In the following paper it will be analyzed which hints and possible evidences are in the text "The Fall of the House of Usher" that prove or indicate that the protagonist is in fact in the middle of a vivid dream or moreover in a nightmare.
For that purpose it will be helpful to look at how people dream at the first place and examine which elements a dream typically contains out of a psychological and medical point of view. With this approach it will be easy to compare the findings afterward to the experiences of the first-person narrator. By doing so it should be possible to see if the protagonist of the text is wide awake when he visits his friend Usher or if the last verses of Poe's “A Dream within a Dream” which say: "Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?" are suitable for the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", too.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Literary Strategies Which Show that the Protagonist's Experiences Are a Dream
2.1 The Description of Place and Time
2.2 The Protagonist and His Behavior
2.3 Bizarreness and Grotesque Elements
3. Conclusion
4. Works Cited
Objectives and Core Topics
This paper examines Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher" to determine whether the protagonist’s narrative describes an actual physical journey or if the story represents a vivid nightmare experience, by analyzing psychological and literary parallels to dream states.
- Analysis of Gothic symbols and the "dream-world" atmosphere.
- Examination of the protagonist’s passive and dream-like behavior.
- Evaluation of bizarreness and grotesque elements as markers of a nightmare.
- Comparison of literary imagery with scientific definitions of sleep and dreaming.
- Interpretation of the narrative structure as a metaphor for subconscious projection.
Excerpt from the Book
2.1 The Description of Place and Time
“People from different cultures and different historical periods have varying opinions about just what dreams are.” (Moorcroft 152) In the 19th century research on sleep and dreams was not as precise and advanced as in our modern era but people already set up a few characteristics that dreams have, for example that “[d]uring the dream the dreamer exists in a different world. […] [And the] dreamer creates the dream using things from their waking life.” (Moorcroft 152) The scenery of “The Fall of the House of Usher” can be seen as such a different world with many dream-like elements. The environment of the story is a nightmare-scenery par excellence: gloomy, dreadful, and sinister. The fact that the protagonist has never been to the Usher mansion before, does not exclude the possibility that he is dreaming about it. “Most dream reports contained a setting. Unknown settings are most common (44%) […] in 25% of the recalls […] the setting was changed before the end of the dream.” (Moorcroft 137) In the first lines the narrator describes his destination point by saying:
I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. […] I looked upon the scene before me – upon the mere house, ad the simple landscape features of the domain […] I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium […]. (Poe 43)
On the first page the reader gets to know that the setting of the story is already perceived with dream-like feelings. “The decaying Usher mansion has vacant, staring windows and a nearly invisible crack that scars the facade [...]” (Sova 67) and is the insulated location where the narrator starts and ends his journey.
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the author’s fascination with the uncanny and sets the research goal of identifying nightmare elements within the short story.
2. Literary Strategies Which Show that the Protagonist's Experiences Are a Dream: This section provides the core analysis, dividing the evidence into three distinct categories: spatial/temporal setting, protagonist behavior, and grotesque/bizarre motifs.
2.1 The Description of Place and Time: This chapter explores how the bleak, isolated landscape and obscure atmosphere function as markers of an unreal dream-world.
2.2 The Protagonist and His Behavior: This chapter examines the narrator's passivity and lack of logical decision-making, which are identified as key indicators of a dream-state rather than waking reflection.
2.3 Bizarreness and Grotesque Elements: This chapter analyzes how the inexplicable events and gothic intensity serve as indicators of the "cognitively bizarre" nature of nightmares.
3. Conclusion: This chapter synthesizes findings, suggesting that the narrative strategies strongly support the reading of the story as a nightmare, though the author's original intent remains ambiguous.
4. Works Cited: This section lists the diverse secondary literature used to support the argument, ranging from sleep science to literary criticism.
Keywords
Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher, Nightmare, Dream, Gothic, Grotesque, Unconscious, Subconscious, Literary Strategies, Narrator, Bizarreness, Supernatural, Psychological Analysis, Symbolism, Hypnagogic.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this academic paper?
The work focuses on interpreting Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" as a dream journey or nightmare rather than a literal travel narrative.
Which central themes are explored in the text?
Central themes include the unconscious mind, the gothic aesthetic, the nature of dreams and nightmares, and the psychological interpretation of literary characters.
What is the core research question?
The author seeks to discover if there is sufficient textual evidence to prove that the narrator is experiencing a nightmare during his visit to the House of Usher.
Which methodology is employed in the study?
The research applies definitions from sleep science and dream psychology to interpret symbolism, character actions, and environmental descriptions within the literary work.
What is analyzed in the main body of the paper?
The main body breaks down the narrative into three categories: current definitions of dream/nightmare settings, the passive behavior of the protagonist, and the occurrence of bizarre, grotesque events.
Which keywords best characterize the work?
Key terms include "Nightmare," "Unconscious," "Gothic," "Bizarreness," and "Literary Interpretation."
How does the author interpret the role of the Usher mansion?
The mansion is viewed as a symbol of the "dream-world," an isolated space where the dreamer detaches from reality.
Does the paper conclude that the narrator is definitely dreaming?
The conclusion suggests that the theory is highly justifiable based on literary evidence, though it acknowledges that the author’s absolute intent cannot be definitively proven.
Why is the protagonist’s passive behavior considered unconventional?
In a waking reality, a person would likely question the bizarre events occurring; the narrator’s lack of resistance is cited as a classic trait of being trapped in a dream.
What importance does the mention of John Henry Fuseli’s “The Nightmare” hold?
The painting serves as a direct, meta-fictional reference that bridges the story with established symbolic representations of nightmares and internal anxieties.
- Citation du texte
- Anonym (Auteur), 2015, Literary Strategies in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" which show that the narrator is having a nightmare, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1392037
