Poes Fall of The House of Usher Essay - Downward Transcendence :: Fall House Usher Essays

Downward Transcendence in The exit of the House of Usher gibe to Beverly Voloshin in Transcendence Downward An Essay on Usher and Ligeia, Poe presents incomprehensible projects which jeopardise to proceed downward rather than upwardly in his story The Fall of the House of Usher (19). Poe mocks the transcendental beliefs, by allowing the characters Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, the house and the atmosphere to snuff it in a downward motion into decay and death, rather than the upward favorable position into life and rebirth that the transcendentalists depict. The favorable position of the mind begins with Roderick Usher and is reflected in the characters and environment around him. The beliefs of transcendentalists are continuously filled with bright colorize and ideas, and heavenly-like tones. The character Roderick Usher suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses which refers to his transcendental beliefs (Poe 1465). Usher finds his transcendental connection wi th the oversoul but instead of brightness he finds gloom with black, white and gray colors. Madeline Usher suffers from a gradual withering away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character (Poe 1465). This results from a loss of contact with the physical world, again a characteristic of a transcendentalist, yet negative instead of positive. According to Voloshin Madeline matches her bothers pallor, but her special dough is red-a faint blush when she is interred and blood on her garments when she emerges (22). Both characters take issue from transcendentalists with their disintegration of the personify and mind instead of a rebirth of the body and mind of a transcendentalist. Because of his connection with the oversoul Roderick Usher finds it difficult to communicate with words, so instead he uses paintings and writings to describe his inner thoughts. Voloshin describes how in The stalk Palace, a writing by Usher, he explains his own fall of stage into chaos, reason into madness, innocence into experience (20). Representing another downward and deathly transcendence is Madeline, who is painted in the vault or tunnel by Roderick. In the painting, Roderick portrays Madeline in a tomb, and gives her no chance to have her own beliefs by locking her in. By doing this, Roderick breaks the transcendental belief that says being locked into the past is wrong, and each person should break free to create beliefs of their own. Just as the transcendence into decay is found in the characters of The Fall of the House of Usher it is in addition found in the actual house and the environment around it.