Fallacy Of Usher

Kelly Cassidy October 2, 2015

ENG 110 07 Dr. Hey (HOW ARE YOU!)

The Fall of the House of Usher

In the short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe’s story picks apart the psychological drama of the Usher’s, mainly focusing on Roderick. It is apparent to the reader that Roderick Usher is suffering from some kind of mental illness. Much of the cause of his mental illness derives from the fact that his family has isolated themselves from society. Because
of this isolation, Roderick ponders his fate and begins to over-analyze his surroundings. This leads to the magnification of what he fears the most; fear itself. Due to this isolation, his state of mind and his fears ultimately end in his demise. Roderick has plenty of time to over analyze his situation because he is so isolated from society.
The tarn that surrounds the house is just one of the barriers that prevent contact with the outside world. Pathetic Fallacy, which is when nature reflects human emotions and seems to respond to human actions, can be seen as Roderick’s state of depression and isolation coincides with the dreary, dark, and gloomy aspects of the setting and house itself. The Usher family has inbred to preserve the family line of descendants and therefore has not created different branches of the family tree. On page 88 it states that “I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honoured 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 decent…” The house and family became one and the same. The Ushers were a reserved family who never socialized outside the immediate family. It can be interpreted that Roderick and his sister Madelyn had an incestuous relationship that was seen as a taboo act. During this time period, human beings that acted in a taboo way coincidentally seemed to be punished by nature or a supernatural force. This incestuous guilt has led to physical and mental maladies that have taken their toll on both Roderick and his sister. Roderick realizes that the end is coming to the House of
Usher. The severe isolation and loneliness that Roderick Usher finds enveloping him eventually leads to madness. As Madelyn’s physically condition worsens Roderick starts to believe that it is happening to him as well. His mental state starts to decline rapidly and his rational thinking becomes blurred. As his anxiety increases his sensory perception becomes amplified. He can only wear certain garments because his skin has become sensitized. The light now hurts his eyes. The smell of flowers repulses him. He comes to realize these symptoms are being caused by his sister’s illness. He summons his childhood friend to try and help him overcome his disorder. On page 88, the Narrator starts with “The writer spoke of acute bodily illness, of a mental disorder which oppressed him, and of an earnest desire to see me....” It seems that Roderick is calling out for help from his childhood friend to try and relive happier times. He feels the house is a super natural evil force that is causing this dilemma. He believes that when Madelyn dies he will not be able to live on without her because she is a part of him. The body can’t live without the mind and the mind can’t live without the body. They can only exist as if they are one person. On page 91 it reads, “Her decease, he said, with a bitterness, which I can never forget, would leave him (him the hopeless and frail) the last of the ancient race of Ushers.” As her physical condition deteriorates so does Roderick’s mental state of mind. His madness finally drives him to bury his sister without any medical consent although she might still be alive.

The madness that becomes Roderick’s mental state is caused by fear of his very surroundings.
He senses that the house itself is causing much of his illness. His reading of the “The Haunted Palace,” the poem on page 93 and 94 reflects his fear of a once glorious, vibrant place becoming a decrepit and deteriorated one, much like the structure of the physical house and of Roderick himself. As his fears increase, his perception of his surroundings becomes more and more distorted. After burying his sister Roderick admits to the narrator that his hyper senses have heard his sister’s sounds from her tomb for a while. On page 100 he states “... I heard them -many, many days ago-yet I dared not-I dared not to speak!..” The repressed always finds a way to return and when it does, it usually comes back in a different way as seen with Roderick. His long, anticipated fear comes true when his apparently “dead” sister appears at his door in a phantom and supernatural way. This image literally frightens him to death. He could bury his fears and mental illness only for so long until it came back to haunt him in a way that he could never recover
from.

In his isolation Roderick dwelled on the evils of his surroundings, which allowed for further breakdown of his mental state. Soon he could not function rationally. He felt he needed help and called upon his friend. It was too late. Roderick had already slipped into such a paranoid condition that there was no escaping his demons. Roderick had allowed his fears to overtake him. His fear of becoming seriously ill, like most of his ancestors, kept him in constant melancholy state. Melancholy is a mental state that could eventually lead to either a state of brilliance or a state of insanity. Unfortunately for Roderick, it lead to his insanity and self destruction. This fear had crippled him both physically and mentally in the way that it lead altered. From his mindset that has been instilled in him from an early age. It was this isolation, madness and fear inside of Roderick, which ultimately would lead to his self- driven death.