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Internal Nature of Madness
Like many of Poe’s stories, “The Fall of the House of Usher” deals with the psychology of an unwell mind. In this case, instead of writing from the perspective of a madman, Poe uses a skeptical narrator to explore the internal nature of madness. Although the narrator tries his best to lift the spirits of Roderick, Roderick’s own mind is unable to allow any hope to pierce it. The narrator describes Roderick’s negative and depressed mood as being so powerful that it almost projects its own negativity onto other things, much as a lamp begets more light (“a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects”). This assessment implies that the strength of Roderick’s belief in his illness and the doomed nature of his world is as good as these things being true in his mind. When Roderick sings “The Haunted Palace,” he metaphorically compares his mind to a fortress overtaken by demons, sealed from the outside world. In other words, his mind is locked up with its madness, impenetrable to reason. Roderick’s isolation is thus as much mental as it is physical, and nothing the narrator can do or say can truly rescue his friend.
The Real vs. The Supernatural
Underlying the story is an unbroken tension between science and superstition, reason and madness, as represented by the narrator and Roderick. From the moment the narrator encounters the gloomy atmosphere of the House of Usher, he is able to rationalize his fears. He acknowledges that the house itself appears to have an atmosphere of gloom, but also locates that purely in his imagination. Although Roderick’s mood unnerves the narrator, he does not truly get lost in superstition. When the sky fills with an eerie glow during the storm, he once again turns to a scientific explanation. Roderick, on the other hand, languishes in his anxiety and despair. He reads books on witches and demons, prophesies his own doom, and even believes his house to be the cause of his illness. Although for the duration of the story, both friends live under the same roof, partaking in the same pastimes, their subjective perspectives remain distinct. Roderick may be a hypochondriac, as the narrator claims, or the narrator’s rationalizations may be an attempt to protect his own mind from the horrors surrounding him.
The story itself allows the reader to decide whether its events describe supernatural occurrences or a tragedy with rational explanations. Although the narrator insists his feeling that an evil lurks within the house is likely a product of his imagination, the vehemence with which he insists on a rational explanation could suggest that he protests too much. Madeline returning from the tomb could signify that she is some supernatural or undead creature, but given that the symptoms of her illness include unconscious trances, Roderick in his agitation could have interred her prematurely. The house’s destruction at the same time as its occupants seems to hint at some spiritual connection between the two. Nevertheless, the crack has existed since the beginning of the story, and the fall occurs in the midst of a giant storm. The story’s unwillingness to fully resolve the tension between the real and the supernatural allows the reader to examine their own mind and see which way they lean.
The Inevitability of Decay
Although he goes to visit Roderick in an attempt to help him, it’s fairly clear the moment the narrator arrives at the Usher manor that nothing can halt the decay that has gripped both the house and its residents. Indeed, the story’s very title alerts the reader that the House of Usher is destined to fall. Therefore, although the narrator insists that the house’s foundations look sound, the sprouting mushrooms, the crumbling stones, and the shallow crack feel ominous and foreboding. Upon seeing Roderick, he observes that his friend’s physical and mental states have both appeared to decay, resulting in him being nearly unrecognizable to the narrator. The Usher line also appears to also be on shaky ground, not just because of Roderick and Madeline’s illnesses, but because a family tree with only one branch can be wiped out in a single generation. Although it’s up to interpretation whether the house truly has a gloomy atmosphere of its own, thematically, the House of Usher and its occupants appear to exist in a state permanently on the brink of death. The narrator’s cheer and rationality have no power against the doom that lives so near to the Ushers. It’s possible to read the promised fall of the house as a general comment on the inevitability of death, or simply as Poe’s creating a thrilling atmosphere of dread to entertain his readers.
Additionally, some scholars have interpreted the deterioration in the story as Poe, an American writer, commenting on European literary forms and ways of being. In the nineteenth century, the United States was still a very new country establishing its own identity and culture. However, “The Fall of the House of Usher” draws heavily from the English Gothic tradition, with its ominous, isolated manor whose strange residents appear to hide a family secret. The story also focuses on the aristocracy, a very European social structure where status is predicated on birth. In American self-mythology, one’s wealth, not one’s birth, determines their social position. Finally, the narrator of the story emphasizes multiple times that the Usher line and its house are ancient and have stood for centuries unchanged. According to this reading of the story, Poe presents the inevitable sickness and madness inherent in these old systems and tropes. If the story is predictable, it is only because such Gothic tales have only one end: destruction.
