The Fall House of Usher

For this weeks posting I wanted to take a better look at Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. We learned in class that characteristics of gothic literature are gloomy, mysterious, dark, and many other characteristics associated with the darker side. It was with these characteristics in mind that I questioned in a story as dark as the Fall of the House of Usher does beauty still exist? Although Poe’s story is full of dark concepts such as illness and death, a sense of beauty still shines through his writing. For instance, “He stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, in one of the numerous vaults in the main walls of the building”(Poe). Initially reading this is seems utterly disturbing that he would keep the corpse of his sister in his house. However, I think when readers look at it on a deeper level, they can see the love Usher had for his sister and their incredible bond. No matter what type of love, be it family, significant others or friends, love can always be seen as beautiful even at its most tragic hour. The element of mystery in the story supplies beauty as well, it sparks people imagination and curiosity of the unknown. Poe includes lots of mystery in the story especially surrounding the character of Madeline. When reading the story Madeline and many of the other character get portrayed almost as if there not living, as if there just floating along in a daze. Instead of being seen as evil ghosts, I saw each character with immaculate beauty, as if they were floating along surrounded with a white light. Beauty shines through the nature portrayed in the story as well. “While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened, there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind, the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight” (Poe). Beauty can be seen in the power Poe places on the nature. He makes the nature’s power surpass the power of the man. At the same time he gives nature such an incredible power he paints a picture of an illuminated sky for the reader. 

 I feel that beauty can be seen in anything, sometimes its just harder to see. Poe is famously known for his dark and dreary reading but, even still beauty can shine through the pages of his writing just in a different manner. Beauty is not always flowers and butterflies but can sometimes be portrayed in the darkest most dreary situations. This leaves me with the question, is there any piece of literature that contains no beauty at all?

 

Poe, Edgar. “The Fall House of Usher”. 1839. Rpt. in English 372: 19th-Century Literature of the British Empire and the Americas. Comp. Donna Campbell. Pullman, WA: Cougar Copies, 2012. 4-6. Print.