Edgar A. Poe’s unity of affect/effect through incestuous perversions in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the implications of incestuous perversions in Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ in relation to the author’s most-praised techniques: the unity of effect. Through an in-depth examination of the work and a selection of expressions and descriptions, this essay reflects on how the unity of effect is built and maintained due to the perversity of incest and on how this incestuous union helps create what, consequently, can be considered the unity of affect. Two key elements stand out in this work through which words and deeds are selected to create this unity of affect/effect: characters and setting. As for the characters, through the analysis of the peculiar unity (of affect) between the twins Roderick and Madeline, the shadow of incest is perceived, which eventually destroys the property of the Ushers as well as their entire lineage. As for the setting, its isolation also places into evidence, on the one hand, the unity of effect it brings to the story and, on the other hand, the incestuous relationship between Roderick and Madeline, which simultaneously creates the unity of affect, the concept from which the original scholarly contribution of this article derives.

KEYWORDS:

• Edgar Allan Poe
• The Fall of the House of Usher
• incest
• unity of affect
• unity of effect

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Margarita Rigal Aragón, Esther Nieto Moreno de Diezmas, and Christopher Ryan Carter for their valuable feedback, corrections, and comments on earlier versions of this article. My thanks are also due to the Editors and anonymous referee of Studia Neophilologica for their useful suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The importance of ‘locale’ (Poe 1984a: 21) is highlighted by Edgar A. Poe in his ‘Philosophy of Composition’ when elucidating the theory to be followed by good authors in order to write well. ‘The Raven’ (1845) serves as an example that explains that ‘a close circumscription of space is absolutely necessary to the effect or insulated incident’ (Poe 1984a: 21), although the most natural setting for his popular poem could have been a forest or the fields. He adds that the location where an action is performed ‘must not be confounded with mere unity of place’ (Poe 1984a: 21).

² During an episode of psychotic illness or a more severe disorder, some of the following symptoms and signs are present: delusions of control, influence, or passivity, referred to body/limb movements or specific thoughts, actions, or feelings; delusional perception; hallucinatory voices; culturally inappropriate and completely impossible delusions, such as controlling the weather; catatonic behavior, marked apathy, incongruity of emotional responses, etc. (World Health Organization 2003: 64–65).

³ Although this statement may suggest a connection between the house’s sentience and Roderick Usher’s moral condition, which is also the case, this identification could also affect his physics, judging from certain physical associations established in the tale.