11-Analyzing an American Romantic Literary Text: Edgar Alan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

1. 1-Form and Content of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

First published: 1839

Type of work: Short fiction

Type of plot: Gothic (Romanticism)

Time of plot: Nineteenth century

Locale: House of Usher

Principal Characters

• Roderick Usher, a madman
• Madeline, his sister
• The Narrator, a visitor

Plot

       “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe that centers on a visitor who arrives at the decaying mansion of his childhood friend, Roderick Usher. The atmosphere is dark and oppressive, mirroring the troubled state of Roderick, who is afflicted by both physical and mental illnesses. The narrative unfolds as the visitor witnesses Roderick’s increasing paranoia and despair, compounded by the mysterious illness of his twin sister, Lady Madeline. As the story progresses, Roderick’s belief in the malignant influence of the house on their family’s fate becomes more pronounced. Following Lady Madeline’s death, her brother’s deteriorating mental state culminates in a horrifying revelation that she was entombed alive. The tale concludes with a dramatic climax, where the house splits apart, symbolizing the end of both the Usher lineage and the physical structure itself. (Keith).

Major Themes

•  Internal Nature of Madness

      The Fall of the House of Usher deals with the psychology of an unwell mind. In this case, instead of writing from the perspective of a madman, Poe uses a skeptical narrator to explore the internal nature of madness. Although the narrator tries his best to lift the spirits of Roderick, Roderick’s own mind is unable to allow any hope. The narrator describes Roderick’s negative and depressed mood as being so powerful that it almost projects its own negativity onto other things. Roderick’s isolation is thus as much mental as it is physical. (Sparknotes)

• The Real vs. The Supernatural

     At the core of the story lies a persistent conflict between science and superstition, reason and insanity, embodied by the narrator and Roderick Usher. From the narrator's arrival at the House of Usher, he experiences unease but quickly attributes it to his own imagination, offering logical explanations for the house’s gloomy atmosphere. Throughout the narrative, the reader is left to interpret whether the events are genuinely supernatural or simply a series of tragic events that can be understood through rational analysis.

• The Inevitability of Decay

      The story’s title refers to the inevitable collapse of the House of Usher. This downfall can be interpreted as a broader reflection on the certainty of death, or perhaps as Poe’s way of crafting an intense, suspenseful mood to captivate his audience. Furthermore, some literary critics view the decay depicted in the narrative as Poe’s commentary on European traditions and cultural models. During the 19th century, America was still a young nation striving to define its own cultural and literary identity, and the story may reflect that emerging distinction. Poe portrays the unavoidable decay and insanity embedded within these old traditions and conventions. If the story is predictable, it is because Gothic narratives almost always lead to a single conclusion: destruction. (Sparknotes)

Symbols

The Haunted Palace

      The song Roderick sings, “The Haunted Palace,” is an extended metaphor that compares the mind of a mad person to a haunted house or a palace under siege. This metaphor is representative of Roderick’s own mental deterioration. Although the person described in the song isn’t literally Roderick, the description of physical and emotional deterioration evokes his own, showing self-awareness of his pitiful state.

The House of Usher

      The story explicitly ties the physical House of Usher to the Usher lineage, stating that the peasants in that domain use the phrase “House of Usher” for both. However, the connection between the house and the family runs deeper. The decrepit house acts as a physical manifestation of the Usher family. With the dissolution of the family line, so too falls the house. Because the last of the Usher line are twins, that the crack divides the house in two signals their eternal separation in death. (Sparknotes)

2. 2-Features of Romanticism in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

      The Fall of the House of Usher came forth during the Romantic Movement which peaked between 1800-1850. It reflected a time wherein human sensibility and emotion dramatically seeped into the arts, against the intellect and reason promoted during the prior Enlightenment period. Within this time frame, the subgenre of Dark Romanticism in literature developed predominantly in New England from 1836 to 1840, somewhat as a shadow amidst the transcendental ideals that simultaneously evolved. Dark Romantics sought to move beyond the polished surface of earlier literature, instead revealing the darker aspects of the human experience. They challenged idealized views of humanity by delving into human experiences to sin, weakness, and self-destruction (Dax-Kerr).

     In the Dark Romantic narratives of the early to mid-19th centuries, stereotypical features of the dramatis personae included the growing aspects of torturous feeling. At some point, characters are to be cemented in fear derived from their surroundings, particularly linked with some form of guilt or sin that would pervade their psyche and mental well-being. Complying with this form of characterization would be Poe’s secondary character that follows the trajectory of psychological decline through the concealment of his secret that is eventually uncovered–that being the premature burial of his sister.

     In typical Dark Romantic plots, authors often share a common commitment to slowly revealing a central mystery, an elusive secret that both the protagonist and the reader struggle to grasp. Unlike the classical notion of anagnorisis, where characters experience a moment of clear recognition or insight, those in Dark Romantic works often descend into delusion or despair (Dax-Kerr).

      The forest setting plays a crucial role in the Gothic atmosphere of Dark Romantic literature, where the mysterious nature of the woods symbolizes the uneasy separation between humanity and the natural world. This contrast between the safe, familiar ‘interior’ and the ominous, threatening ‘exterior’ serves to highlight a character’s alienation from the outside world. While Poe does not depict a dense forest in his story, he evokes a similar sense of decay by describing the surroundings of the house as marked by “a few white trunks of decayed trees,” and places emphasis on the haunting presence of “the ghastly tree-stems.” ("Gothic Elements")

           In addition, the literary device of pathetic fallacy is predominant in the Dark Romantic genre to evoke how external conditions such as weather mirror the character's psychological states. Notably, Edgar Allan Poe immediately employs this device in the first sentence, stating “during the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day […] when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone” (Poe 1). The disheartening descriptions of the weather introduce the obscure path of the protagonist’s fate when entering the house, generating a heavy air of unease.

     Another theme that ties in with Dark Romanticism is death and mortality. During the broader Romantic period, many writers and artists were increasingly in-touch with their emotions, and in their works often hinted the apprehension of one’s own fated demise; death as a puncturing presence with everyday life. Poe invites morbidity in this narrative, envisaging death as a form of fear and sublime terror (Dax-Kerr).

       Moreover, the literary motif of ‘The Wandering Man’ is also an important feature in Dark Romanticism. It is usually a character the readers empathize with, one who usually finds themselves in a gothic setting such as the woods or an isolated building, roaming around the depths of the unknown. The aim in these narratives is to describe the horror a character goes through once left alone in such surroundings, far from home and comfort, paralleling how the readers unravel the petrifying revelations of the narrative’s plot through reading.

      Themes of lucidity and madness are also essential in the Dark Romantic genre. In the second half of the narrative, the unnamed protagonist aims to put his friend’s mind at rest by reciting old romances in a bid to navigate him away from the eerie preoccupations of the household. However, upon reading, the blur between reality and fiction intensifies, generating a harrowing sense of disorientation and mental perplexity (Dax-Kerr).

      The Fall of the House of Usher falls under the Gothic literature with its use of hunted houses, weird illnesses and dark and depressing landscape as it is shown in this table: 

Romantic Feature	Example in the Story
Emphasis on Emotion and Imagination	The narrator’s growing fear and psychological disturbance reflect a heightened emotional intensity.
Focus on the Supernatural	Ambiguities surrounding Madeline’s death and return evoke supernatural possibilities.
Gothic Atmosphere	The decaying mansion, gloomy weather, and eerie surroundings contribute to a dark, gothic mood.
Isolation and Madness	Roderick Usher’s mental breakdown and physical seclusion are key Romantic themes.
Nature as Reflective of Emotion	The bleak, decaying landscape mirrors the psychological and emotional states of the characters.
Individual Experience and Inner World	The narrator’s introspection and subjective reactions drive the narrative.
Mystery and the Sublime	The story dwells on awe, terror, and the unknown, especially through the house's mysterious influence.