Bionic Jean's Reviews > The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher (published in 1839) may well be one of the stories which started the current interest in the gothic genre, although Ann Radcliffe's "The Mysteries of Udolpho", for instance, had been published much earlier in 1794. Apart from its parody in Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey", Radcliffe's work has now largely been forgotten along with other great gothic works from the time. Yet The Fall of the House of Usher remains perennially popular and influential. Poe regarded it as his most successful example of "totality" , in that every detail and event in the story is relevant to the plot.

The viewpoint character has been invited to the house of a childhood friend, Roderick Usher, in order to cheer him as he is weak, ill and depressed. (view spoiler)[ Once there, Usher is found to be a hypochondriac, suffering greatly with nervous agitation. He and his sister Madeline, who also has the similar ghastly affliction, are the last of the line. (hide spoiler)]

Very early on in this story we are encouraged to empathise with the narrator, as his surroundings become increasingly grotesque, sinister and threatening. The "House of Usher", we are told, describes both the family and the mansion itself, and on learning this snippet of information the ending to this story is neatly telegraphed, albeit on an almost subconscious level.

Poe is at the height of his powers of description in this tale. Here is the man's first sight of the house:

"about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn - a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernable, and leaden-hued."

And here's another atmospheric depiction, of his room this time:

"the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room - of the dark and tattered draperies which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations about my bed."

Or what about this evocative description of (super)natural phenomena:

"the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapor, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion."

The whole tale is superbly imbued with a sense of foreboding and impending doom. Conversation is virtually absent; the only occasions being for dramatic effect, for example (view spoiler)[ near the end when Usher bursts forth with an impassioned speech,

"Oh pity me, miserable wretch that I am - I dare not - I dare not speak. We have put her living in the tomb!"

Indeed this speech goes on so long that the reader is thrilled by a suspicion that Usher is now completely insane and gabbling nonsense. (hide spoiler)]

The culmination of this story is a masterpiece of gothic description. Our credulity is stretched as the characters reach a point of hysteria, (view spoiler)[ and the surroundings themselves become increasingly sentient. The inkling about the ending which was dangled intriguingly before the reader at the start is satisfyingly proved correct. Both family and house are by then intertwined in an almost organic sense, and their demise is powerful and surreal. Was it wholly due to a tornado, (hide spoiler)] or was something more supernatural at work?