Refusal to Stay Silenced: Transgressive Women in “Fall of the House of Usher”

Refusal to Stay Silenced: Transgressive Women in “Fall of the House of Usher”

“Usher’s” definition, “a male attendant on a lady” (def. n. 2b) reveals the manner in which Poe uses Madeline and Roderick’s dynamic to expose the threat transgressive women pose to patriarchy. The dynamic between the two creates a reversal of gender norms in which Roderick becomes the feminine character and Madeline the masculine character. As shown thorough Poe’s language use, Madeline’s demeanor creates a threat to the patriarchal norm.

Counter to the expected male-female dynamic, Roderick, as an usher, serves as an attendant to Madeline. Roderick’s subordinance to Madeline is made clear by his “particular gloom” (Poe 19) brought about by the threat of losing his sister. His “gloom,” defined as “to make dark,” (def. v. 4b) emphasizes the deeply damaging affect her loss has on Roderick. The “darkening” of his mental health comments on the influence Madeline has over Roderick’s being. As the masculine figure, Madeline is needed to guide Roderick. Without her, he is a servant without a purpose, becoming lost in the darkness of his own mentality.

The narrator highlights the power of Madeline in his initial description of the aura around her. Poe writes this feeling to be an “utter astonishment not unmingled with dread” (Poe 19). The astonishment, defined as a “deprivation” of senses” (def. n. 1), that strikes the narrator creates a shock similar to her symptomology. Her ability to command the emotions of the men around her frame Madeline as dominant and the men as the submissive. Equating Madeline with “dread” establishes her as a dark presence. This description deviates from the warm and cheerful nature expected of women and draws more closely to the domineering nature of masculinity.

Roderick and Madeline have distinct emotional states that counter what is expected of their sex. The narrator perceives Madeline as having a “settled apathy” (Poe 19). Given apathy’s definition, “passionless existence” (def. n. 1), this suggest that she is operating without feelings. Her lack of emotion is an unfeminine aspect of her character, but Madeline is in no way negatively impacted by her emotional disconnect. Although women are stereotypically labeled as the more “fragile” gender in the field of emotion, Roderick is the one who suffers from hypersensitivity that leads him to be the “host of unnatural sensations” (Poe 18). His emotions cause a great deal of suffering that Madeline is unafflicted by. The relationship between the two mentally unbalanced siblings creates a dynamic in which the supposed male authority acts as a nurse to his unfeeling sister, forcing Roderick beneath her in terms of gendered roles.

Once Madeline is perceived as “dead”, the feminine Roderick is without a dominant presence. Believing that she has been silenced, Roderick’s mental health deteriorates even further. Despite being classified as “hypersensitive” Roderick ignores the sounds that trouble him: “miserable wretch that I am! -I hear it, and have heard it” (Poe 28). Roderick acknowledges his own distress as the reason he ignores the sounds, calling himself a “wretch,” “one who is sunk in deep distress” (def. n. 2a). He proceeds to state “yet I dared not- I dared not speak it” (Poe 28). It is standard form women to be silenced, but in these repeated lines it is revealed that Roderick has come to fear speaking. Roderick greatly fears speaking of the actions he has taken against Madeline, which greatly betray the woman he was living to serve. Instead, Roderick allows his fear of Madeline to force him into silence. He states that she is coming to admonish him in the question, “Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste?” (Poe 28). Upbraiding’s definition, “to censure,” (def. n. 1b) places Madeline to punish his actions as the person who is truly in charge. Her domineering presence over Roderick comments on the reversed power structure within the Usher house.

In her final display of power, Madeline takes down Roderick and their home. The narrator recognizes her feminine figure in the description “her emaciated frame” (Poe 28), branding her lean and weak, yet still she is the force that is able to bring down the ancient House of Usher. In addition to this, she is responsible for the death of her brother, her failed attendant: “[she] bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated” (Poe 28). As Roderick predicted, Madeline was seeking vengeance against her leadership. By entombing her, Roderick silences her dominate influence, attempting to release himself from the submissive position. However, given the established power of Madeline, his efforts to keep her locked away fail. Madeline’s ability to enact vengeance against her brother reaffirms the dominant position her entombment threatened. In Addition, Madeline reduces him to a mere body, something patriarchal society typically features men forcing upon women. She physically tackles him, harnessing and terminating his life as punishment for his transgression against her. Her drastic punishment of Roderick for attempting to silence her proves the power she wields.

The patriarchal norm places women in a position below authoritarian male leadership. However, the definition of “usher”, “a male attendant on a lady,” (def. n. 2b) puts a twist on this expected dynamic. Poe writes Madeline and Roderick’s relationship to indicate that Roderick is the one who is in service to his sister, putting him the traditionally feminine role of caretaker. When analyzing “The Fall of the House of Usher” under the lens of reversed gender roles, the significance of Madeline’s character become greatly emphasized by Roderick’s parallel submissive nature.

Works Cited

“Apathy,” n. 1. The Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford UP, 2019. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020

“Astonishing,” n. 1. The Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford UP, 2019. Accessed 3 Feb. 2020

“Gloom,” v. 4b. The Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford UP, 2019. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” “The Gold-Bug” and Other Tales. Edited by Stanley Appelbaum, Dover Thrift, 1991, pp. 14–29

“Upbraid,” n. 1b. The Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford UP, 2019. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020

“Usher,” n. 2b. The Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford UP, 2019. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020

“Wretch,” n. 2a. The Oxford English Dictionary Online. Oxford UP, 2019. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020