1、1“The Fall of the House of Usher”The gothic context of the taleThe doubling motif of the taleThe function of setting in the taleThe structural unity of the tale2The Gothic literary tradition Begun in eighteenth century England Novelists Horace Walpole Ann Radcliffe Matthew “Monk” Lewis Popular form
2、in British literary journals Imported into American short story - 19th century Key ingredient was sensationalism3 Gothic Architecture in America Started in US about 1840 Steeply pitched roofs Pointed arch windows Elaborate trim around roof edges High dormers Lancet windows4 Poes “house of Usher” loo
3、ks more like a medieval castle or English cathedral in Gothic style5 The house might look something like this (from a photograph by Simon Marsden in his Visions of Poe)6Elements of Gothic WritingEmphasis on setting Exterior: landscape Interior: housesCastle-like architectureCharacters are brooding,
4、secretiveBuried family secretsLong history of family tied to place7The Doubling MotifIn literary criticism, this is called a “doppelganger,” from the German for “double-goer”Examples are:Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson)The Secret Sharer (Joseph Conrad)8What function does the doppelga
5、nger motif serve?Represents the dual nature of man In Poe, one side of man is reason, or the mind The other is emotion, or the bodyRoderick and Madeleine are genetically twins, but psychologically they are also doubles.910Who Represents What?Roderick An artist figure (509) Nervous agitation (509) Li
6、ves in dark upstairs apartment (511) Cadaverous complexion (511) “want of moral energy” (511) “excessive nervous agitation” (511-12)11 Rodericks mental condition is affected by his environment “He was enchanted by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted . . . An
7、 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.” (512)12 Here, “physique” refers to something physical And “morale” refers to something mental Roderick is all mindmind in a
8、weak body He represents in one way the life of the isolated artist Paintings Reading Guitar playing13 Madeleine Illness has debilitated her All descriptions focus on the bodybody “gradual wasting away of the person” (513) Roderick and the narrator screw down the lid of her coffin (518) She returns f
9、rom the tomb to reclaim her twin brother, her “double” “the huge antique panelsthrew back” (521) She “fell heavily inward uponher brother andbore him to the floor a corpse”14What is Poes point?Poe addresses the dual and conflicted nature of the SelfMind and body are at war with each other in each of
10、 usWe try to repress one side and live without itBut we cannot achieve a harmonious existence in this way15The Function of Setting - ExteriorThe “house of Usher” has two meaningsThe physical dwellingThe family line, or lineage1. “the entire family lay in the direct line of descent”16The house is als
11、o a type of character in the story Like the family, it is of “an excessive antiquity” (510) The landscape is overgrown and ragged On the front down the middle is “a barely perceptible fissure” going in “a zigzag direction” (510)17Interior SettingGothic architecture (511) “windows were long, narrow a
12、nd pointed” “feeble gleams of encrimsoned light” “dark draperies” “atmosphere of sorrow”Roderick lives upstairs (mind)Madeleine is entombed below ground (body)18Structure and UnityPoe creates texts within texts“The Haunted Palace” (poem) reflects the Usher family life in the house (515)“The Mad Tris
13、t” (story) parallels Madeleines return from the graveThe storm outside is analogous to the turmoil inside the characters in the house1. The book titles in Rodericks library are symbolic of the themes of the story19Rodericks Library“the Chiromancy of Robert Flud, of Jean DIndagine”“the Directorium In
14、quisitorum”“old African Satyrs, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours” (516-17)20Poes Theory of Literary Unity Poe earned his living as a “magazinist,” not a fiction writer. He was an editor and reviewer for many major magazines. Poe wrote a great deal of literary criticism, literary theory,
15、 and book reviews. His theory of literary unity was articulated in a review of Hawthornes collection of stories, Twice-Told Tales in 184221 An author should “conceive, with deliberate care, a certain unique or single effect to be wrought out, and then invent such events as may best aid him in establ
16、ishing this preconceived effect. In the whole composition there should be no word written, of which the tendency, direct or indirect, is not to the one pre-established design.22Unity in “Fall of the House of Usher”First and last paragraphs are mirror images of each other, creating symmetryThe texts-within-text reinforce the central themeThe house itself symbolizes the split in the familyThe construction of the house reflects a “perfect adaptation of parts” (510)
