He finds him much changed and describes him as “terribly altered”. Once inside the house the narrator is led through many “dark and intricate passages” to meet Roderick Usher. Nearing the house the narrator notices a fissure running from the roof of the house to the ground, this is not dwelt on at the time but is very relevant to the ending of the story. This is a theme prevalent throughout the story but is usually displayed by Roderick Usher not the narrator. The image reflected, however, is even more horrific and chaotic than what he was imagining previously and this throws the narrators mind into a state of temporary disarray. The narrator approaches the house nervously and trying to calm his anxiety, looks into a lake. The reader is aware of his vulnerability and starts to feel concerned about what lies ahead. The story starts with the narrator approaching the house alone through the bleak setting. We are also told that there are no other branches of the Usher family. It seems strange that the only person he feels able to call on in his time of need is someone who doesn’t feel he knows him very well. As a child Roderick was excessively reserved. We are made aware of the loneliness of the life Roderick Usher, the owner, when the narrator speaks of not really knowing his friend very well. The narrator hasn’t seen or even given much thought to this man for many years. The background to the story is that the narrator has been asked to visit by the owner of the house who was a boyhood companion of his. All this is set in a vast and ancient decaying house surrounded by a bleak forest. It contains a strange man with an unknown illness, a house which in some way has a powerful negative effect on the family and a person who either returns from the dead or was entombed alive. The plot fits perfectly into the Gothic genre. The narrator seems very unnerved by the setting and this is portrayed when he says “nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies the crowded upon me as I pondered”, as if he is scared or wary of the objects around him. And then he describes the “white trunks of decayed trees” thus highlighting the ghostly, “death like” setting. Poe uses descriptions such as “rank”, meaning a strong rancid odour, a certain indication that something in some way has gone bad. The reader can sense the narrator’s apprehension. The latter of these gives the reader a feeling of the house watching him like a person.
0 kommentar(er)
