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Symbolism

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34 views

Symbolism

Uploaded by

fahad pc
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Symbolism in 'The Fall of the House of

Usher'
In the myths of twins, as a rule, twins are brothers. In the story of E. Roderick’s twin is not a
brother, but a sister, which in itself has a profound symbolic meaning. For E. Poe; the
philosophy of the Ancient East, the idea of the interpenetration of the male and female
beginnings received his artistic embodiment in many of his works. At the heart of the plot
conflict ‘Fall of the House of Ushers’ is not the confrontation of the house and its owners
(this is the consequence of another more complex problem), but the confrontation between
the two parts of the couple – mind and feelings, consciousness and subconsciousness,
Roderick and Madeleine. One evening Roderick Usher shows his guest two of his creations –
a picture and a song.

A small canvas depicted an infinitely long dungeon or tunnel with a low ceiling and smooth
white walls, the uniformity of which was nowhere and nothing was interrupted. With some
hints, the artist managed to inspire the viewer that the strange cellar lies very deep under the
ground. Nowhere along its entire length was there no escape and no noticeable torch or
another lamp; and; however, the entire dungeon was flooded with a stream of bright rays,
giving it some unexpected and eerie splendor. (226, E. Poe)

There is no doubt that Edgar Poe is a recognized master of detective intrigue – it was not an
accident that he introduced the description of this picture into the novel’s storyline. The
obsessive idea of a sick imagination poured out in a canvas (or perhaps an unconscious
premonition of an imminent drama), will result in Roderick’s assassination of Madeleine, to
immobilize her in the basement of the clan castle. No less remarkable is the song ‘Abode of
Ghosts, performed by Roderick.

The act of immuring Madeleine Asher in the basement of the house should be interpreted at
the level of the symbolic language of Edgar Poe. For this, the decryption of the mythic
symbol ‘basement”, and ‘tunnel’ is necessary. The cellar is a symbol of emptiness and
unfilled vitality, the secret aspect of which was used by monks and Eastern saints of different
traditions for awakening the heart. It is also associated with the maternal womb, the main
attribute of the maternal archetype. This symbol represents the secret, inaccessibility, and
density of the unconscious, the motive for overcoming internal forces.

Burying his twin sister alive, Roderick Usher himself is doomed to destruction: one cannot
count on the life of the whole, destroying its integral part. It is also symbolic that Madeline,
through incredible efforts, managed to get out of their iron crypt, approach the murderous
brother and unite with him after death. ‘For a moment, all trembling and staggering, she stood
on the threshold. Then, with a soft, long groan, she swayed; fell to her brother on her breast –
and in the last mortal convulsions

carried him along to the floor, already lifeless. ‘(227, E. Poe). The necessary unity of the
couple’s brother/sister (male/female, intellect/intuition) is achieved in the story through the
tragic reversal of the situation inside out – through horror and death. (Perdue, “Imagination”
www.uchicago.com)
At the very beginning of the narrative, the author did not accidentally point to a faint crack on
the facade of the castle, thus defining a further ornament of the plot. From a metaphysical
point of view, the death of a house entails the abolition of habitual values and is equivalent to
the destruction of the world, of a harmonious and inhabited cosmos. The situation of the
destruction of the house, of course, touches the deep layers of the human psyche, reshaping
the structure of his personality. A person, having lost his home, finds himself in the space of
absolute non-existence, feels ‘himself deprived of his’ ontological ‘substance dissolved in
chaos’

In the final part of the work E. Poe a house, having lost its inhabitants loses the basis to exist.
The destruction of the castle, as well as the death of the Usher twins, has not a physical but a
mental content – there is no spirit (inhabitants of the dwelling), and there is nobody (house).

Conclusion
The research question focuses on the imagination and symbols used in Edgar Allan Poe’s
short story The Fall of the House of Usher. Conclusively, imagination and the three symbols
eyes, weather, and house strengthen the message of the story. These things represent different
ideas. The symbols Poe frequently used in The fall of the House of Usher are the eyes, the
house, and the weather. There is an old saying that claims, “Eyes are the window to the soul”
The eyes are mentioned several times in the short story, the first time being ‘eye-like
windows.” (222, E. Poe). When the narrator says this, he personifies the house, and he
repeatedly comments on Roderick’s eyes. When the narrator takes a step into the house he
finds Roderick’s eyes luminous indicating a special spirit. Another symbol that takes a big
part in the Story is the house. The house is a symbol of Roderick’s personality and mind.
Imagination on the other hand has a more important role in the story. I feel like the words
used for the imagination determine the effect of the horror in it. Poe used imagination and
symbols in a very effective way and I could tell it by analysing the story in depth. It helps the
reader paint a picture in the head while reading, and that’s what I find so amazing about Poe.
He takes the reader to another world. While reading you feel like you are a character in the
book, experiencing everything and that’s what Poe intended to do we can see in the analysis
above that he succeeded very well.

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