The Decline of the Minister Dimmesdale and the House of Usher: Matter over Mind?
Nineteenth century American literature is pervaded by a late Romantic current promoted by a few very original writers. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two of the most representative writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. The authors' names often appear together in criticism, since their works share primarily in the laden atmosphere and grotesque style of the period. Their novels and short stories are imbued with a grim mood and their heroes are tragic personages who undergo transcendental and all-together transforming experiences. While Poe is more concerned with what he calls the psyche and the intellect however, Hawthorne investigates the realms of spirituality and religious experience. At a first glance, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Scarlet Letter seem to share little in common in terms of subject or style. Nevertheless, a closer analysis can draw important interconnections related to the main characters of the texts: Roderick Usher in Poe's tale and Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. The focus of both stories is notably on the state of utter and progressive dilapidation of the aforementioned characters. In both cases, the state of their characters is closely followed and analy
This relationship between life and death and the forceful imprisonment of a life in the tomb is extremely significant as it translates the actual relationship between Usher and the space he inhabits. Significantly, this oppressiveness is instantly weighed from an aesthetic point of view. The name is symbolic precisely because there is no actual door or escape available for the main character, as he is cruelly trapped in his own reality as in a tomb. Or,-- as is more thy nature, -- be a scholar and a sage among the wisest and the most renowned of the cultivated world. First of all, the tale opens and closes with the image of the house which is described in great detail and in such ominous terms that the image already sets the mood of the story. The incredibly tight connection between the house and its main inhabitant, Roderick Usher hints at the connection between spirit and matter. Unlike Poe's Usher, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale suffers because he has to live with his sin of passion, his unlawful relationship with Hester Prynne. Without disputing a truth so momentous, we must be allowed to consider this version of Mr. One of the peculiarities of Poe's style is thus that he applies order and pattern to the seemingly chaotic and indefinable experiences that he describes. "(Granger, 202) Dimmesdale's body, like that of Usher, suffers from the overwhelming force of the mind which crushes it. Therefore, it would not be an overstatement to assert that the tales have their own mystique of space: the inner circle of the mind expands until it comprises the outside space as well and the tragic hero becomes enshrined in the prison-like environment as a spider caught in his own web. The spiritual dilemma that Dimmesdale has to solve is soul-rending. The protagonists seem to suffer from a peculiar type of mental wasting which consumes their beings until they are completely exhausted.
Common topics in this essay:
Roderick Usher,
Scarlet Letter,
Hester Prynne,
According Carringer,
House Usher,
Poe Hawthorne,
Roderick Usher's,
Write Act,
Labyrinths Osiris,
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
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scarlet letter,
fall house,
main character,
roderick usher,
arthur dimmesdale,
effect house,
house resident,
poe's story,
pharaoh holy prisoner,
family mansion,
main characters texts,
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act process destruction,
hawthorne's scarlet letter,
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Acceptance Essays
