Poe's Fall of The House of Usher Essay: A Psychological Piece

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The Fall of the House of Usher as a Psychological Piece

This essay examines "The Fall of the House of Usher" from the viewpoint that none of the events really happened -- or if they did, were exaggerated by the fear felt by the characters. The essay proposes that the action took place in the mind of the narrator and discusses the dream imagery present in the story and how this supports this theory.

While discussing "The Fall of the House of Usher," Thompson investigates the idea that the story is not really a truthful tale - that is, a re-telling of events that the narrator experienced - but is rather the result of a "mutual hysteria of the narrator and Roderick Usher." Basically, he asserts that the narrator and Usher are both so filled with fear that they imagined the events, or else there is a logical explanation for the things that happened while the narrator stayed at the House of Usher.

Thompson's first point reminds us that the narrator of this story attempts to rationalize many of the spooky things that he witnesses at the house. This is in contrast to the fact that Usher's mind is obviously disintegrating throughout the tale. Thompson claims that Poe uses the "apparent" rationality of the narrator to "heighten the irrational." By instilling in the reader a sense of coherence, the weirdness of the situation and the mental state of Usher are more noticeable. Also, Thompson mentions that an integral part of the tale is the "mechanism of fear itself," which begins with Usher and spreads to the narrator. This feeling of fear, he claims, is what gives us the basis for reading this story as a psychological thriller rather than a series of events that actually happened. Thompson looks at p...

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...ndriac," which might be how people of that time period referred to mental illness. Many people seemed to believe that Usher really suffered from mental illness rather than a physical ailment. And lastly, the possibility of incest between brother and sister, and other generations of Ushers, was discussed. This stemmed from the part of the story that talked about how the Usher family tree did not branch out much. Some people took this to mean that not many people were brought in from outside the family. I think this is very plausible, and is actually what I always thought was at the core of this story. I think that the two siblings are more than just brother and sister, and found this to be one of the more interesting discussions we had.

Works Cited

Thompson, G.R. "Explained Gothic," Poe's Fiction. University of Wisconsin Press, 1973. Pages 87-97.

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