Sample Essay
The Idea of the Commitment to Responsibility in Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” was first published in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, a journal that published essays, fiction, reviews, and poems, as well as articles on sailing, hunting, and cricket. This story is an example of Gothic literature, a literary genre that began in England in the late 1700s. The whole story seems to typify the Gothic style, which appealed to Edgar Allan Poe’s dark view of the world: bleak or remote settings, macabre or violent incidents, characters in psychological and/or physical torment, supernatural or otherworldly elements, and strong language full of dangerous meanings. Poe shows Roderick Usher and his sister, lady Madeline, who have terribly contracted their mysterious maladies and dwelt in the remote house which has taken on the atmosphere of an unknown threat.
The landscape features of the House of Usher are melancholy. There seems to be something mysterious going on around there. The servant, the physician of the family, and things which are inside the mansion, such as the carvings of the ceilings, the somber tapestries of the walls, the ebon blackness of the floors, and the fantastic or dreamlike armorial trophies radiate vague sentiments. The vault which was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light; lying, at great depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building where the narrator slept was also a region of horror.
With such an unlikely main situation, ideas may seem unimportant, but one can nevertheless find a number of ideas in the story. Some of these are that commitment is more important than intimidation and violence, that people may find justification for even the most contradictory actions, that responsibility makes people do and say unusual and foolish things, and that lifelong commitments may not be sustained in the imagined landscape. One of the story’s major ideas is that even if human beings are intimidated and menaced by strong mystical and mysterious fear, their commitment to responsibility is stronger. Realistically and harmoniously, this idea is manifested through Roderick Usher’s recreations and resistance, as well as lady Madeline’s struggle and counterattack.
Recreations and resistance indicate Roderick Usher’s commitment to responsibility for his family. Although Roderick Usher is a reserved man; his reserve has been always excessive and habitual; it might be because he has been suffering from a mental disorder which oppressed him, he shows his dogged determination to succeed in doing artistic activities. He likes painting, reading, and music. He is very skillful at playing guitar. These are only recreations that alleviate his melancholy. He tries to resist his illness. He struggles to overcome a habitual trepidancy - an excessive nervous agitation, although it has been a series of feeble and futile attempt. His physical appearance has been terribly altered. Roderick Usher believes that there is something superstitious in the house where he lives. He thinks that a certain superstitious influence has had an evil effect upon his family mansion and has caused his spirit long suffering. He also admits that his own illness and the long-continued illness of his tenderly beloved sister, who has been his sole companion for many years and his last and only relative on earth, can be traced to a more natural and far more palpable origin. In him, Poe has created a situation that is intimidating to Roderick Usher’s determination so that he might illustrate his idea that commitment to responsibility for family is much more important than threats. In the story, Poe lets Roderick Usher explain that his sister’s death would leave him as last of the ancient race of the Ushers.
Lady Madeline’s struggle against the pressure of her malady shapes and reflects Roderick Usher’s concern about the commitment to responsibility for his family. The stem of the Usher race had a deficiency and because of this the entire family lay in a direct line of descent; with very trifling and very temporary variations in the long passing of centuries. This remarkable fact might affect both the character of the house and the character of the people who have dwelt in it. Roderick Usher’s malady was a constitutional and a family evil and one for which he despairs to find a remedy – a mere nervous affliction which would undoubtedly soon be transferred from generation to generation. He suffers much from a morbid acuteness of the senses. The disease of the lady Madeline is also an unusual type of illness. She has struggled against the pressure of her malady. The story reveals that lady Madeline finally passes away and her corpse is preserved for a fortnight in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building. This macabre sense of deep melancholy which has dominated Roderick Usher shapes and reflects his concern about the commitment to responsibility for his family. Although Roderick Usher tells the narrator that he has his resolution “by consideration of the unusual character of
the malady of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical
men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial ground of the family”, Poe deliberately intends to imply that Roderick Usher wishes to preserve his very ancient family.
Roderick Usher’s counterattack against the evil superstitious power of the places around the mansion reveals his great courage throughout his commitment to responsibility for his family. Roderick Usher is waiting for something frightening. He seems to know that it is going to happen soon and is ready to encounter it. He shudders at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incidents, which may operate upon that intolerable agitation of soul. In that unnerved condition he feels that he must die and leave reason sooner or later when struggling with the grim phantasm, fear. Although he says that he should die in that deplorable folly, Roderick Usher feels anxious about the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. This means that he does not want the evil superstitious power to be let loose upon his family. When he perceives lady Madeline’s struggles within the coppered archway of the vault, Roderick Usher says “Oh ! wither shall I fly ? Will she not be here anon ? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste ? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair ? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart ?” and springs furiously to his feet, and shrieks out his words, as if in the effort he was giving up his soul – “Madman ! I tell you that she now stands without the door !” Poe made way for Roderick Usher to succeed in his commitment to responsibility for his family, even though he finally becomes a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.
The idea, of course, is not new, wonderful, or surprising. What is amazing about Poe’s use of the idea is that the commitment to responsibility for family and courage and confidence of human beings in “The Fall of the House of Usher” wins out thrillingly against melancholy and strong mystical and mysterious fear. The story clearly shows that Roderick Usher has a belief that was connected with the gray stones of the home of his forefathers. He thinks that the method of collocation of those stones, the many fungi which overspread them, and the decayed trees which stand around have formulated a certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and the walls. It is the silent, importunate, and terrible influence which for centuries had molded the destinies of his family, and which made him what he is. Consequently, Poe is suggesting that mysterious formidable fear may lead to spiritual collapse. Yet at the high point of this disheartened situation, the major protagonist still sustains his hopeless determination. Though “The Fall of the House of Usher” is written in the Gothic style, Edgar Allan Poe’s use of the idea of commitment to responsibility for family is based on an accurate judgment about human beings’ courage and confidence.