Blog Entry 12

For my chosen story “Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe I will use the psychoanalytic approach. The psychoanalytic theory has been developed by different psychologists, such as Freud and Jung. But this theory can be used to analyze a literary work, for example poems and stories. With this psychoanalytic theory I will analyze Poe’s life. Also I will analyze the characters in this short story and I will explain their behavior. The characters in the “Fall of the House of Usher” are the narrator, the narrator’s friend Roderick Usher and Usher’s twin sister Madeline. With the psychoanalytic theory I will analyze the symbols in this short story, what the symbols represent and what the author is trying to show the readers. Also I will use the New Critical approach, focusing on the theme to show the meaning of the short story. In this story the narrator receives a letter from his friend Roderick Usher. In the letter Usher explains that he is suffering from a strange illness. Then the narrator goes to Usher’s house and finds out that not only Usher is sick, but his sister Madeline is sick too. After a while Madeline dies and Usher decides to put her body in the family tomb. The narrator helps Usher to put Madeline’s body in the family tomb, which will stay in the tomb for two weeks. After two weeks her body will be permanently buried at the cemeteries. After couple of days a storm begins, and Usher gets very upset. The old house starts to make noises; then the narrator tries to keep Usher calm by reading him stories. But Usher is convinced that the noises in the house are coming from his sister and that she is mad at him, because he buried her. Then Madeline shows up at the door, she enters the room and falls down in Usher‘s arms. Usher also dies and both of them fall down. The narrator escapes from the house. While the narrator is running he turns around and sees the house of Usher shaking and crumbling down.