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On the basis of succession, Poe succeeds in turning the sensory terror caused by external atmosphere inward, creating a new terror—he terror of soul, consequently, to enhance the aesthetic value of terror. Poe innovates boldly the sense of terror caused by horrible external atmosphere or imaginarily supernatural soul, and he makes readers have a sense of terror from inner world. His exploration of evil, reflection of knowledge, and his clear understanding of alienation of industrial civilization, what makes his novels have an outstanding modern consciousness, especially revelation of horrible mind and aesthetic innovation of ugliness in his works play a trailbreaker role in the emergence of modernist literature.
4 Gothic Elements in The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher is the most Gothic and the most interpreted one among Edgar Allen Poe’s Gothic classical works. This work with its sole and unified effect of penetrating sense of terror has won wide popularity in modern literary world. When reading this work, readers are haunted by a sense of pain and melancholy. It is also called a master test for the subsequent history of American Gothicism both in its themes and in plots with its indirect strategies of narration. The most intuitionist and heart-quaking impression it has left to readers is the prostrate decease of the protagonist followed by the fall of the ancient house of Usher, which also symbolizes the end of the story. The Fall of the House of Usher perfectly presents Poe’s writing principle, that is, all elements in the story are used for reaching the effect of terror.
4.1 Brief Introduction of The Fall of the House of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher presents a horrible story happening in an ancient house. There lived Roderick and his sister Madeline in a decaying and disintegrating house. They are the last generation of the ancient aristocrat of the Ushers. The sister Madeline has been ill for a long time. Her brother Roderick is mentally abnormal because he has been upset for a long time. His sister became seriously ill when he invited his best friend to come to the house of Usher. And then “I” came to see him. Afterwards, the sister is buried by her brother when she is still alive and the coffin is put in one secluded part of the house. It is on a stormy night when she in a bloody clothing gets out from the coffin, appearing at the door of her brother’s room only to die in the embrace of his brother. At last both of them die. After the narrator “I” escapes from the house of Usher, the house collapses into the lake beside the house immediately. The story ends with the fall of the house of Usher.
From the beginning to the end, the whole story is pervaded an creepy atmosphere with its grotesque plot and horrifying content. The work left a creepy impression on readers as if they experienced a bad dream.
4.2 Gothic Elements Based on The Fall of the House of Usher
In The Fall of the House of Usher can be seen not only the traditional Gothic writing style but also Edgar Allan Poe’s own development of Gothic novels.
On the one hand, Poe inherits the traditional Gothic writing style. For example, the scene of the story is a decaying ancient house that is full of historical and ancient atmosphere. He chooses a gloomy day of the autumn as the time. The characters of the work are classical ones of the Gothic novels. They are all mentally abnormal and both of them are ill. The theme of the story is about the death of a beautiful woman. The plots of the story are excited and unexpected. He focuses on the descriptions of details and creates horrible atmosphere and an horrible effect. All the descriptions represent an atmosphere of supernatural terror, mystery, cruelty and fatalism.
On the other hand, on the basis of the inheritance of the traditional Gothicism, he lays stress on the descriptions of psychological terrors in order to make an effect of the fear of the soul. With the descriptions of external environment and the various sensory stimulus such as the emphasis on the psychological descriptions, he turns the external terror inward so successfully that readers can feel a sense of terror.