond
the shifting frontiers of consciousness. It seems that Poe’s short story , is about an
unusual anxiety of life, an all-consuming terror, and a unique perspective on death
and supernatural.

Typical distinguishing features of Gothic writing are dark settings, sinister

characters, and a frequent use of supernatural elements. These are considered as
one of its most important hallmarks. Supernatural phenomena are manifest in the
presence of apparition, ghosts, dead wandering people, weird noises and sudden
natural disturbances.

In defining Gothic Literature, Elizabeth Mac Andrew refers to the

protagonist’s hidden psyche and thus, to a psychoanalytical reading of Gothic

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fiction. In doing so, she points to the uncanny that evokes “pity and fear”1 and
describes the foundation of the uncanny house of literature. According to her,
Gothic authors make their readers experience ideas about human nature and the
place of evil in the human mind.

Mac Andrew’s definition, does not only enumerate the typical characteristics
of the Gothic novel, but also engages in a psychoanalytical reading of the
characters. The Gothic literature especially, evokes the question of reading in the
characters and the reader, and lets the latter try to find an answer to the questions
aroused in a specific situation. In this fiction genre, the reader, like the fictitious
character, experiences often feelings of fear and horror. Authors of Gothic fiction
like Edgar Allan Poe try increasingly to integrate the scientific methods into their
works. Their aim is to give sociological and psychological insight; human’s inner
conflict, self-alienation, and mental disturbance increasingly expand into
literature. As a result, the Gothic became fantastic; the author expresses the
awareness and understanding of psychological phenomena. However, as
hypnosis, animal magnetism, hallucination, mental disorder, psychological
obsession and instability were very discussed in society. These elements became
dominant phenomena in the later writing about the uncanny which focuses on
man’s psyche.

Sigmund Freud’s asserts that: “the uncanny undoubtedly belongs to all that
is terrible, to all that arouses dread and heaping horror”2. In fact, we are
frightened of uncanny phenomena from the supernatural elements. As we will see,
the characters of the chosen literary composition feel hunted by something they
are unable to define. It evokes their senses of anxiety which easily develops into
sublime and also madness.

1
Elizabeth Mac Andrew. The Gothic Tradition in Fiction. New York. Columbia. 1997. P04
2
Sigmund Freud. The Uncanny. 1919. P368

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 In our research paper, we intend to present a psychoanalytical study of The
Fall of the House of Usher following The Freudian theories. Our study is
established by interpreting different imageries, symbols and literary devices that
are used within the story. Also, we analyze the story through decoding different
comparisons, metaphors and metonymy used in the short story.

Our paper is divided into three major chapters. In the first chapter, we expand
our focus on the characters. We concentrate on the representation of their Gothic
characteristics by applying different practices of Freudian theories used in his
Interpretation of Dreams. This chapter is further divided into two parts. The first
part is connected with an analysis of the Narrator through the writer’s use of
literary devices; symbolism and imagery. We intend to try to prove that the story
may be considered as the Narrator’s dream. Thus, our point of departure is to
analyze the Narrator’s nightmarish excursion and define causes of such a dream.
The second part is about Roderick Usher’s insanity. In this part our aim is to find
evidence from the tale to show that this character is completely mad and has
mental disturbance.

In the second chapter, we deal with themes that are proposed in the story. It
is also divided into two major sections. In the first one, we examine the theme of
Incest by applying Freudian principles concerning “Phylogenetic endowment”3.
We elaborate on details from the tale to demonstrate that Roderick and his twin
sister may share incestuous relationship, because of the curse which has been
following their family. In the second section, we deal with the theme of Death and
Sickness, by showing that life and death share a fine line that can be easily
replaced by each other. We try to identify the illnesses of the siblings; the
cataleptic state of Lady Madeline and the physical decease of Roderick who is

3
Phylogenetic endowment: Psychodynamic theory . Part II chapter two Freud psychoanalysis .p.24.
Freudian term means rejected wishes which are forbidden

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carrying the burden of being an Usher, and trying to find a solution to his own
family.

The last chapter is about the setting and the atmosphere analysis. First, we
consider how description is effective in the short fiction. As an author of the
nineteenth century, Poe uses the environment of the Gothic fiction, influenced by
the architecture of the Goths; Poe manages to provide the recognizable building
blocks of the Gothic tale. We thus attempt to emphasize that the story has a
gloomy mood and its setting is more important than its plot. Our second aim is to
show how psychological terror and horror are embedded in the tale. We try, also,
to demonstrate how the House itself is affecting and interrelated with its habitants,
and is affecting on the reader.

In the conclusion, we talk about the issue we raise at the beginning and restate
it, that The Fall of the House of Usher is the Narrator’s nightmare; we summarize
the content and purpose of the paper.

Chapter One

Characters’s Analysis

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The Narrator’s Nightmare:

According to Freud, Dreams are shadows of the unconscious. In The

Interpretation of Dreams, Freud proposes that “a dream is a (disguised)
fulfillment of a suppressed or repressed wish”. He assumes that “dreams have
meanings, albeit a hidden one that they are intended as a substitute for some other
thought process, and that we discover the hidden meaning of the dream.”4 In these
depictions, Freud asserts that the person’s dream has to do with its circumstances,
and a clue must be found behind the dream to identify its meaning.

In Edgar Allan Poe‘s short story The Fall of the House of Usher, we consider
the short story as a dream. Thus, we suggest that the story is a fulfillment of the
Narrator’s repressed wish. It represents the Narrator’s nightmarish journey into

4
Sigmund Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Abon books.1919. p08

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his irrational anxieties –madness- which his ego experiences. This situation is
provoked mainly by his unconscious fear of death. This section suggests that the
actions took place in the mind of the Narrator while this one stayed at the House
of Usher. It also discusses the dream imagery present in the story, and it supports
this theory. Our aim is to develop this idea and apply it through the interpretation
of the hidden and manifest content, namely literary devices, especially imagery in
the tale.

The story is told from the Narrator perspective only. Because of his
rationality, the Narrator is invited by his friend in order to bring him back his
senses and to help him deal with his problem. That is the expectation from his
coming, but the irony is that the contrary happens later. Reading on the story, we
notice the Narrator’s inability to explain what happens in the House.

Not long after arriving at the Usher residency, the Narrator of the story is
consistently being lost in his own fancy: "nor could I grapple with the shadowy
fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered - there grew in my mind a strange
fancy.” (The House of Usher p.15), these lines demonstrate how the Narrator is
not in the right state of mind and this can be a prelude to his madness. The
Narrator's madness can also be attributed to his severe opium usage; otherwise,
he would have never know sensations of after-use of drugs: "with 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 - the bitter lapse into common
life” (pp.11-12). Since the Narrator could use a drug that is as powerful as opium,
his mood constantly changes and always to the extreme of his emotions. Just
mentioning the "after-dream" gives some context to what keeps on happening
after the use of the drug. The Narrator continues to lose himself, which is similar
to a fancy that is similar to that of an opium dream experience: "I listened as if in
a dream to the wild improvisations of his speaking guitar” (p.24). He once again
becomes separate from reality and enters a dream-like trance. Even though some

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of his thoughts and assumptions come true, the basis on which he makes them is
under the category insane. He continually describes what it is really like to use
opium and the after effects of it (p.12). It is situations like these that lead the reader
to believe that the Narrator is living a nightmare, especially when the Narrator
observes Roderick’s voice as “modulated guttural utterance, which may be
observed in the moment of the intensest excitement of the lost drunkard, or the
irreclaimable eater of opium.” (p.20)This quotation suggests once again, the
Narrator’s excessive use of opium and alcohol and keeps giving mental reflections
of his unconsciousness.

When the Narrator sees the House for the first time, he discovers that
Roderick and Madeline’s lives are unavoidably decaying. As he approaches the
House, he faces a “dread” and “oppressive atmosphere” (p.33) It makes him pace
around from the nervousness and depressive aura emanating from the House; all
of which sounds like a dream. The introductory paragraph of The Fall of House
of Usher lends evidence to the reemergence of affects once repressed. The scenes
and situations in this tale are always concrete representations of different states of
mind. In “upon the vacant eye-like windows” (p.11), the window may symbolize
the conscious inner eye of the Narrator who tends to peep into the mystery within
the House.

According to Elizabeth Mac Andrew, an important critic of Gothic fiction,

the English genre is defined as follows: “In declaring Gothic literature as a
literature of nightmare” …“dreams landscapes and figures of the subconscious
imagination” and explores “the mind of man.”5, hence, our short gothic story can
be regarded as a dream of the Narrator, since the entire story is a projection of the
Narrator's mind. It has an atmosphere of mystery and terror reinforced by the use

5
Elizabeth Mac Andrew. The Gothic Tradition in Fiction. New York. Columbia. 1979. P03

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of various images. The Narrator keeps referring to his dreams and he awakes as
his nightmare reaches its climax, and his dream and the House collapse. (p.24)

Romance novels could also be a representation of how the Narrator and his
friend cannot pretend enjoying the real world, but must occupy themselves by
created worlds: "Here is one of your favorite romances. I will read and you shall
listen - and so we will pass away this terrible night together" (p38). They choose
to read the Mad Trist of Sir Launcelot (p.38), when the Narrator reads a story out
loud to calm his friend down in an extreme storm, all that he reads, he hears. He
starts to hear things and imagine them, and he starts to react to them. All that
happens after the Narrator helps Roderick burying Madeline alive. The Narrator
gradually becomes infected by Roderick’s fear. He concludes “it was no wonder
that his condition terrified – that it infected me” (p.35). This all took place during
a storm that could have made all those sounds:

“I did actually hear…a low and apparently distant, but harsh, protracted, and
most already conjured up” (p.41).The voices and sounds pull him out of the true
reality and put him in a twisted one: “as if I listening to some imagin ary sound”
(p.35). He even compares his feelings and allusion to be like “concrete reveries
of Fuseli” (p.25) Fuseli who is famous for his nightmare imagery in his paintings6.
The Narrator’s many references to dreams and his difficulties in distinguishing
waking from dreaming seem to be falling into a self-enclosed dream state, which
could be taken as the dreamer’s production of his own nightmare.

The Narrator seems to assist the decay going on around his by forcing on
negative images of demons and sorrow. He feels “An irrepressible tremor
gradually pervaded my frame; and at length, there sat upon my very heart an
incubus of utterly causeless alarm” (p.36). On the night of the catastrophe, the
Narrator experiences the same depression and terror which had oppressed

6
Johann Heinrich Fuseli’s famous painting is “The painting of a nightmare” which offers the image of the dream
of a woman surmounted by a demon.

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Roderick throughout the tale. It becomes obvious that his mental balance is being
disturbed by his environment, and by Roderick’s madness. “I felt that I should
sleep no more during the night, and endeavored to arouse myself from the pitiable
condition into which I had fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through the
apartment”(p.36). He cannot sleep: “He struggles to reason off the nervousness
which had dominion over me” (p.35) and tries in vain to reason off the depression
which has taken hold of him: “but my effort were fruitless” (p.36). Because he
feels that Madeline is alive and would come soon to do the same with him. And
that probably emphasizes one more time his fear of death since he says that: “It
was … after the placing of the lady Madeline within the donjon, that I experienced
the full power of such feeling.” (p.35)

The Narrator has lost control of his fantasy world so that it has become all of
reality. Even if Roderick calls his friend “mad man” (p.44) twice in the story, we
realize the madness of the Narrator at the moment Roderick decides to bury his
sister in the basement. The Narrator seems convinced by Roderick’s reasons for
doing such a terrible and irrational act, while he should not. We can notice how
the Narrator’s insanity reveals that he is living a bad dream. But then, he has been
in the House for many weeks and is obviously affected. In the last scene, he is
almost in as much fear as Roderick is. As Madeline rends her tomb and kills her
brother with fear, the Narrator beats a hasty retreat just in time for the mansion to
fall. We can consider that the climax as the end of a terrible nightmare.

Both Roderick and the Narrator want to escape the night rather than face
what lies ahead of them. Instead of facing problems they run and hide from them.
This is also a form of repression that will lead both characters to madness as a
result of isolation from the rest of the world. Hence, the story could be probably
a retelling of a dream of the Narrator where he leaves behind the waking, physical
world and journeys inward toward his ego, his inner and spiritual self. Thus,
Roderick may be regarded as the Narrator's visionary soul or his imagination.

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 Consequently, the Narrator is so filled with fear that he imagines the events.
It is a fulfillment of his repressed wish of death which is due to his sojourn in the
creepy and old Mansion. The Narrator's powers of reasoning fail him, forcing him
to abandon the fruits of rationality for the more unsettling notion that one is
immersed within the sea of the psyche.

Roderick’s Madness:
The mad, or in terms of today’s language, mentally handicapped character in
The Fall of the House of Usher is Roderick Usher, the master of the mansion, who
is the first person described by the Narrator. There is no doubt about his insanity
from the very beginning of the story and the reader is acquainted with this fact
through the Narrator’s observations. Even Roderick Usher himself claims his
madness on many occasions. When he first admits it in the letter he sends to his
friend, he speaks about “nervous agitation - acute bodily illness” and “a pitiable
mental idiosyncrasy which oppressed him.” (p13), this quotations give evidence
that Usher knows about his illness and is able to admit it. In his madness, he is
still able to see that there is something wrong with him.

The Narrator goes on describing Usher’s personality: “His reserve had been
always excessive and habitual.” (p.13), with this on mind, one has to say, that
Roderick’s behaviour at their first meeting with the Narrator is a little bit
surprising: “Upon my entrance, Usher arose from a sofa on which he had been
lying at full length, and greeted me with vivacious warmth which had much in it,
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I at first thought, of an overdone cordiality,—of the constrained effort of the
ennuyé man of the world.”(p18), from this point of view Usher seems to be an
eccentric person only, but his mental illness has also altered his appearance. Thus
his physical appearance and mental state are intertwined:
“Surely man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a
period, as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that I could
bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with
the companion of my early boyhood. […] The now ghastly pallor of
the skin and the now miraculous lustre of the eye, above all things
startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to
grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated
than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its
arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity” (pp. 18,
19).

Usher’s behaviour was remarkable for the sudden changes of mood. As the
Narrator finds out that all Usher’s problems have roots in his physical illness:
"He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was
alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors 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."(p21)

Roderick is aware that he is mentally ill and fears that he “must perish in this
deplorable folly.” (p21). Many quotes show it; he talks about the “intolerable
agitation of soul.”(p21), about this “unnerved pitiable condition - struggle with
the grim phantasm, FEAR.”(p21). Even though many symptoms of Usher’s
madness are described, we still cannot be sure whether they really exist or whether
they are only product of Usher’s hypochondria. And for Magistrale and Poger
“The protagonists in Poe’s fiction cannot and do not subsist outside the physical
sphere in which they dwell.”7 Consequently the plot of this story contains
Roderick, who does not go out, that is why, on three separate occasions the
Narrator refers to Roderick as a hypochondriac: “There arose out of the pure
abstraction which the hypochondriac contrived to throw upon his canvas.” (p.25).

7
Sydney Poger , Tony Magistrale,. The Connection between the Tales of Horror and Detection. New York.
Lang publishing. 1999. P15

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The protagonists of Poe as mentioned by Hammer: “Are not merely physically
restricted to a confined space, but are also socially and psychologically detached
from reality.”8
Roderick is also considered not to be mad, he is probably cognizant, and
Hammer argues that: “the melancholic poet could bring out beauty in that which
was dreary and sad.” 9 . Roderick is an artist, and the Narrator was astonished by
his skill when saying” I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of
his speaking guitar.”(p.24)
After Lady Madeline’s burial, Roderick Usher’s behaviour changes
remarkably. We can clearly see Roderick turning into a Taphephobic person.
Roderick fears that the same thing might happen to him, he feels powerless to
avoid or prevent this, especially since at that moment he would be unconscious,
or even if he were conscious, he would be unable to move himself, or by any sign
or word to inform the people that he was not yet dead, but still alive. The Narrator
comments on this situation as follows: “His ordinary manner had vanished”-“His
ordinary occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to
chamber with hurried, unequal, and objectless step.”(p34)
The longer time passes from Lady Madeline’s entombment, the stranger
Usher’s behaviour is. On the last stormy night Usher enters the room of the
Narrator who describes his friend in the following way: “His countenances, as
usual, cadaverously wan— but there was a species of mad hilarity in his eyes—
an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanor.”(p37) Roderick’s twin
sister Madeline is also ill, her illness is with a strong probability responsible for
his mental state, and he maybe feels that the only solution for saving himself is
death. Kenneth Silverman asserts that “Roderick is attempting murderer a part of
himself through the premature burial of Madeline.”10Usher believes that only

8
Espen Hammer.Melankol-en filosofik,Goteborg:Daidalos.2006. P23
9
Espen Hammer.Melankol-en filosofik,Goteborg:Daidalos.2006. p65
10
Kenneth Silverman. Edgar A. Poe Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. Paperback Edition. New York.
1991. P151

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death can put an end to both his mental disorder and for the curse emerging from
his ancestors.
Finally, the Narrator himself starts to feel that his personality and his
perception change under the influence of his host. He hears and sees strange things
he is not able to explain:“ Sleep came not near my couch – while the hours waned
and waned away - I stuggled to reason off the nervousness which had dominion
over me.”(p35)
The atmosphere in the House of Usher is falling on him heavily and alters
his rational thinking into an irrational one:“ What I felt, was due to the
phantasmagoric influence of the gloomy furniture of the room – of the dark and
tattred draperies.”(p.36) He comes to the House as a man who believes in reason,
but obviously is not without feelings which he manages to describe in full colours.
In this character, one can observe a shift from reason to the mysterious and the
unknown. On approaching the House, the Narrator says that: “a sense of
insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.”(p.11). He keeps on repeating that the
House is producing “sorrowful impression.”(p.12) on him.

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 Chapter Two

Themes Involved

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Incest:
Incest is something that is widely considered as taboo by most cultures and
societies in the world mainly because of its sickening nature. It occurs when a
prohibited sexual relation happens between very close relatives of opposite sex.
It has many serious effects that can lead to destroy a family. Likewise, in our short
fiction The Fall of the House of Usher, there are clues that suggest that the evil
infecting the House of Usher is Incest. This effect leads us to perceive dark
undertones in the story, specifically in the conveyance of the attitudes of Roderick
and Madeline Usher. In The Fall of the House of Usher, Incest is an issue
throughout the story and Edgar Allan Poe constantly uses contextual symbols and
imagery to expose characters traits and to help us better understand the events that
occur. This chapter will focus on deciphering literary motifs, devices and
imageries of this theme within the story.

In observing the connection between unconscious thought and conscious

thought, the father of Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud notes that not all

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unconscious processes spring from repression of childhood events. He believes
that a portion of our unconscious originates from the experiences of our early
ancestors that have been passed on to us through hundreds of generations of
repetition. He calls these inherited unconscious images our ‘Phylogenetic
endowment”11. Freud’s notion of “Phylogenetic endowment” may explain a
person or relationship where incestuous behavior occurs. Freud says that we are
all repressing incestuous urges.
Our aim is to prove that there is suggestion of Incest among members of
the Usher family. Also we intend to show that the twins may love each other and
do have an Incestuous relationship, and are suffering probably from the long term
effects of Incest.
Throughout the story we realize that the relationship between brother and
sister is not a normal sibling bond. We also see that the siblings themselves are
not normal in all the aspects of a human being especially Roderick who is a very
unusual being who has many odd habits. Poe conveys tones of Incest through
imagery. An example of this can also be seen in the descriptions of the Usher
family and their odd sicknesses. The Ushers’ afflictions may also be the result of
an incestuous history and purposeful inbreeding; the direct line of descent in the
family tree is mentioned several times by the Narrator.
"I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all
time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that
the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very
temporary variation, so lain."(p.14)

The Narrator is invited by Roderick because this one suffers mental

deterioration due to an evil that has been at work in the House of Usher (the
mansion itself and the family) for generations. The Narrator reports that Roderick
Usher's illness is "a constitutional and family evil . . . one for which he despaired
to find a remedy."(p.20) which means that all the inbreeding that had taken place

11
Psychodynamic theory, Freud and psychoanalysis . part 2, chapter II. p24

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over time had created some deficiency with him and his twin sister. The Narrator
hints that the evil is Incest. This line shows us that there are Incestuous
relationships down the Usher’s line of decent that now lie upon Roderick and
Madeline’s decaying lives.

“Evil” (p.20) is haunting the Usher family for generations. Because for
centuries, the Ushers used to marry with each other and Roderick is just another
family member to experience the “influence which the one, in the long lapse of
centuries, [had] exercised upon the other” (p.14). In others words, because of
Roderick’s “Phylogenetic endowment”, he does Incest. The Narrator describes
the strange qualities of the entire family; that is "in direct line of descent." (p.14),
that it never has put forth "any enduring branch”. Incest is simply the norm for
the Ushers. Without spouses, the twins live together in the great family home;
each of them is wasting away within the mansion’s dark rooms.
The Narrator does write that Roderick's "severe and long-continued illness
displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations.” (p.21) and that Madeline is his
"tenderly beloved sister–his sole companion for long years." (p.22). The fact that
Poe includes this implies that the twins are companions in a sense of brotherhood
as well as in a sexual context. Both Madeline and Roderick are aware of the evil
nature of their family’s deeds. At many points in the story, the Narrator shows
Roderick and Madeline’s incestuous relationship. He observed how:
“a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the
countenance of the brother — but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive
that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which
trickled many passionate tears” (p.23).

In his criticism on Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", D. H. Lawrence

declares brother and sister to “love each other passionately and exclusively “. He
said: “They would love, they would merge, and they would be as one thing. So

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they dragged each other down into death”.12When Roderick and Madeline are left
alone in the world as the “last of the ancient race of Ushers,” (p.22) they are freed
from the “consequent undeviating transmission- of the patrimony with the name”
(p.14).They could have left the House of Usher and live separately.
However, they still chose to stay in the House of Usher and be together.
Roderick would never cry so passionately if he is not in love with his sister.
Although it could be considered normal for a man to mourn his dying twin sister,
it seems more likely that there is a deeper meaning to what is happening.
When Roderick buries his face in his arms and begins to cry, it shows that he is
sad that he is not only losing a sister, but a lover as well. Besides, the Narrator
mentions that Roderick told him that “sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature
had always existed between them” (p.34). This passage seems to hint at a more
spiritual or supernatural affinity between the twins. And even if Roderick speaks
of Madeline with bitterness, that could be because of the sweetness that he shared
probably with her.
Incest in the tale is not a result of Roderick Usher’s personal desires only,
but of his ancient family’s influence. Throughout the story, the effect of a family’s
choice is revealed. The Narrator establishes that the “long undisturbed endurance
of this arrangement” (p.30) is not of the sibling’s choosing but of the family’s
influence. Roderick does not initiate a relationship with his “tenderly beloved
sister” (p.22) because of his personal “shadowy fancies” (p.12). Roderick is
manipulated by his ancestors: “he added in that silent, yet importunate and
terrible influence which for centuries had moulded the destinies of his family, and
which made him what I know saw him” (p.31) “influence which the one, in the
long lapse of centuries, [had] exercised upon the other” (p.14). These lines prove
that Incest is a destiny of the Ushers family, and Roderick is pushed and
influenced by his ancestors to practice it. In other words, Roderick practices Incest

12
D H Lawrence Studies in Classic American Literature (New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1923), pp. 114-115.

22
because of his “Phylogenetic endowment” which is already explained at the
beginning of the chapter.
Due to the inbreeding in their family, Roderick and Madeline are suffering
from strange illnesses. The twin’s situation is not the first in the family’s history.
The Incest in his family causes all those who are born under the name Usher to be
afflicted by “a peculiar sensibility of temperament [which displayed] itself,
through long ages” (p.14). Hence, we can see that the other ancestors of the Usher
family all suffered from illnesses due to inbreeding.
Other descriptions also suggest Incest. For instance; “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 a few
rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees.” (p.11), here there is
an imagery of Incest, the Narrator hints that the House itself represents Incest in
the Usher family. When he speaks of the bleak walls, he suggests boundaries for
the Ushers. Simply stated, they keep their sexual relationships within the
confinements of their own family line.
The Narrator observes also that the setting is dark and gloomy with a cursed
House. The condition of the House seems to induce the current state of those who
reside within it. Roderick is connected to the House, it has “brought upon the
morale of his existence” (p.22).When the Narrator first arrives at the House of
Usher, he describes in quite excessive detail how oppressive and bleak the
atmosphere is surrounding the House. The House is barren, lifeless, dull and
gloomy and could be a reflection of the mindset of its owner.
Through the Narrator’s eyes, the light is “ghastly and inappropriate” (p.26)
which may be another admission of Incest between the siblings. Because it
successfully separates them from the rest of society and thus they are dead to the
world. The Usher family has practiced Incest for many generations. The act goes
against the dogma of society and as a result creates “an atmosphere peculiar to
themselves and their immediate vicinity which [has] no affinity with the air of

23
heaven” (p.15). The state of the mansion reflects the Usher twins that reside inside
it; both are decaying. Roderick and Madeline are deteriorating physically and
mentally. Through the Narrator’s description, we notice that besides of
“phylogenetic endowment “all what is surrounding pushes Roderick and
Madeline to practice Incest.
Interestingly, the intimation of the incestuous relationship between Roderick
and Madeline Usher is also alluded to quite early in the story. The Narrator, giving
readers a back story to the Ushers, explains that he had learned, “the stem of the
Usher race, all time-honored as it was—had put forth, at no period.”(p.14), hence,
the family likely practiced it to preserve and protect the sacred Usher bloodline
and its ancient prestige. The Narrator is implying that the physical marriages of
the Ushers have primarily been with each other, that is, within the family,
presuming so, as not to endanger or contaminate the royalty of their bloodline.
That ultimately leads to the practice of Incest by Madeline and Roderick in order
to keep the family wealth within the family.
As it has been established by the Narrator; the preservation of the royal
bloodline was a primary concern for the Ushers. As the Narrator notes, they were
once a great family, famous for her dedication to the arts (music, painting,
literature, etc.) (p.14). The Narrator discloses that the twins were sole companions
for many years (p.22). Although this is an obvious allusion to Roderick and
Madeline’s incestuous union, the quote also implies that their unholy union is born
out of more than purely physical means and loneliness.
Gothic romance is also an example that shows Incest in the Usher’s family.
The Haunted Palace (p.27) is a poem written by Roderick which mirrors the levels
of the Usher home. In this lyric, Roderick tells the story of the prosperous Usher
family’s past, and how the family is ruined by Incest, which is demonstrated
through contextual symbols used. In stanza five of the lyric, he howls:
“But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate;
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow

24
 Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And, round about his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.”(p.29)

The robes of sorrow he sings, may symbolize the member of the family who
begins the incestuous trend within the Usher family that would go on to haunt
them for the rest of their existence. Roderick goes on to explain in more depth
what happened to the Usher family. Again, he uses imagery and symbols to
convey the message that the whole Usher family is engaging in Incest. He states
that:
“And travellers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
to a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh — but smile no more.” (p.29)

By using the phrase” travellers now within that valley” (p.29), Roderick explains
that the whole Usher family participates Incest. This stanza in the lyric is clearly
referring to the downfall of the Usher family as a result of Incest.
The cryptic word "Porphyrogene,"13 (p.28) which refers to royal birth is
encased within parentheses; just as the Ushers themselves encase within their
House, the word can suggest the ingrown, incestuous purity of aristocratic
families. By the final stanza of the poem, Roderick reports a: "discordant melody"
(p.29) replaces the “earlier harmony”. The above lines could refer to a family who
has had a good life but one day falls to ruin in the form of insanity or another form
of mental illness. The contrary force vanishes during the course of the family
history. The Ushers are about to die off because they insist on the preservation of

13
Porphyrogene:Poe may have created the form of the word for his poem; A Byzantine emperor's son born in the
purple or porphyry room assigned to empresses, hence a prince born after his father's accession; a person born
into the nobility.

25
the race, “the consequent undeviating transmission, from sire to son, of the
patrimony with the name” (p.14) The twins are victims of an isolated blood line
that leads to the destruction of the family and its estate. They provide an anatomy
of psychological paralysis. One of the most interesting literary motifs on this
particular tale is an exploration of the insinuation of sibling Incest.

Death and Sickness:

In this section, we deal with the themes of death and sickness, and all that
can be a cause or, a consequence to these two aspects. In The fall of the House of
Usher there are many images of decay and dissolution. Life is slipping away to
be replaced by disease and despair. Madeleine is wasting away, Roderick’s
condition worsens, and the Narrator grows more nervous. The influences that
seem to drive Roderick Usher to madness, and kill him and his sister, and even
destroy the House, are certainly strange and mysterious.

The Narrator arrives at The House of Usher in: “dark and soundless day in
the autumn of the year” (p.11).The autumn is the last season of the year, and
darkness is something which the rational person rejects in the day.

The familial tomb is yet another element which inspires fear in the tale: “old
woodwork – rotted – in some neglected vaults.”(p.16). The Usher family used to
bury their members in the walls of the mansion. We can recognize it from
Roderick’s painting in the text. Roderick paints a picture of a grave: “an
immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnels.”(p.26). Roderick’s painting

26
shows that he had already anticipated to bury his sister. And then the Narrator
perceives easily that nothing is in the norms: “Beyond this indication of extensive
decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability.”(p.26). The Narrator
begins to feel that the gloomy of the House has a strong relation with its
inhabitants. This demonstrates that the House and its surroundings have an
unusual and bizarre existence. He describes his superstition one night: "I
endeavored to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the
phantasmagoric influence of the gloomy furniture of the room.”(p.35). The House
is described initially by the Narrator, who sees the image of the House as a skull
or death's head looming out of the dead. He is not sure what to think and comments
of the properties of the old House: "What was it, I paused to think, what was it
that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?"(p.12)

The Narrator states that Roderick's fears may be linked directly to the House.
"He is enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling
which he tenanted, and from which, for many years, he had never ventured
forth."(p.22). He believes that Roderick's illness may be caused by the conditions
of the House itself. Roderick is found as "an anomalous species of terror - a
bounden slave."(p.21), this example clarifies that Roderick is a prisoner in his
own home. As a result, Roderick does not leave because the influence of the
House is too strong: “There was an influence which some peculiarities in the mere
form and substance of his family mansion had, he said, obtained over his spirit --
an effect which the physique of the gray wall and turrets ‚¬brought about upon
the morale of his existence."(p.22). Because of this fear, Roderick is retrained
from leaving and does not make the attempt to defeat this enduring power that
holds him captive. The House causes the fears that control Roderick Usher's mind.

In addition, the poem “The Haunted Palace” (p.27) makes a connection

between the House and its inhabitants. The poem can be described as a
resemblance to the story itself. In the poem, Poe states that the House is: "once a

27
fair and stately palace."(p.27). This depicts the history of the House of Usher.
Over time, the House deteriorated along with the emotions of the people
occupying it:

“But evil things, in robes of sorrow,

Assailed the monarch's high estate;
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And, round bout his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.”(p.29)

Apparently, the House has been overcome by evil and the happiness the once
lived is now just a memory, and Madeline is also affected since she has a severe
mental disorder and is in a catatonic state. Clearly the House plays a role to greatly
influence the characters. In addition, Roderick, as a hypochondriac person, buries
his sister probably because he does not know exactly what to do or, perhaps the
books they read gives an idea to Roderick in order to draw an end to his problem,
the Narrator infers:

“I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of its probable influence
upon the hypochondriac, when, one evening, having informed me abruptly that the lady
Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight” – “in
one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building”(p.32)

The scene of the burial includes a vault “small, damp, and entirely without
means of admission for light.”(p.33). The vault is described in detail as lined with
copper and having an iron door. The Narrator calls it a “region of horror” (p.33).
These details make it clear that if Madeleine is not already dead, she will soon be
so from being buried alive. In addition to the previous suggestions, the Narrator
attests on the state of the lady by being undead when he confirms that: “faint blush
upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip

28
which is so terrible in death.” We argue from this example that the Narrator is
aware that lady Madeline cannot be dead if she possesses the features of someone
who is alive.

When the Narrator tries to comfort Roderick by reading the fantastic tale The Mad
Trist by Sir Launcelot Canning (p38), there are images of violence and death as
the hero kills the dragon, while he is reading of the knight's forcible entry into the
dwelling, cracking and ripping sounds are heard somewhere in the House,
Roderick becomes increasingly hysterical “I saw that his lips trembled as if he
were murmuring inaudibly.”(p.42). We can say that the sounds that the Narrator
and also Roderick hear are made by his sister Madeline who is buried in a vault
of the House of Usher. She breaks the lids of her tomb and is resurrected. In his
famous essay of The Uncanny, Freud states that: “the idea of being buried alive
by mistake is the most uncanny thing of all.”14Roderick experiences the uncanny
feeling, as if he knew that she will returns probably as a ghost to revenge, thus he
heard some indications that she is still alive: “I now tell you that I heard her first
feeble movements in the hollow coffin” (p.44) By entombing his sister before she
is fully dead, Roderick shows the attempted repression of their incestuous
relationship. And, even if Roderick is hypochondriac and fears death, he sees that
death is the only escape for the evil that is haunting his family. “Shall I be lost. I
dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results.”(p.21), this
quote shows that Roderick feels that something bad is going to happen. Hence, he
buried her sister alive because he knew that by doing so, he will die too.

When Madeline herself appears at some little distance and approaches the
listeners, the guest regards her standing: “the lofty lady Madeline of Usher – the
evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated
frame.”(p.45)

14
Sigmund, Freud. The uncanny, 1919

29
 Hence, he buried her alive because he knew that by doing so; he will die too,
and in those doors opened to reveal Madeline standing there. She falls on her
brother, and both land on the floor as corpses: “fell heavily inward upon the person
of her brother.”(p.45), and thus the Narrator escapes after the collapse of the
House and which explains his claustrophobia during his sojourn. That he keeps it
is all too evident from the guilty terror with which he greets the reappearance of
the corpse. It is in his mind that she comes back to take vengeance for the violation
of her defenseless body. He has no answer, no defense; there is only the inevitable
judgment — Death. Absolute evil triumphs in the story, Madeline may or may not
be a Gothic vampire but in the final embrace of brother and sister there is implied
not a reunion with supernal beauty but a final meeting of those dark and irrational
forces that conspires to destroy the last of the Ushers.

30
 Chapter Three

Setting and Atmosphere

31
Setting:

In the short story The Fall of the House of Usher, setting is one of the
most important elements used by the author, to paint a supernatural picture in the
reader’s mind. Time and space are as much a part of the story, as the actions that
take place. In fact, description of the setting is a device that Poe uses in order to
bring forth the intended meaning of his work. He uses alliteration and consonance
along with words, to create harshness in setting. In his criticism, Wilson says:
“The setting … plays an integral part in the story because it establishes an
atmosphere of dreariness and decay.” (p.55)15. In fact, the story’s central feature
is its ominous mood established by its dreary setting. By reading on the story, we
notice that the setting is as much a part of the story as the actions that take place.
In revealing the major values of the description of the space and time, our aim is
to report the setting used in different literary devices and describe the gothic
elements of the House of Usher.

The Narrator presents the reader with the image of an immensely ancient
House. He arrives in autumn when the sky and vegetation are bleak. He thinks
that it seems improbable that it should still be standing. The setting is a haunted
mansion, amid dark and stormy nights. Most of what happens in the story is on
night. For instance, the Narrator arrives in the evening (p.11), the entombment of
the Lady Madeline is also on night (p.32). And even the coming back of this latter
is on night, when the Narrator reads to Roderick: “we will pass away this terrible
night together” (p.38). We notice that Poe does his utmost to ensure that all
actions of his history are in the night.

The opening paragraph is an example of the mysterious setting. It packs a

gloomy punch and creates an appropriate setting to forebode the general
atmosphere of the story:

15
Kathleen Wilson. Short Stories For Students. New York. Gale, 1997.

32
 “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in autumn of the year, when the
clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on a 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 (p.11)

The adjectives used focus on images of decay and dissolution. The location
and time in which the story takes place is ambiguous and almost unknown to the
reader. It has no definite setting except for the “singularly dreary tract of
country.”(p.11). The Narrator uses several descriptive words in his portrayal of
the House. The reader’s first impression of the House comes from a direct
observation of the Narrator only. This one arrives in autumn when the sky and
vegetation are bleak. As the Narrator continues to describe the House he uses
several similarly dismal adjectives. This quotation is a representation for the effect
that this remote and gloomy setting exerts on an observer who is ignorant of what
is going on inside the residence.

One of the most striking descriptions used in the short story is the windows
described by the Narrator as “long, narrow, and pointed” (p.17). The Narrator
anthropomorphizes the House: “the vacant eye-like windows.” (p.11) and gives
human aspects to it as it is described in the quote that follows: “The eye, however,
struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber.” (p.18) Thus, the
Narrator gives almost the status of characters to the House through this terrifying
description.

We notice that the author leaves traces of gothic motifs. Every detail and
event is interrelated and the Narrator is astonished by the threatening outside of
the House. He provides a lengthy description: “The decayed trees, and the gray
wall, and the silent tarn, in the form of an inelastic vapor or gas –dull, sluggish,
faintly discernible, and leadenhued.”(p.15) This example provides some context
of the gothic setting and lets us anticipate that something bad is going to happen.

The House is believed by many to be haunted. It has eyes and a soul. It has
some plants and trees around. This personifies the House, making it seem alive.

33
The Narrator finds the inside of the House as spooky as the outside:“ the carvings
of the ceilings, the somber tapestries of the walls , the ebon blackness of the floor
, and the phantasmagoric armorial trophies…The general furniture was profuse
, comfortless, antique, and tattered.”(pp17-18) The inanimate objects are giving
the House a human and mental decay. It shows how dark and somber the setting
is.

In many parts of the story, we notice that Poe refers to some elements of
medieval Houses, like secrets passages, “long archway” (p.33). For example, the
Narrator makes his way through the long passages to Roderick’s room: “thence
conducted me in silence, through many dark and intricate passages” (p.17). The
dank underground tomb is yet another of the masterfully settings in The House of
Usher. The Narrator calls it “the region of horror” (p.33) and describes how: “the
vault - in its oppressive atmosphere), was small, damp, and entirely without means
of admission for light” (p.33). The existence of subterranean dungeons and burial
vault are details of the gothic genre. Typical gothic elements in the story are also
heightened by the thunder and lightning of a violent storm. Poe does not miss to
use: “violent alterations in the direction of the wind, and the axceeding density of
the clouds” (p.37), and “about the whole mansion… a pestilent and mystic vapor,
dull, sluggish, faintly discernible and leadenhued.”(p.15), each depiction adds
some supernatural aspects to the House.

On the whole, the story seems to be a legend based on setting. Obviously, the
idea of a constrained space and the darkness of the surroundings, as well as the
use of extreme weather condition are parts of the gothic setting used in the story.
As well as the use of extreme weather condition, are all effective devices which
Poe used to attain the totality of effect in The Fall of the House of Usher.

Atmosphere:

34
 The atmosphere of The Fall of the House of Usher creates a vivid imagery
and makes the reader feel the supernatural. The tone is gloomy, dark and
threatening. Poe has an impressive ability to create highly emotional aspects into
his works, as portrayed in this story. He creates a very mysterious and terrifying
atmosphere through different gothic elements. Our aim is to report the atmosphere
that reign in the House and show its influence on the reader and on the characters
too.

The Narrator as a reporter describes the gothic atmosphere, with an uncanny

ability to generate fear within the reader and himself too:

“I know not how it was, but with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable
gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-
pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest
natural images of the desolate of terrible. “(p.11).

The above description represents the effects that a gloomy setting exerts on an
observer, who is ignorant of what is going on inside the residence. It shows also,
that the Narrator has difficulties to explain the unknown source of his feelings and
so the reader. Freud opines: “We react to this fiction as if they had been our own
experiences.” (p.19). In fact, this quote proves that the setting provokes uncanny
feelings on the reader and pushes him to experience story’s events.

The story is set in a really powerful atmosphere. The Narrator adds that “there
was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart” (p.12). It seems to scream
horror. The Narrator reports his terror of his actual environment in several
instances through his description of the Usher mansion. For instance, he says: “I
felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow - An air of stern, deep and
irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.” (p.18). We feel these sensations
of fear too through the Narrator's thoughts: “As Poe shifted the narrative’s
perspective to the first person, a strange intimacy was developed between

35
character and the reader”16. Effectively, the Narrator adds to the feelings of
claustrophobia on the reader.

The vault in which Madeline is entombed is located just below the Narrator’s
room. We can of course feel these sensations of fear beyond his own experience.
This may explain how the House control the Narrator’s feeling. It shows also, that
he can no longer bear to live in such unbearable atmosphere: ”condition terrified-
that infected me” (p.35). He could sleep no more, and believes strongly that “all
what I felt, was due to the phantasmagoric influence of the gloomy furniture of
the room.” (p.36)

The story unfolds within a frame of terror which is suggested primarily by

the description of the House of Usher. Poe uses a horrifying diction that impacts
and reflects the frail state of the twins, the entire mansion is a symbol for the
whole family which may prove that they are interrelated. The Narrator states that
Roderick's hypochondria may be linked directly to the House: “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.”(p.21). The
description above of Roderick shows how dark the atmosphere is and how it
affects him.

Besides the Narrator asserts that Roderick: “is enchained by certain

superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted, and from
which, for many years, he had never ventured forth." (p.22). He believes that
Roderick's illness may be caused by the conditions of the House itself. Roderick
is found as “an anomalous species of terror “a bounden slave,"(p.21) or he is
described as a prisoner in his own home. As a result, Roderick does not leave
because the influence of the House is too strong. There was: "an influence which
some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion had - he

16
Sydney Poger , Tony Magistrale,. The Connection between the Tales of Horror and Detection. New York. Lang
publishing. 1999. P14

36
said, obtained over his spirit - an effect which the physique of the gray wall and
turrets - brought about upon the morale of his existence." (p.22).

The House causes the fears that control Roderick Usher's mind. Because
of this fear, Roderick is retrained from leaving and does not make the attempt to
defeat this enduring power that holds him captive.
Madeline Usher is also influenced since she has a severe mental disorder and
is in a cataleptic estate. Clearly, the atmosphere of the House plays a role to greatly
influence the characters. The mental states of Roderick and Madeline are directly
related to the House itself. They feel overpowered by the strength of the House.
The lives of the two were synonymous as they were twins and both fall at the end
of the story.
The dawn fall of the story describes greatly the atmosphere of the House.
The Narrator reports; “do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her
heart” (p.44). The description of the “wild lights”, the “shadows” and the
“moaning cry” (p.45) describes the true atmosphere that reign in the House of
Usher.
As a conclusion, we see that Poe masterfully uses the atmosphere. It affects
the characters and limits them to live in a world of their own. It captivates the
reader’s imagination and leads him to feel terror and sorrow. The atmosphere
drives him even to feel uncanny sensation of “after dream” (p.12) because it is
gloomy dark and threatening.

37
Conclusion:

38
The Psychoanalytical Criticism and Gothic Fiction are our focus to approach
Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher and the different Gothic element
within. Through Freudian eyes, we arrive at the idea that Dreams perform the
unconscious mind to serve it as a clue. This process is whereby the part of the
Narrator’s nightmare is first examined. The Narrator suffers a loss of will that
matches his repressed fear with the night he spends with Roderick. With Freud’s
Interpretation of Dreams, we prove the issue we raise in our paper. The story can,
indeed, be regarded as the Narrator’s repressed whish provoked by his
unconscious fear. Poe’s Gothic tale, thereby, takes the form of a Dream which is
fulfilled.

Isolated both socially and mentally, the characters do not engage in much
social interaction, and they are – in a sense – trapped within their own minds. In
their solitude they plan to redeem themselves in any way possible.

Usher’s terror, which reduces him to a pitiable condition, his premonition of

a coming struggle with the “grim phantasm FEAR”, is not simply a reaction
against being the last of his line. We illustrate that fear and terror leads a person
to madness and loss of rationality. Roderick’s hypochondria estate witnesses this
situation. He has no answer, no defense; there is only the inevitable judgment –
Death.

Absolute evil triumphs in the story, sexual guilt complexes lead to

destruction. We agree the twins can be seen as victims of the genealogical incest
that comes to grow again between the last siblings. We retain from our analysis
of the story that we often act according to our unconscious desire. Moreover, we
understand from "Phylogenetic endowment"- Freud’s principle- that not all our
acts spring from our repression of childhood urges. Rather it can originate from
hereditary acquisition; from our ancestor's experiences such as in the case of Lady
Madeline and her brother Roderick.

39
 Other aspects that emanate between the characters of the story are Sickness
and Death. The twins suffer from madness to a certain degree. They are isolated,
troubled and obsessed with something (uncanny) they do not know exactly what
it is. Beyond this experience; the terror is created as we feel the House of Usher
falls unto the last of the Usher bloodline.

Our last focus was the Usher’s mansion which has uncanny features. It is
described in a scary way by the Narrator, just as if it is observing the characters
movements. The real horror resides in the conventions of the Gothic surrounding,
and also in the reader’s possibility of imagining and living in the actions unrolled
in the House. That is why we consider the atmosphere as one of the important
elements built in the story. The author manages to make us experience the
uncanny feeling, the nightmare, and the sickness that lead the characters to self-
destruction.

As stated by Freud: “The dream takes place of action, as elsewhere in life.”17

Freud gives us broader implication that Dreams have an important role in our daily
life. He declares: “the dream is not comparable to the irregular sounds of a
musical instrument, which, instead of being played by the hand of a musician, is
struck by some external force.”18 We can understand by this comparison that we
do not control our dreams; they can be a consequence of our needs, fears… (etc).
The dreams are also our source of knowledge: “here not only the dream-content,
but also the personality and social position of the dreamer are taken into
consideration”19, by analyzing our dream, we can understand aspects of our
personality.

17
Sigmund, Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams. 1900.
18
We refer the reader to P26
19
We refer the reader to P25

40
Bibliography:

41
Bibliography:

Primary resources:

-Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. 1900

-Freud, Sigmund. The Uncanny. 1919

-Mac Andrew, Elizabeth. The Gothic Tradition in Fiction. New York. Columbia.
1979

-Poe, Edgar Allan. The fall of the House of Usher. Flites Edition. 2009

Secondary resources:

-Fuseli, Johann Heinrich:www.dictionnaryofhistorians.org/contact.html

-Hammer, Espen. Melankoli-En filosofik essa. Gotebirg. Daildalos Edition.2006

thomasdevaney.net/essays/Devaney-Poe_at_200.pdf

-Lawrence. D.H. Selected Literary Criticism. Harmondsworth. Penguin Edition.

1971: Www.eapoe-org/pstudies/ps1970/p19.77208.htm

-Magistrale, Tony. Poger, Sydney. Connection between Tales of Terror and

Detection. New York. 1999

www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/.../FULLTEXT01.pdf

-Prophyrogene: http:// piestories.cim/wordlist.php

-Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A Poe: Mournful and never-ending Remembrance.

Paperback Edition. New York. 1999: thomasdevaney.net/essays/Devaney-
Poe_at_200.pdf

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-Wilson, Kathleen. Short Stories for Students. New York. Gale. 1997
http://spiffyninja.livejournal.com/7032.htm

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