Thomas Mazzaferro
Professor Robinette
Senior Seminar Capstone
29 April, 2019
The Theme of Madness in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
In his short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Edgar Allan Poe utilizes the theme of madness by injecting it into every literary device working in his short fiction. Madness creeps into every aspect of the story such as settings, characters and the narrative. In
doing so, Poe creates an atmosphere of madness, in which all literary devices and objects are affected by complete degradation. I believe this injection of madness is Poe’s most powerful tool, which renders him a master of storytelling, imagery, and foreshadowing. In the following, I will discuss the many ways in which Poe makes use of this atmosphere of madness in order to strengthen elements of the story, foreshadow its ending, and perhaps show us his own sense of the world.
Throughout “House of Usher” countless objects, characters and settings are intimately connected to the story’s bleak mood of instability and decay. It is as if Poe is applying a mental state to the entire story as a whole. Each and every element reflects the overarching mood, so that no matter where the reader turns, they cannot escape Poe’s atmosphere. This theme of madness is global, inescapable, and has contaminated the entirety of the story. Through this complete contamination, the readers themselves are exposed to the workings of an ill mind, finding no solace or alleviation from madness, it is everywhere.
The mental landscape was an essential tool in Poe’s process of writing fiction. The “mental landscape” is a device Poe uses, in which the setting, or landscape, reflects the mood of the story and characters. As he states in his essay titled, “House of Mirrors: Edgar Allan Poe’s ’The Fall of the House of Usher,” John H. Timmerman signifies the connection between the appearance of a place, and human emotions. As Timmerman and other scholars have noticed, there often appears a “close interconnectedness between the physical and psychological, the external environment and the internal mind” within Poe’s fiction (164). In other words, when it comes to literary devices being the driving force of his fiction, Poe’s settings are the most prominent. The setting reflects the feelings of the characters, which reflect the premises of the storyline. Timmerman refers to these devices as “mirror images” (163). These images all reflect one another in order to contribute to one sole meaning or symbol.
As much of Poe’s short fiction begins by painting a distinct setting for us, potential meanings and overall tones of a piece can be identified from the first descriptions of setting. In “House of Usher” Poe hints at the mansion’s destruction in the very first sentence of the story. “During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year…within view of the melancholy House of Usher” (117). Poe immediately identifies the hopeless “melancholy” of the mansion along with the season of the year. As autumn is a time of decay and death, this story truly describes the Fall coming to the House of Usher. The trees surrounding the house are bare and dead, the “leaden-hued” sky is gray and dull, and “the shades of the evening drew on” (117). I found this to be a crucial mirror image within this story, although Timmerman himself does not shed any light on the significance of the autumn season. All of these aspects of the landscape that surround the mansion are tropes of a day in Autumn, all life and health has shriveled up and died. The season of destruction has arrived, and so too will the physical fall of the mansion, it’s inhabitants, and of course, the Usher family name as well.
In Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault criticizes Gothic literature’s use of madness within its imagery. Foucault argues that images in Gothic literature fail “to teach anything but their own fantastic presence” (18). In other words, Foucault believes the symbolic imagery used in Gothic literature never states anything about madness and how it works, but rather only exists to give the reader some glimpse of the mental discomfort madmen feel; to fascinate us rather than to educate. I also believe these images exist to give the reader a peek into how the insane mind processes imagery, however I disagree with Foucault’s claim that these images state nothing about how madness works. It is the sheer amount of images, like the decaying trees, the crack in the mansion, the color of the sky, that truly speaks to how madness works. The narrator is completely overwhelmed not by his physical surroundings, but the uncomfortable emotions that they ignite within him.
This is what truly defines madness in my opinion, the ability to gain some kind of debilitating mental state from a physical inanimate object, all within one’s own head. Foucault himself even states, “In a general way, then, madness is not linked to the world and it’s subterranean forms, but rather to man, to his weaknesses, dreams, and illusions” (26). Here, Foucault is stating that madness is displayed, not in the physical images themselves, but the imaginary and delusional conclusions a madman can draw from them. Madness is sensitive and inescapable, as it infects one’s perception and how they sense the world, their thoughts become distorted and morals are blurred.
For example, Roderick Usher describes the mansion’s power over his mental state as “an effect which the physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about upon the morale of his existence” (123). Here, Roderick confirms that the architecture has some effect on him, but it is his mentioning of the tarn that is most interesting. Each time this tarn is mentioned in the story, there is always an interest in the lakes reflective properties. The House of Usher is perfectly mirrored within this lake in front of it. Roderick is clearly attributing this reflective lake to his illness, and the reflection could potentially be working as an actual and literal mirror for him. Through this lake, he is able to see his own home, which he has not left in years. Roderick Usher is able to see into his own life from the reflection, the exterior, and is constantly reminded of the miserable place he is encapsulated in. He is able to see, as the narrator in the first pages sees, the many aspects of setting that contribute to his torturous existence.
Insanity can be related to running in circles. Those who are affected often experience fixations, obsessions, and feel intense fear or anxiety at any slight deviation from their expected schedule or lifestyle. The insane mind is one that encases itself, to the point where any outside influences could be considered harmful and promote the mind’s complete collapse.
After reading the letter Roderick sends him before the story begins, the narrator briefly shares with us his knowledge on the history of the Usher family. From this letter, he learns “that the stem of the Usher race, all time honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch”(119). In other words, the family has rarely bred with any outside influences in the past centuries. They are enclosed within barriers, and this isolated mindset carries onto their two sole heirs to the mansion, Roderick and Madeline. The two descendants do not leave the House of Usher, and rarely interact with anyone outside of it. The reclusive lifestyle of it’s inhabitants, the physical condition of it’s interior, and the isolated history of it’s family all closely relate to the mental illness which hangs over this mansion. As an insane mind becomes lost within itself, so does the Usher family. The many years of inbreeding have led their family tree to a singular, ending branch.
In Madness and Civilization, Foucault claims that “self-attachment is the first sign of madness”(26). I believe the mainly inbred Usher family is a perfect example of this self-absorption that sparks madness. Roderick’s life of complete isolation has rendered him terrified of any world outside the safety of his home. This is everything he knows, he was raised to reject the outside. He has been completely entrapped in the ideology of his ancestors. As Foucault continues he states, “it is because man is attached to himself that he accepts error as truth, lies as reality”(26). Roderick is a product of his family history, it governs his perception and sense of the world, just as the madness within him does.
We can infer that Roderick begins to become aware of his mental state, and the isolated life he has led all this time, at some point before the story begins. Otherwise, he would never have invited the narrator to the mansion and would continue his lonely days. When Roderick reflects on his life, he feels great sorrow and anxiety, due to the fact that he is the final link on the Usher chain. As a result of his family’s deep-seated history of isolation, Roderick is convinced that this is his sole destiny, he lacks any motivation to alter fate. This shows the intensity of the madness his family has ingrained within his mind, he is essentially programmed to live in this certain way.
As Foucault described, lies have become reality and errors are truth, Roderick has totally accepted his fate as the final Usher, following the imaginary laws of his long passed ancestors. A madman is unable to reflect on himself properly, he is unable to deviate from the usual processes of his mind. This process of reflection within madness is what is truly killing Roderick Usher in this story. Foucault even adds, “Madness deals not so much with truth and the world, as with man and whatever truth about himself he is able to perceive”(27). Therefore, Roderick will never truly be able to see himself from the outside, as the only truth he knows is error. He believes the long line of self-attached Ushers that came before him will not allow it, when in reality these dead ancestors have no say in his individual life, but he allows them to govern him.
I believe Poe is aware of this inescapable, cyclical nature of madness that can entrap people so tightly. He has created the character of Roderick in order to show us how powerful an ideology can be. Roderick is experiencing this deep mental pain because he believes he has deviated from the ideological norms forced upon him over time. Poe has used Roderick, and the madness that infects him, to create a greater message on individuality. Roderick Usher is a martyr of madness, his mental degradation teaches us the dangers of being too intimately involved in anyone else’s beliefs. If Roderick disregarded the beliefs and laws his family had invented in the past, he would not see himself as a failure. He would not see the world through the Usher family’s eyes, but rather his own.
The mansion itself seems to fear the outside world as well. It is clear that no furniture has been replaced, or any work has been done to make any repairs on the increasing decay of the building. Even in it’s architecture, it upholds this law of isolation, as the narrator describes “specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air” (120). In The Design of Order, Mark Kinkead-Weekes identifies the relation here: “the first breath of air from outside will bring instant disintegration – and there is the narrator entering” (20). I certainly agree with him in believing that this “breath of air” is the narrator himself, stepping into the formerly isolated world of Usher. He is the deviation from the norm that sparks the complete collapse of the House of Usher.
Poe uses the narrator as a messenger from the outside world, and sends him to this enclosed bubble his friend resides in. The sane narrator’s time spent with the ill Roderick acts like treatment, as they attempt to find the source of the illness, fighting off the depression with the distractions of music and art. However, as the narrator attempts to alleviate his friend, he gradually incites self-reflection within Roderick. The narrator unknowingly pushes Roderick to see his own life from another perspective, which shakes him to his core. Poe has placed this entrapping madness and rejection of the outside into Roderick, the mansion, and the Usher family line, only to have their blissful ignorance be violently disrupted by the narrator’s arrival. The results are, by the end of the story, the complete destruction of these three subjects. Therefore, Poe has taught us yet another lesson about madness through this story, that it cannot be shaken too violently, or forced into a cure. The madman will always be unaware of his madness, until it is identified by the sane. This story not only paints a powerful scene of battle between sane and insane, but also enlightens us on the incredibly sensitive nature of an ill mind.
With this story, I believe Poe is attempting to show us that our minds are all victims to our surroundings, just like the minds of these men. Whether it’s a place in nature or a family ideology, these parts of our existence deeply impact our minds, how we see ourselves, and the world. Poe is interested in identifying for us the pieces of the physical world that can incite pain and discomfort within us. From “The Fall of the House of Usher” Poe asks us to understand that the world around us does not define our state of being. This story is a call to arms to fight against the sensitivity of our human brains. Unlike the characters of this story, we must not let our minds be negatively affected by the beliefs of others, the atmosphere of nature, or even our own anxieties. Poe uses the misfortune of these men as a sacrifice. He begs us all to live as individual beings, free to determine our own destinies, rather than be driven mad by them.
THOMAS MAZZAFERRO 