I need a character description of Roderick Usher from The Fall of the House of Usher.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2002

Answers

The narrator decribes Usher very well, both physically and in his actions and temperament. This ties in though with the philooosophical judgment that Usher is also tied with the reality of the house and family history as well so that the environs are intimately connected with that character. This is a post reflection by the narrator who will tellof his escape from that encompassing web. At the heart, well within these bound circles is Roderick Usher, wasting away, cognizant of his fate, rebellious in his wild pursuit of art that goes beyond the bounds of the normal, the physical. He never claims it would cure him orlead to escape, victory or some perfect attainment of an etheral ideal. The narrator observes, participates and is a sole memory of the outside world where Usher had a life beyond the trap. Rodoerick's health is on the verge of total collapse and the climax of the story is in fact a combination of self agitation(performing an extreme story) and the return of his sister from the tomb. The fire within the cracks in his heart, in his mind, these dooms witin dooms are seen in all the tale in the poem, the last storytelling, the fall of the house, and become the major core imprint that Usher leaves on his college friend from happier days.

The physical description is like to a white-haired, sickly version of Poe but should not be overly read into as autobiographical. The generous brow was Poe's buying into the phrenology craze of that as a sign of ideal genius, especially when it flattered himself.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2002