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A sensation of stupor oppressed me, as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother—but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears. The crossing of borders pertains vitally to the Gothic horror of the tale.
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The ballad concerns a royal palace which was once filled with joy and song, until ‘evil things’ attacked the king’s palace and made it a desolate shadow of what it once was. The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 collection of stories by Ray Bradbury, contains a novella called "Usher II," a homage to Poe. Its main character, William Stendahl, builds a house based on the specifications from Poe's story to murder his enemies.
Edgar Allan Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher: The Edgar Allan Poe story that inspired new Netflix horror - The Independent
The Fall of the House of Usher: The Edgar Allan Poe story that inspired new Netflix horror.
Posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Another factor that helps us understand the differences between the series and the book is the story length of The Fall of the House of Usher. Mike Flanagan created a series that counts eight episodes, telling the story of the Usher family starting when Roderick Usher was a kid. On the one hand, the Netflix series covers decades, from the 90s to today; on the other, the short story by Edgar Allan Poe faces only the last few days of Roderick’s life.
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He believes the mansion is sentient and responsible, in part, for his deteriorating mental health and melancholy. Despite this admission, Usher remains in the mansion and composes art containing the Usher mansion or similar haunted mansions. His mental health deteriorates faster as he begins to hear Madeline's attempts to escape the underground vault she was buried in, and he eventually meets his death out of fear in a manner similar to the House of Usher's cracking and sinking.
In November 2023, Roderick Usher, the CEO of pharmaceutical company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, loses all six of his children within two weeks. Auguste Dupin, an Assistant United States Attorney who dedicated his career to exposing Fortunato's corruption, to his childhood home, where he tells the true story of his family and unveils the Ushers' darkest secrets. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. I say that even their exceeding density did not prevent our perceiving this—yet we had no glimpse of the moon or stars—nor was there any flashing forth of the lightning.
thought on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’”
The tale is characterized by its atmospheric setting, vivid descriptions, and exploration of themes like madness, decay, and the blurred lines between reality and the supernatural. Poe’s masterful storytelling creates a sense of foreboding and unease, making The Fall of the House of Usher a classic of American Gothic literature. Shortly after the narrator’s arrival, Madeline does die, and Roderick opts to keep her body in one of the home’s creepy vaults, worried that her unusual sickness would attract questions. ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ can also be analysed as a deeply telling autobiographical portrait, in which Roderick Usher represents, or reflects, Poe himself.
Plot
For one, “the entire family lay in the direct line of descent,” meaning that only one son from each generation survived and reproduced. Poe implies incestuous relations sustained the genetic line and that Roderick and Madeline are the products of extensive intermarriage within the Usher family. Might we then interpret Roderick as a symbol of the conscious mind – struggling to conceal some dark ‘secret’ and make himself presentable to his friend, the narrator – and Madeline as a symbol of the unconscious? Note how Madeline is barely seen for much of the story, and the second time she appears she is literally buried (repressed?) within the vault. During one sleepless night, the narrator reads aloud to Usher as eerie sounds are heard throughout the mansion.
Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin; Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win. VI.And travellers now within that valley, Through the red-litten windows seeVast forms that move fantastically To a discordant melody;While, like a rapid ghastly river, Through the pale door,A hideous throng rush out forever, And laugh—but smile no more. Here’s a quick rundown of the gothic tales that The Fall of the House of Usher pulls from. While many people refer to the weeks leading up to Halloween as spooky season, if you’re a horror fan, it’s essentially Mike Flanagan season. Since 2018, the prolific creator has developed several of Netflix’s buzziest horror titles, including The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club. This is an abridged summary and analysis of "The Fall of the House of Usher." For the complete study guide (including quotes, literary devices, analysis of the major characters, and more), click here.
Roderick eventually declares that he has been hearing these sounds for days, and that they are being made by his sister, who was in fact alive when she was entombed. In Sara Trent's modern retelling of Poe's classic, "The Fall of the House of Usher," readers are thrust into a world of eerie desolation and creeping dread. As George explores the crumbling Usher estate, he uncovers a family plagued by illness and haunted by dark secrets. The mansion itself seems to pulse with malevolent energy, threatening to consume all who enter. With its gripping narrative and chilling atmosphere, Trent's adaptation offers a fresh and unsettling take on a timeless literary masterpiece. The antique volume which I had taken up was the “Mad Trist” of Sir Launcelot Canning; but I had called it a favourite of Usher's more in sad jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth and unimaginative prolixity which could have had interest for the lofty and spiritual ideality of my friend.
The claustrophobia of the mansion affects the relations among characters. For example, the narrator realizes late in the game that Roderick and Madeline are twins, and this realization occurs as the two men prepare to entomb Madeline. The cramped and confined setting of the burial tomb metaphorically spreads to the features of the characters. Because the twins are so similar, they cannot develop as free individuals.
Flanagan also borrowed other elements from the poet’s oeuvre to construct the eight-episode series. The trailer features a raven motif and the line “nevermore,” which both nod to Poe’s 1845 poem “The Raven.” And Carla Gugino plays a shape-shifter named Verna, whose name is an anagram of the bird. One stormy, sleepless night, the narrator tries to calm Roderick by reading him a book, but they’re interrupted by the house’s mysterious sounds.
As Roderick talks about his sister’s illness, the narrator sees her pass through a distant part of the house. As the narrator reads of the knight's forcible entry into the dwelling, he and Roderick hear cracking and ripping sounds from somewhere in the house. When the dragon's death cries are described, a real shriek is heard, again within the house. As he relates the shield falling from off the wall, a hollow metallic reverberation can be heard throughout the house. At first, the narrator ignores the noises, but Roderick becomes increasingly hysterical.
The narrator tells Roderick that the gas is a natural phenomenon, not altogether uncommon. The story explicitly ties the physical House of Usher to the Usher lineage, stating that the peasants in that domain use the phrase “House of Usher” for both. However, the connection between the house and the family runs deeper than linguistic shorthand. The decrepit house acts as a physical manifestation of the Usher family. The narrator observes the house as having an almost human-like quality, describing its windows as “eye-like.” Just as Roderick appears to radiate his own melancholy, so too does the house have a depressing air.
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