People can die from mere imagination. “Imagination is not something apart and hermetic, not a way of leaving reality behind; it is a way of engaging in reality”-(Irving Howe).
The Fall of the House enables him to create his own reality of imagination. He makes an attempt to kill off the only reality in his life, his twin sister, Madeline Usher, whom he buries alive. In this short story, romantic elements and characteristics are expressed through Roderick’s imagination that progressively infects the narrator; the intuition and inner feelings felt between Roderick and Madeline, as well as by the narrator; and the reverence for nature which reflects the events that occurs in the House of Usher.
Imagination is a romantic element, especially evident in Roderick Usher. His illness begins to infect the narrator when he arrives at the “mansion of gloom.” The narrator takes the first step into Usher’s realm of imagination and feels “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime.” During the narrator’s visit to the House of Usher he starts to become contaminated by Roderick’s strange reality and experiences rapid increase in his superstitions and in his mind grew “a strange fancy-a fancy so ridiculous…the sensations which oppressed” him. This shows the contagiousness of Usher’s “mental disorder” which is the result of his seclusion from the world and his refusal to agree to ordinary societal values. Roderick’s isolation allows him to create his own reality filled with imagination and irrational beliefs.
The Term Paper on Producing Imagination and Reality
The lure of cinema operates primarily on the medium’s ability to convey and evoke numerous emotions, reactions, and experiences, based on its inherent nature; the magic of producing images, both real and imagined, is the territory of film via its techniques. Through the careful orchestration of the whole film production process—including screenwriting, directing, acting, production design, and art ...
Another characteristic of romanticism is displayed through the intuition and inner feelings felt between Roderick and Madeline Usher and can also be observed in the narrator. In the story, Roderick takes the narrator to the donjon and shows him where Madeline had been encoffined. Since the lid of the coffin was unscrewed the narrator “looked upon the face of the tenant” and notices “that the deceased and himself had been twins and…a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them.” The narrator also sees “a faint blush upon the bosom and face” of Madeline but thinks it is just a trait for those who die of catalepsy. Although he believes Madeline was dead, deep down he had an immediate perception of the truth without reasoning and “experienced the full power of such feelings…and struggled to reason off the nervousness.” Seven or eight days after Madeline’s entombment, the narrator reads the Mad Trist to Roderick and notices the changes in Usher’s demeanor. As he reads, he and Roderick heard “indefinite sounds” in the House of Usher and “a sickly smile quivered about” Usher’s lips. Both Roderick and the narrator experience intuitive feelings about event that was about to occur. It is believed that Madeline and Roderick were physical and mental components of the same being and are able to feel one another instinctively. When Madeline escapes her entombment Roderick “heard her first feeble movement in the hollow coffin” and was able to “distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart” Usher could even sense Madeline at the door before he became “a victim to the terror he had anticipated.”
Reverence for nature is another element of romanticism. When Madeline enters the room after her escape “there was blood upon her white robes” and at that very moment nature displayed the “blood-red moon” and shows how nature reflects the events occurring in the House of Usher. “A whirlwind” which “apparently collected its force” and the storm portrays Madeline as she slowly begins her escape from the donjon and creates “a faintly luminous…gaseous exhalation which…enshrouded the mansion,” and foreshadows Roderick’s fate. The actual surroundings of the House of Usher also reflect Roderick’s mental disorder. Minute fungi are the only living organism that bordered the House of Usher and represents the affliction of Roderick in the sense that fungus spreads effortlessly and suffocates the places it dwells in. This illustrates how easily the disorder affects the narrator and Madeline. Other vegetation around the house, such as the “decayed trees” depicts Usher’s emotional state and correlates with his character. The tarn symbolizes the subliminal mind of Roderick and when the House of Usher crumbles, it signifies his submission to imagination.
The Essay on Eva Luna And A Dolls House The Nature Of Power
ter> Discuss the nature of power explored in the texts, Eva Luna, and A Dolls House. In the two texts Eva Luna, and A Dolls House, by Isabel Allende and Henrik Ibsen respectively, there are various people who have power over others. However this power comes in a number of forms, different characters use it for different purposes, and the ways the characters achieve it also differs. These ...
The Fall of the House of Usher reflects numerous romantic elements such as imagination characterized in the narrator and Roderick Usher; intuition in Roderick, Madeline and the narrator; and the reverence for nature that exhibits the events in the house. This particular story enables one to recognize romantic characteristics that had an enormous impact on a person’s life. The Fall of the House of Usher’s significance displays that an invented unrealistic world of reality would be created if one attempts to eliminate reality. In order for every human being to live, both reality and imagination are essential, but if a person allows imagination to dominate one’s life, ultimately they will destroy themselves.
