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Gothic Style in “The Fall of the House of Usher”

Prendergast defined “Gothic” as the “originally referred to a style of art

produced in Europe in the latter part of the Middle Ages, or medieval period (12th

to 16th centuries). While the Gothic style is most frequently associated with

architecture, it can also apply to sculpture, panel painting, illuminated manuscripts,

stained glass, jewellery and textiles produced in that period,” (Prendergast, 2006).

Among various types of Gothic, the most popular one through the late 18th and

early 19th centuries could be the Gothic novel, which is “a novel in which

supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action.

The setting is often a dark, mysterious castle, where ghosts and sinister humans

roam menacingly. Horace Walpole invented the genre with his Castle of Otranto.

Gothic elements include these: ancient prophecy, especially mysterious, obscure,

or hard to understand; mystery and suspense; high emotion, sentimentalism, but

also pronounced anger, surprise, and especially terror; supernatural events (e.g. a

giant, a sighing portrait, ghosts or their apparent presence, a skeleton); omens,

portents, dream visions; fainting, frightened, screaming women; women threatened

by powerful, impetuous male; setting in a castle, especially with secret passages;

the metonymy of gloom and horror (wind, rain, doors grating on rusty hinges,

howls in the distance, distant sighs, footsteps approaching, lights in abandoned

rooms, gusts of wind blowing out lights or blowing suddenly, characters trapped in

rooms or imprisoned),” (Harris, 2003). Nevertheless, there are not only great

novels that represent the Gothic moods, such as “The Mysteries of Udolpho”, “The
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Monk”, and “Frankenstein”; but also the short stories, for instance, “The Fall of the

House of Usher”.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” perfectly represents the Gothic style by

bringing forth the emotional terror from the beginning to the end. When “I”, alone,

(as the main character in the story, Usher’s best friend) was walking around the

house of Usher, “with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable

gloom pervaded my spirit” due to “the mere house, and the simple landscape

features of the domain… the bleak walls … the vacant eye-like windows …a few

rank sedges… a few white trunks of decayed trees - with an utter depression of

soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-

dream of the reveler upon opium - the bitter lapse into everyday life”, (P896). This

somber description gives the readers a vivid image the horrible view around the

house of Usher. The power of this view may wake the worst memories deep inside

anyone who has seen it. In other words, the fear is not from any seeable monsters

or supernatural existence, but rather the psychological resonance. The evoked fear

can capture every kind of readers, even someone who does not believe in any

types of real living monsters in this world. Moreover, the author has mentioned

many times of the “decayed trees” all through the story, it sounds like that those

decayed trees, somehow, imply the life of Usher – lonely, decayed, and hopeless.

Edgar dose not set every detail obviously; instead, he leaves lots of space for the

readers to guess and conjecture, which is also a symbolic Gothic convention.

Other evidence from the story, which perfectly matches the Gothic style, can be

gathered from the mysterious atmosphere of the house of Usher. For instance,
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when “I” ride to the house, “a servant in waiting took my horse…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…the room … was very large and lofty…windows were long, narrow, and

pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether

inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way

through the trellissed panes…the eye struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles

of the chamber…dark draperies hung upon the walls…many books and musical

instruments lay scattered about…an air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom

hung over and pervaded all ”, (P 898).

These above descriptions show that it is not a house, but rather a castle, at

least a castle-like house. This is one part of the Gothic style – a castle, which is full

of mysteries coming from the actions of the valet (stealthy step, etc.), the windows,

the little light, and the dark draperies. The author put lots of words on describing

the furnishings not only to romance the mysteries, but also to prepare for the later

development of the stories – Usher’s illness. Deep inside, the scenes may be a

reflecting of Usher’s mind as well; the family of Usher left him so many things,

which made him unbearably about the mixed honor and stress. Besides, with no

surprise, the house of Usher has a secret passage as well. This passage is such a

secret that Usher does not want anybody in his house to know where it is, even his

close valet.

Moreover, the omens and portents are highlighted in the story. In some

instance, writers (this sentence does not make sense, are you trying to readers or
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authors, who are you talking about when you say writers?) have found that “much

of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more natural

and far more palpable origin - to the severe and long-continued illness - indeed to

the evidently approaching dissolution - of a tenderly beloved sister - his sole

companion for long years - his last and only relative on earth”, (P 900). This illness

simply leads to the idea that Usher’s coming death is somehow related to his

sister, which has been proved by Usher’s poem as well:

“But evil things, in robes of sorrow,

Assailed the monarch's high estate;

(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow

Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)

And, round about his home, the glory,” (P 903).

Actually, I find that the poem itself is an epitome of the whole story. The author

put it at the almost middle of story, in order to give the readers an overview of what

they have read, and a preview of what will happen later. At this point, the author

makes Usher as a prophet. It is one of the most prevalent Gothic conventions at

that certain period.

In addition, the Gothic moods are shown once again from the metonymy of

gloom and horror, which is the rising tempest at the near end of the story. It is not

hard to tell that in a Gothic story, the evil things always follow this kind of

metonymy. As a result, on that tempest night, “I” could not fall asleep, Usher came

into “my” room with an extremely uneasy emotion, his “dead” sister Madeline

showed up again, and finally Usher was dead; even the house of Usher fell down.
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These images could be the conjecture of destiny, which is implied by the storm.

When it comes, no matter what happened in the past, good or bad, it moves on.

Time goes by, nobody would remember the Usher’s, and even nobody would know

that there was a house there, but only the deep tarn. Mankind is so weak when

they are facing the destiny; therefore, treasure the chance to do one’s best is the

most important.

Finally, we may draw the conclusion that “The Fall of the house of Usher”

perfectly presents Gothic moods and conventions by exhibiting the emotional

terror, setting a castle-like house which is full of mysterious, adding omens and

portents, and metonymy of gloom and horror by natural phenomena. Moreover, the

story leaves abundant space to readers for thinking and reflecting.

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CITATIONS

Edgar, Allan Poe. “The fall of the house of Usher.” The Harbrace Anthology of

Literature. Eds. Jon C.Stott, Raymond E. Jones and Rick Bowers. Toronto:

Nelson, 2006. 896-909.

Harris, Robert. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Version Date: January 4, 2002.

Prendergast, Kathy. Introduction to the Gothic Tradition-"The Gothic Tradition". 3

August. 2006 <http://www.usask.ca/english/frank/gothtrad.htm>.