In reference to the house, "No outlet was observed in any portion of its vast extent, and no torch, or other artificial source of light was discernible."
In reference to Usher, "To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave."
In reference to Madeline, "The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth."
Poe of course shows that Madeline was also trapped in her coffin.
The whole story seems to represent an entrapment of the human mind or soul in darkness. With each of these instances a character is bound to something that was not physically removable. This could signify a malady within the narrator that distorted his perception of the people he was with, or it could be a reality Poe suffered himself, if only in his mind.
Ad augusta per angusta,
Will Drake
I am so impressed by your ability to find meaning especially deep meaning in Poe's work. And bonus points for using malady in a sentence.
ReplyDeleteI knew Poe was crazy!
I am with Rachel. I have been racking (or is it wracking) my brain to find something deeper than what is before me. Naturally, leave it to Will to find it. The idea you mention here about the human mind/soul trapped in darkness is similar to what I wrote my paper on concerning William Blake's "London". Based on London, I believe it to be our own depravity; since you came up with this on Poe, what say you?
ReplyDeleteI commented on Lane's "That Guy."
ReplyDeleteThanks, by the way :)
Maybe what I commented on his post will serve as a little more meat about what I feel about Poe.