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Poe was often dismissed by contemporary literary critics because of the unusual content and brevity of his stories. When his work was critically evaluated, it was condemned for its tendencies toward Romanticism. The writers and critics of Poe’s day rejected many of that movement’s core tenets, including its emphasis on the emotions and the experience of the sublime. Accordingly, commentaries on social injustice, morality, and utilitarianism proliferated in the mid-19th century. Poe conceived of his writing as a response to the literary conventions of this period.
by Edgar Allan Poe
Once Roderick and Madeline were the only ones left in the bar after a long night of drinking, Verna revealed to the twins that she knew what they had done. But, if they agreed to her terms, she could guarantee that they would not only get away with Rufus' murder but also rise to control Fortunato's billion-dollar painkiller empire and never be convicted of a single crime. The Fall of the House of Usher has inspired composers like Claude Debussy, novelists like Ray Bradbury, playwrights, and film directors. The most recent transposition is that of the eponym miniseries by Mike Flanagan, first released on Netflix on October 12, 2023.
The Fall of the House of Usher Characters
Swift nods to this aspect by mentioning Patti Smith, a poet-turned-singer who helped pioneer the punk scene during the 1970s. Smith’s influence underscores the ongoing relevance of the tortured poets tradition, demonstrating its ability to inspire and influence across diverse artistic mediums and generations. On the other hand, the Dark Romanticism subgenre, prevalent in German and American Romanticism, employed gloomy, tragic language to explore the relationship between the divine and humanity.
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Family evil, and one for whichhe despaired to find a remedy.” Why “evil”? One wonders, until one recallsthat, in the third paragraph of this story, even before Roderick has been seenfor the first time, the narrator mentions that the ancient “stem” of the Usherfamily never “put forth . The entire family layin the direct line of descent, and had always . So lain.” In other words,Roderick and Madeline Usher are the products and inheritors of an incestuousfamily lineage—one that has remained predominantly patrilineal, so that thename of the family always remained Usher.
The sleep of reason produces monsters When reason leaves the imagination
It features Bruce Greenwood as Roderick, Mary McDonnell as his sister Madeleine, and a mysterious and ominous presence played by Carla Cugino, going by the name of Verna, an acronym for “raven”. The gothic element of madness appears most vividly in Roderick, but it alsoinfects the narrator. Roderick wrestles with superstitions surrounding thehouse, and the narrator himself begins to feel an irrational terror creepingupon him. Roderick exhibits external signs of madness, while the narratordescribes the experience of madness from an internal perspective. Aside from a family doctor, servant, and valet, who briefly appear in thebeginning of the story, the characters of "The Fall of the House of Usher"include the narrator, Roderick Usher, and Madeline Usher. One favourite volume was a small octavo edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum, by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne; and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Ægipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours.
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. Furthermore, the house, despite holding together as a totality, shows signs of physical decay, like crumbling stones, dead trees, and mushrooms growing from the masonry.
Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher: an incoherent mess of references that fails to honour Edgar Allan Poe - The Conversation
Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher: an incoherent mess of references that fails to honour Edgar Allan Poe.
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Poe preferred to write stories thatfocused on channeling singular emotions and effects rather than conveying amoral or a lesson. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe intentionallyleaves his story without a lesson, showing that because people and nature arecorrupted there is no lesson to be learned. The story ends abruptly in deathand destruction, with only the narrator left alive to recount it. The narratordoes not attempt to make sense of the events; he only gives detaileddescriptions. Since there is no lesson attached, the story must be enjoyed forits own sake without a moral aim. The narrator sees Roderick losing his sanity and grip on reality, and whilethere is no obvious cause, the narrator admits he feels the same terror andmadness setting on him.
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Indeed, one of these occupants is Roderick’s twinsister, Madeline Usher, who is suffering from an unspecified but fatal illness.One of the symptoms of this illness is catalepsy (muscular rigidity marked by alack of response to external stimuli); significantly, this symptom is crucialto understanding what happens in the course of the story. No one mentions Madeline, and Roderick spends his time painting, playingmusic, reading, and writing. He paints a dark underground tunnel with beams ofstrange light shining through. Usher writes songs on his guitar, and thenarrator recounts one entitled “The Haunted Palace.” In the song a prosperouspalace falls, and only dancing ghosts remain. Roderick admits he believes theUsher house is sentient and that a foul atmosphere grows from the grounds.
Other luminaries, such as African American poet Phillis Wheatley, used her poetry to resonate with themes of freedom and spirituality amid the stark realities of slavery in the late 18th century. Abolitionist Olaudah Equiano embedded poetic passages within his autobiographical narratives, shedding light on the plight of enslaved individuals and fervently advocating for their emancipation. Inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, House of Usher traces the downfall of the uber-wealthy Usher family and their corrupt drug company, Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. The story centers on Usher family patriarch and Fortunato CEO Roderick (Bruce Greenwood), who, as the show begins, calls up his longtime rival, assistant U.S. attorney C.
In terms of what plot there is, it is set somewhere in the past, and we find out that the narrator and Roderick Usher have been friends and schoolmates previous to the story's beginning. At least Usher considers the narrator to be his friend — in fact, his only friend — and he has written an urgent letter to him, imploring him to come to the Usher manor "post-haste." As the narrator approaches the melancholy House of Usher, it is evening time and a "sense of insufferable gloom pervades" his spirit. This is the first effect Poe creates, this "sense of insufferable gloom." There are no gothic stories or ghost stories which take place in daylight or at high noon; these types of stories must occur in either darkness or in semi-darkness, and thus the narrator arrives at this dark and cryptic manor just as darkness is about to enshroud it. The house, the barren landscape, the bleak walls, the rank sedges in the moat — all these create a "sickening of the heart — an unredeemed dreariness." This is a tone which will become the mood throughout the entire story. A servant in waiting took my horse, and I entered the Gothic archway of the hall. A valet, of stealthy step, thence conducted me, in silence, through many dark and intricate passages in my progress to the studio of his master.
Even though Poe maintains that he did not approve of symbols or allegory, this particular story has been, as suggested above, subjected to many and varied types of allegorical or symbolic interpretations. Basically, however, the story still functions as a great story on the very basic level of the gothic horror story, in which the element of fear is evoked in its highest form. At Roderick’s words, the door bursts open, revealing Madeline all in white with blood on her robes. With a moan, she falls on her brother, and, by the time they hit the floor, both Roderick and Madeline are dead.
Night, a storm raging outside while another storm is raging in Usher's heart, and a decaying mansion in which "visible gaseous exhalations . . . enshrouded the mansion" — all these elements contribute to the eerie gothic effect Poe aimed for. During one sleepless night, the narrator reads aloud to Usher as eerie sounds are heard throughout the mansion. He witnesses Madeline's reemergence and the subsequent, simultaneous death of the twins.
She thus counteracts Roderick’s weak, nervous, and immobile disposition. Some scholars have argued that Madeline does not even exist, reducing her to a shared figment Roderick’s and the narrator’s imaginations. But Madeline proves central to the symmetrical and claustrophobic logic of the tale. Madeline stifles Roderick by preventing him from seeing himself as essentially different from her. She completes this attack when she kills him at the end of the story.
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