Essay on 'The Fall of the House of Usher': Madeline

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Essay on ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: Madeline

‘Madeline is a mother figure who returns from the grave to punish Usher-Poe for deserting her and for having incestuous desires; Roderick is the artist who must destroy himself to create; the entire story is a symbolic enactment of the Apocalypse according to Poe.’

‘Compare how the theme of dysfunctional families is presented in ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley and in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe.’

Gothic literature presents the family as a contentious site which is often depicted as broken, incestuous, and murderous linking to dysfunctional families. which are represented through the characters in ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’. In both, texts family relations exist as a site of tension to help build suspense and create a daunting atmosphere which sets the tone for both novels and is portrayed through Poe and Shelley’s language use. The ‘insufferable gloom’ lingers within the Usher institution as is symbolic of the family unit as a confining structure from which the characters try to escape but ultimately leads to their dysfunction and destruction. This same atmosphere is portrayed in ‘Frankenstein’ as the ‘complete darkness foreshadows the destruction and downfall of the family as Frankenstein is blinded by his immoral and selfish desires. The relationship between Madeline and Roderick, in comparison to Elizabeth and Victor, acts as a microcosm of the societies they exist in, giving the audience a reflection of what the 1840s and late 19th-century family dynamics were. Within both novels the themes: are death, incestuous relationships, psychological illnesses, identity, and historical context. These themes are used to represent dysfunctional families and how author’s lives play a key role in the shaping of their work.

The theme of dysfunctional families is one of the main ideas presented in both Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe’s work as both writers have experienced dysfunctional parental relationships. Poe’s fictional tales gave an outlet to express his trauma over the loss of his mother figures which is evident in the tale of the resurrection of Madeline as he could not resurrect the women in his life. Resurrection is portrayed through the narration ‘do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart’ which suggests the fact she is still living as the narrator and Roderick can hear her heartbeat. A critical evaluation of Poe’s work suggests ‘Madeline is a mother figure who returns from the grave to punish Usher-Poe for deserting her and for having incestuous desires’. This critical evaluation illustrates how Poe’s relationship with his mother is embedded within his work as his traumatic experiences are inescapable and portray dysfunctionality. Mary Shelley had also lost a parental figure in her life being her mother and displayed the possible need for her to write about the resurrection of her loss. In ‘Frankenstein’ the rebirth of his creation can show how possibly influenced her to include the idea due to her mother dying during childbirth. Shelley utilizes the quote ‘Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change’ which is important as it shows the emotions of both Frankenstein and Mary Shelley as she reflects her pain and grief into this character.

‘In the Fall of the House of Usher’ the life and the death of Madeline and Roderick are linked as their bond suggests that their twin relationship involves not only physical but also psychological connection. The narrator learns that ‘the deceased and himself had been twins and that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them.’ Poe uses irony to suggest that Roderick and Madeline have an ‘intelligible nature’ which is not a true depiction of their relationship as the only thing that is clear about them is their ‘illness’. At the end of the novel, Madeline falls ‘heavily inward’ onto Roderick and bores ‘him to the floor a corpse’. The use of the verb ‘bore’ illustrates that she has made the grave for which her brother’s ‘corpse’ will be buried as her touch leads to the ending of their lives just as they shared the beginning of their lives at birth. Another interpretation of the text comes from Maurice Beebe who suggests that ‘there is sufficient internal evidence in the tale suggests that Roderick deliberately buried his sister alive’. This represents dysfunctional families as Roderick’s killing of his sister is deemed a ‘mercy killing’ in his poisoned mind, meaning the Usher family’s undoing is of their hand rather than for supernatural reasons. In comparison within ‘Frankenstein’, the death of Elizabeth and Victor is evidence of dysfunctional families as the creation of Frankenstein leads to both their downfall and ultimately their deaths. The description of Elizabeth’s death is morbid and unsettling as her body is ‘strangled upon the bed’ with ‘the print of the monster’s fingers still fresh upon her neck’. Shelley utilizes violent imagery to show his creation’s brutal nature as he takes revenge and breaks the emotional and physical connection that Victor has with his wife by killing her. The death of Elizabeth leads to the destruction of Victor as he seeks revenge for her death, his creation becoming both of their downfalls. Elizabeth’s death is contrasting to Victor’s as he does not suffer the same fate as his wife; instead, he dies from illness brought upon him whilst chasing vengeance. The alternation between Frankenstein’s monster wanting to be with Victor so he can become a father figure and Victor wanting to kill Frankenstein for his actions demonstrates dysfunctional families as they both seek what they cannot obtain.

Madeline and Roderick’s relationship is complex as there are incestuous tendencies evident, implying they are more than just siblings to one another. The narrator suggests that ‘the Usher race’ had no ‘enduring branch’ this suggests the idea of the whole family tree of Ushers is based on incest as their ancestors encouraged marriages between their children to keep the blood of Ushers pure. From a Marxist perspective, this can link to status being an influential factor as those from the upper class often encourage marriage inside of the family name to maintain power. In ‘Frankenstein’ incestuous ideas are present about Elizabeth who is adopted and can therefore be seen as Victor’s half-sister. Victor’s mother gifts him the ‘beautiful present’ in the form of Elizabeth who is to be his wife as she hopes that they will become a ‘union’. This links to dysfunctional families as in both texts the family surrounding both Madeline and Roderick alongside Victor and Elizabeth are both in favour of keeping the bloodline pure through incest. However, this has consequences as the relationship that the characters have is based on incest which is seen as sinful and punishable by death. Ultimately their family’s desire to withhold power and their status leads to the tragic consequence they eventually face being their deaths which are caused by their family. Roderick and Madeline both suffer from the same ‘illness’, which is believed to be hereditary, demonstrating the dysfunction in the Usher family both physically and psychologically. Roderick himself describes the illness as ‘constitutional and a family evil’ tying the family with dysfunctionality as if a curse is following them, a trope familiar to the gothic genre. In ‘Frankenstein’, the description of Elizabeth’s physical appearance is used to represent her as a desirable and feminine ideal as she has a ‘soft voice’ and ‘celestial eyes”. Shelley utilizes the adjective ‘celestial’ which has connotations of her soul and body being pure and indicates that she is an angel from heaven. Having these delicate qualities is what men desired in women in the 18th century. These womanly features attracted Victor towards her, demonstrating how purity links with incestuous desire. Furthermore, the idea that Elizabeth is an object to Victor can be examined as he calls her ‘possession of my own ” to which then Elizabeth becomes an object in which life outside her family is unimportant.

Physiological illnesses are portrayed through Victor Frankenstein who experiences paranoia, monomania, and possible schizophrenia due to his need to defy the laws of nature and God. Victor being metaphorically bound to his illnesses can be interpreted as a consequence given by God which leads to his death. His dysfunctional mind cannot ‘tear his thoughts from his employment’, which has ‘taken an irresistible hold of his imagination.’ Illustrating signs of monomania. An interpretation of Victor’s mentality can suggest he has schizophrenia as his creation could be an image or delusion of his imagination representing the inner evil within Victor’s tormented mind. Shelley depicts Victor as a victim suffering from mental illness as he falls into a ‘deep, dark, deathlike solitude’. The alliteration of ‘deep’ ‘dark’ and ‘deathlike’ emphasizes the severity of his mental dysfunction and how this is then portrayed in his family. In ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ Roderick’s physiological illness is rooted in his family history as the Ushers are haunted by the memories of their ‘unresolved past’. The twins’ relationship is peculiar as it is believed that twins are one person split into two and that they are unable to survive without one another, their bond even exceeding death. Roderick’s ‘long-continued illness’ causes his health to deteriorate as without Madeline he suffers from depression and insanity. Madeline and Roderick both self-isolate and remove themselves from normality, the extreme separation brings them closer together and allows them to feed off each other’s negative emotions developing their physical and mental dysfunctionalities.

The family as an institution can be recognized as a prison which can be reflected in the fall of the house of Usher as Madeline and Roderick are both held captive by their title and home linking to dysfunctional families. The Usher mansion represents isolation and has an atmosphere of death which supports the idea that the Usher name is dying. Poe uses the ‘house’ to describe the physical and structural model of the Usher family and how this is used to demonstrate the extreme forms of isolation that lead to dysfunctionality. The structure of the Usher house can be symbolic of prison due to its physical description of ‘The windows” which ‘were long, narrow, and pointed, and at a vast distance’. This can be used to support the idea that the family is recognized as a prison since not only Madeline and Roderick have been trapped in this Usher house but so have the whole ‘Usher race’ which is evidence of dysfunctional families. The Usher house having an ‘atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven’ illustrates that this family despite being from an aristocratic background they are associated with sin which hinders their status within society and ultimately leads to their downfall. In comparison to this Victor Frankenstein also comes from an aristocratic background as he is born into the ‘most distinguished family of Geneva’ which demonstrates that their family comes from a fixed representation of their family linking to the idea of imprisonment. An interpretation of this can be seen from a Marxist viewpoint as due to Victor’s upbringing, causes him to oppress his creation the same way that the bourgeoisie does to the proletariat. Frankenstein’s creation is in the less privileged position and is symbolic of the proletariat which is ‘created’ by the bourgeoisie being Frankenstein. In addition to this, the Frankenstein dynasty falls due to Victor’s incapability to control and trap his creation therefore it can illustrate that Victor is the dominant figure and metaphorically the ‘government’ controlling the ‘prison’ being his family and creature.

In the novel Frankenstein, the theme of dysfunctional families can also be associated with identity as we identify emotionally and physically with our biological family which is contrasting in Frankenstein and his creations’ relationship. Frankenstein has been surrounded by ‘filial love’ which is ironic as he cannot provide the same emotional support and love to his creation causing there to be a divide in their relationship and lack of emotional identity. When creating life, we have no power in the physical appearance of our children however only Frankenstein had this autonomy and still could not identify with his offspring. Shelley illustrates Frankenstein’s hatred for his creation by using imagery associated with hell as he has created a ‘demoniacal corpse’ to which he ‘had so miserably given life’. Frankenstein is not able to identify with his creation as he does not see a family resemblance which subsequently leads to him despising and rejecting the idea that they are related. The relationship between Frankenstein and his creation demonstrates how without the bond of love within the family it leads to insanity and isolation which both characters experience. In chapter 5 of the novel the description of his creation having ‘a grin wrinkled his cheeks’ is used to show the audience that he is capable of showing emotion and is wanting to love his parental figure. In comparison to this Madeline and Roderick, their identity is based on their twin relationship which is representational of dysfunctional families as he cannot live without Madeline. Nancy Segal’s study on Twins:’ Individual Identities and Common Bonds’ suggests that in opposite-sex twins the female takes a motherly approach to their brother providing attention and protection. Poe uses repetition of ‘gloom’ throughout the novel to set the tone of the inevitable death that Madeline and Roderick are yet to face. In addition to this, the personification of the ‘gloom’ laying ‘heavily’ on Roderick is cohesive with the cyclical structure of death as it foreshadows his downfall. Madeline and Roderick both face the same fate linked to their identity and twin relationship without Madeline Roderick is not able to survive as he has not had the time to develop his identity.

In conclusion, dysfunctional families are widely illustrated in Frankenstein and the Fall of the House of Usher as both gothic literature texts portray elements of incestuous ideas, death, psychological illness, relationships, and identity. The relationship between Frankenstein and his creation is a true depiction of dysfunctional families as he rejects the reality of the consequences of this false facade he had created in his mind. Frankenstein’s need to challenge the idea of life after death ultimately leads to the destruction of his family alongside his inevitable death. Madeline and Roderick’s relationship in the Fall of the House of Usher leads to the Usher house and family dynasty crumbling due to their family being intoxicated with greed, pride, and incestuous relationships. The narrator navigates the reader by exploring the Usher house exposing how dysfunctional the’ Usher race’ has become and how their status has led to the whole bloodline’s downfall.

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