Incest in "The Fall of the House of Usher"

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is one of the many short stories written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published the year 1839. This short story belongs to the gothic genre and handles various topics such as illness, family, loneliness, death, weaknesses... Nevertheless, there is a theme in the tale which is not directly mentioned or addressed but insinuated: this is the topic of incest.

The purpose of this essay will be to explore the underlying theme of incest throughout the entire story, indicating in which ways it is present, as well as grasp the author’s connotations behind this subject and its consequences.

The story begins with the narrator arriving at the House of Usher in the evening, after having spent all the day crossing the region on horseback. The name of this character, as well as the house location, remain unmentioned because these were not important details for the author. The narrator comes to that house after receiving a letter in which the proprietor, his old friend Roderick Usher, asks him for support in his mental illness.

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Having the house before his eyes, the narrator starts feeling pervaded by sentiments of anguish and sadness, whose causes he is unable to explain. He describes these as “a sense of insufferable gloom”, “an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation” and “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart”. He also stops to think “what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? I was a mystery all insoluble”.

This is the first hint given by the author that there is something secret and evil about that house, and it is that evilness that makes the newcomer restless and depressed. This idea of a special evil atmosphere created by the house is reinforced later on when the guest is already accommodated and tells: “[... ] about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity -and atmosphere which had an affinity with the air of heaven [...]”. Also, he expresses: “I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all”. A very recurrent idea in horror stories is the pervasion of negative energy in places where terrible actions have been carried out. The House of Usher is no exception, being this terrible action the sinful reproduction between close relatives throughout all the branches of the family tree.

Usher family’s tradition of isolating their blood results in actual isolation of the House and its members from the outside world. Hence, the narrator recalls that “Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet I really knew little of my friend. His reserve had been always excessive and habitual”. The ties between the family members and their House seems to have been pretty strong, and few times were they able to leave it. Roderick is said that “He was enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted, and whence, for many years, he had never ventured forth.” When the newcomer steps into his bedroom, he realized that “The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within”. This a clear sign of confinement, as the windows are inaccessible and it nos possible to escape. However, the most revealing quotation could be the next one: “I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain”. This would demonstrate that the Usher dynasty had done as many English high-born families so often did: they married relatives, and, therefore, their gene pool was so compact that many died or suffered from genetic illnesses, like epilepsy or conditions such as the ones of Madeline and Roderick.

Regarding the disorder which affects Mr. Roderick, this is described by him in his letter as “an acute bodily illness -of a mental disorder which oppressed him-”. Once he is with his friend, it is quite significant that Roderick himself chooses the words “family evil” to describe his disease. These words speak for themselves and give us a clue about the nature and cause of his affections. In the speech of the narrator, he perceives Mr. Roderick as having a “cadaverousness complexion”, “a want of moral energy” and “an excessive nervous agitation”. Roderick adds that “he suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light, and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror”. There was very limited awareness of mental health in the times that this work was written, yet today, by reading these descriptions, we can elucidate that he is enduring chronic depression and acute anxiety, added to the mental genetical disorder that he suffers from. The cause of his depression could be his emotion of guilt: he, being one of the two last descendants of his lineage, carries with the sinful acts that have been committed by his family generation after generation. Also, he is aware that his twin sister, his only relative left, is about to pass away. Another issue that can disturb his mind is his inner conflict between his family destiny -what he is supposed to do- versus what he has done: to end his pure dynasty. Fear plays also an important role. Roderick himself claims: 'I must perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. […] I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect--in terror. In this unnerved—in this pitiable condition--I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, fear.” Roderick is not afraid of death or suffering; he is afraid of fear itself. This fear comes from the presentiment that, eventually, he will have to pay for the sins of his ancestors, which actually happens in the end: her supposedly dead sister comes back from the crypt and scares him to death.