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
carrying the burden of being an Usher, and trying to find a solution to his own
family.
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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 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 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
4
Sigmund Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams. New York: Abon books.1919. p08

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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 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

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

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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
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
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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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.

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
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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,
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

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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). 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
7
Sydney Poger , Tony Magistrale,. The Connection between the Tales of Horror and Detection. New York.
Lang publishing. 1999. P15
8
Espen Hammer.Melankol-en filosofik,Goteborg:Daidalos.2006. P23

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 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
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

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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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
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

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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 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.

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

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

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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 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,

22
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
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.

23
 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
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)

24
 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 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

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
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
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

26
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
fair and stately palace."(p.27). This depicts the history of the House of Usher.

27
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 which is so terrible in death.” We argue from this example that the

28
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.

34
Atmosphere:

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

35
between 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 -

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

36
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).

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 

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

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