STUDY OF PSYCHOANALYTIC
THEORY ON THE SHORT STORY
OF EDGAR ALLAN POE
“THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER”
American Culture Eras
Lecturer : Didik Murwantono,
S.S, M.Hum
By:
Arinda
Saraswati Wulandari
082110080
ENGLISH LITERATURE PROGRAM
COLLEGE OF LANGUAGES
SULTAN AGUNG ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG
2013/ 2014
Introduction
Literature is a literary work which expresses feeling,
attitude and life of human in society. According to Wellek and Warren
(1977:94), literature represents ‘life’ and ‘life’ is a social reality, even
though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual
have also been objects of literary ‘imitations’.
In ‘The Fall of the House of
Usher,’ written by
Edgar Allan Poe in 1839, is regarded as an early and supreme example of the
Gothic horror story. Edgar Allan
Poe uses this unique literature to introduce the Usher mansion and its
intriguing and very troubled inhabitants” (Vermillion, McCumber). He
briefly describes it as a story treating the theme of identity and fear of
losing it and appreciates the way of depicting the atmosphere of madness.
There are many point
that want to show in this analysis about psychological approach that would like
to used. Short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” with analysis topic of
pshychoanalitic is a good choises. From that short story can learn the
everybody has different phsichis. The different pshicis can shaped from the background
of family and the situation on the house. In the short story “The Fall of the
House of Usher” writer found psychoanalitic unsure as dominant theme of the
short story. The dominant theme is very interesting for the writer to be
analyzed. As psychological people in that era is a big problem must be solve so
the writer decides to make further analysis upon the psychoanalitic theory.
About the author
Edgar
Allan Poe bor in Boston in 1809-1049 he was raished in Richmoon by the John
Alan family. He fell out from Universitas of Virginia. And in 1827 he left the
Alan House. Peo began his literary career as a poet, attracted attention as a
writer of popular short stories and become an important critic of his
contemporary authors as an editor of such publication in Philadelphia and New
York.
He
defined for the first time in America Literature some of the technical roles
governing literary craftsmanship and thereby influenced all creative writers to
come after him, he demonstrated how to calculating art can be in making an
appeal to the popular reader.
Thus,
he was not in sympathy with the literary themes of the New England Brahmans.
Yet it is possible to consider “The Fall of the House of Usher.” ?(1839) not
only classic but this short story perhaps a critique of the transcendentalists
and the Brahmans.
Synopsis
The whole story is presented
from the point of view of an unnamed narrator, who is an old friend of the
master of the house—Roderick Usher, whom he has not seen for many years. The
narrator receives a letter from him with a very urgent request to come to his
house and keep him a company in his terrible illness. This request cannot be
denied and thus the narrator is going to stay in Usher’s house.
The
story opens up with an astonishing description of the whole place and the house
in particular. Usher was guy
who hasn't seen the sun in years. An old, crumbling, freezing mansion. A
mysterious disease. Through
the narrator’s words we learn about Usher’s ancient family roots and their
physical and mental dispositions. The Usher family lies in the direct line of
descent and it is suggested that madness in this family is being inherited for
many generations. As there are very tight bonds between the members of the
family, there is as well a strange bond between the family and the house, as if
the house was reflecting the inner condition of the family.
As
the narrator enters the house, he describes the gloomy atmosphere of all the
rooms and also its master, Roderick Usher, whose personality and appearance
have changed a lot because of his mental illness. Roderick Usher is a pitiable
figure, a very pale and thin man with certain incoherence and inconsistency in
his behaviour and appearance. He is, however, aware of his mental condition. Roderick’s
last and only living relative is his sister Madeline, who is ill as well. The
day the narrator enters the house, Lady Madeline finally betakes herself to bed
not to rise anymore.
While
dwelling in the House of Usher, the narrator spends his time in reading and
painting together with his host in order to cheer up his mind. From time to
time Usher presents his extravagant wild performances on guitar.
Lady
Madeline dies suddenly and Usher asks his friend to help him bury his sister.
He decides for a kind of safety arrangement—to keep lady Madeline’s body for a
fortnight in one of the vaults within the main walls of the mansion in order to
prevent burying her alive. After his sister’s death, Usher’s behaviour changes
remarkably. He hides some secret and keeps on listening to imaginary sounds, as
if he entered a different world of his own.
One
night comes a wild storm, which does not let Usher and his friend fall asleep.
They meet in a room and the narrator decides to read to usher some book to calm
him down. He takes the first book that is immediately at hand—The Mad Trist—and
starts to read. As the narrator reads the story about Ethelred who is fighting
a dragon, he hears strange sounds that are exactly echoing terrible sounds
described in the book. They buried his sister Madeline alive and now she is
creeping out of her prison in a tomb. The most terrible aspect of this whole
scene is that Usher anticipated this tragedy, but did not dare to speak. All
the time from the burial he knew what was going to happen and it was eating him
up alive. He cries he is a madman in a desperate agony of his own death.
Lady
Madeline finally enters the room, falls on Usher’s chest and they both die. The
storm that is raging outside symbolically destroys both the House of Usher and
the Usher family. The narrator runs away from the falling house in horror.
Theoritical
What is
literary Theory?
Theory is one that builds an
analysis. As the
opinion of Wellek and Warren in their book “Theory of Literature”:
“Literature is an expression of
society… It is common place, trite and vague if it means only that literature
depicts some aspects of social reality. A writer inevitably expresses
his experience and total conception of life, but it would
be manifestly untrue to say that he expresses the whole life or
even life of given time completely and exhaustively.” (1973: 95)
Literary work depicts social
reality. This is because, human being and literature are intertwined each
other. They have interrelationship where literary work can be the
representation of social reality and the literary work itself can influence the
society and is published to the society. It can conclude that literary work is
from and for the society.
Psychoanalitic Theory
Psychology is a term that is
widely known, but even though nearly everybody has a certain idea about what
psychology really deals with, not everybody’s idea is absolutely correct. Since
psychology plays an important role in our everyday life, people tend to
simplify this scientific field. In order to offer to the reader a proper
definition of psychology, the best thing to do is to quote a professional in
this field. C.K. Elliott says about psychology:
Psychology
may be briefly defined as the scientific study of human and animal behaviour.
This definition stresses three aspects of psychology. It is scientific in that
methods of empirical enquiry are used to obtain data, rather than introspection
and armchair speculation; the subject matter is observable behaviour and those
necessary constructs, such as intelligence, which are operationally tied to
observable behaviour; and animal as well as human behaviour is of interest,
because it is generally the process, such as learning, perception, motivation,
rather than the behaving organism, that is of prime interest. (Elliott 1971,
11)
Basically, people without psychological education tend
to divide people into two groups—those who behave in a normal or abnormal way,
but we must not forget that this
point of view is subjective and thus does not have any
scientific relevance. James Drever in his Dictionary of Psychology gives the
following explanations of these terms:
Normal. Conforming to the standard for a particular type or group;
average, or near the average for a type or group; with respect to intelligence
level, intelligence quotients not deviating more from the mean than twice the
standard deviation might be regarded as normal, beyond that amount of deviation
as subnormal (defective) or supernormal.
Abnormal. Diverging more or
less widely from the normal. (Drever 1965, 188, 7)
Freud recognized two fundamental motivating forces. The
first one is the constructive one called the Eros or life urges and
the other is the destructive one called the Thanatos or the death
urges (Freud, BPP). Eros finds its output through drives known as Self-preservation
drive or ego drive and sex drive which play a significant
role in Freudian psychoanalysis.
The
term psychoanalysis has three distinct meanings. Firstly it is a school of
psychology, which emphasises psychic determinism and dynamics. As a school of
psychology it also emphasises the importance of childhood experiences in
moulding one’s adult personality and behaviour. Secondly, psychoanalysis, with
its emphasis on the role of unconscious in determining human behaviour, is a
specialised method for investigating the unconscious mental activities. Finally,
psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method for the investigation and treatment of
mental disorders, especially the neurotic disorders.
In psychoanalytic theory, instinct incorporates
desire, affect associated with that desire, behaviour through which that desire
can be satisfied and object at which that action is directed into a single, but
not fused concept of instinct presentation. If satisfaction of an instinct
threatens the existence of the organism (as perceived by the ego), a process of
repression occurs. In this process the instinct presentation is transferred
into the sub- or pre-conscious. This process is not always fool proof, and
parts of the instinct presentation, such as the effectual component, may
resurface to consciousness.
Can be noted that much of
psychoanalytic theory was derived from Freud’s clinical experience in treating
neurotic patients. So the theory focused more on the origin of abnormal
behaviour in the formulation of the concept of mind. It is also to be
considered that the distinction between sanity and insanity is not that of type
but that of degree. The defence mechanisms that serve to compensate for the frustrations
of the sane human, in exaggeration lead to the abnormality, of both neurotic
and psychotic. Hence it can be seen that clinical data may not be insufficient
for the formulation of a theory of mind.
Content
The psychoanalitic theory was capture on the character
that built in the short story of Edgar Allan Poe with the tittled “The Fall of
the House of Usher”. Which one Roderick Usher is the own of that house was
bestfriend of the anonim narator when in boyhood. Can be prove in this scene
bellow.
Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now
proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had
been one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed since our
last meeting. A letter, however, had lately reached me in a distant part of the
country -- a letter from him -- which, in its wildly importunate nature, had
admitted of no other than a personal reply. The MS. gave evidence of nervous
agitation. The writer spoke of acute bodily illness -- of a mental disorder
which oppressed him -- and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and
indeed his only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness
of my society, some alleviation of his malady. It was the manner in which all
this, and much more, was said -- it the apparent heart that went with his request --which
allowed me no room for hesitation; and I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I
still considered a very singular summons.
From the scene above can be conclude that mental
disability can be experienced anyone. or it can come from the heredity which as
we know almost Usher family struck boduly illness.
Actually I don’t know excatly what the short story tell
about, and what the mainly aim that would he wanna to share to the reader. The
word that to difficult to understand and the sentence that very unfamiliar in
my eyes makes this short story more difficult to catch the point. So in this
analysis I want to make a simple as I can. The most visible asspect in this
story is about Psychological term.
One of psychological term that I catch from the story is
when The host talk (Usher) to the anonim narator can be see that he suffered
much from a morbid acuteness of the sences. He could wear only garment of
certain texture, his eyes were tourted by eveb a faint light and he can’t
hearing a string song eventhough it is a fallin of glass. Can be prove :
It was thus that he spoke of the object of my
visit, of his earnest desire to see me, and of the solace he expected me to
afford him. He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses;
the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of
certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were
tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these
from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.
After burying Madeline, Roderick seems to have buried
something indiscerniblewith him. He changes, his physical, and it will become
evident, more his mental traits. Let us observe the narrator clever parallel he
draws, concerning Roderick‘s state that seems to be passing on to him: There
were times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly agitated mind was laboring with
some oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary
courage.At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all into the mere
inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I be held him gazing upon vacancy
for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if listening to
some imaginary sound. It was no wonder thathis condition terrified-that it
infected me. (Poe 88) Whatever it is that Roderick burying alongside, changes
him. ―But all this must be in Usher‘s mind‖ (Ketterer 197). True, Roderick is
agitated, listens to sounds he can and will nothear, dwells on something
so deep and powerfully striking that he cannot share with his longtime friend
who he called to help him. Roderick starts to repress something he cannot
explainor control, but something evident to the narrator, especially after
entombing Madeline, saying that ―there was a species of mad hilarity in his
eyes --an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanor‖ (Poe 90).
There‘s something uncanny in the state of Roderick,
buried deepinside. Like a baby Roderick ―rocked from side to side with a gentle
yet constant and uniformsway‖ (ibid.92). And later, no matter the sound
and the noises coming from the vault, that takes a stock the narrator, Roderick is calm before the storm: ―I
leaped to my feet; but themeasured rocking movement of Usher was undisturbed (ibid.
94). He is surely anticipatinghis fate, rocking in a chair, a harmonious motion
of gentle baby-like state, as if his mother isrocking the chair. Death is coming, and the circle of life might close,
yet Roderick does notmove. He is anticipating it and not running away from it,
as he hears Madeline escaping the tomb, before he finally loses his struggle
with fear: ―Now I hear it – es, I hear it, and have heard it (ibid).
Interestingly, his acute senses now lie in supernatural strength, for he hears
Madeline in the basement of her tomb, returns to him, making Roderick fall
―victim to theterrors he had anticipated ( ibid. 95).
Roderick is not only aware of his coming death, but
hewaits for it, he wishes it. Roderick knows burying Madeline is the cause for
that, and hestruggling with fear, but not running away from it. He thought he
would perish and perish hedid, anticipating it .Freud‘s psychoanalysis teaches
us that the return of the repressed is what creates the uncanny feeling. Surely
Madeline is the one repressed in a coffin who returns, but what is therepressed
that returns with her bloody body? The narrator of the other story intrigues us
withthe statement that the boundaries between life and death are vague, but
Freud helps us if notdetermine, and then postulate on the potential boundaries
in our minds, if they exist. Roderick hears voices, feels
disturbance, and connects to the hunted palace from the Mad Tryst. ButMadeline
is not a walking dead-man seeking revenge, at least not to Roderick. She
carries with her something repressed by Roderick, as Ketterer explains, ―What
Madeline overcomes are things that keep her from her brother: the door
vault, the door of the chamber where Usher awaits, and the physical
space between them. Madeline might be, as Kaplan claims, in Roderick‘s mind,
and her role might be rather symbolic, and breaking of the powerful vaultmight
also be. It is not the supernatural strength of Madeline but of her as a wish,
idea,combined with her incestuous relationship to Roderick, that she comes back
from the dead,from the repressed, to haunt Roderick.
Conclusion
Can
be conclude that pcychoanalitic theory is reflected in the character of the story.
That can see in the each scane that capture in the
analysis
Bibliography
Drever, James. A Dictionary of
Psychology. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1965.
Elliott, C.K. A Guide to the
Documentation of Psychology. London: Clive Bingley, 1971.
Poe,
Edgar Allan. Sixty-seven Tales. New York: Gramercy Books, 1990.
"The Psycho-Sexual Reading of 'The Fall of
the House of Usher,'" Poe
Studies, 5 (1972), p. 8
Ketterer,
David. The Rationale of Deception in Poe. Louisiana: Louisiana StateUniversity
Press, 1979
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