pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue--but the luminousness of his eye
had utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no more; and a tremulous
quaver, as if of extreme terror, habitually characterized his utterance. Poe, 1839: 10
From the quotations above it’s easily to identify the terror as the major theme of the story, however part of the terror of the story is its ambiguity.
Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occurrence of the second and most extraordinary coincidence,
by a thousand conflicting sensations, in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I
still retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting, by any observation, the sensitive
nervousness of my companion. I was by no means certain that he had noticed the sounds in question;
although, assuredly, a strange alteration had, during the last few minutes, taken place in his demeanour.
Poe, 1839: 12
The quotations above described that Poe wants to show a condition when the Roderick Usher in effect of terror of death. The terror arisen from the
complexity and multiplicity of forces that shape human destiny. In the last story, Poe written that Madeline returned and she fall upon Usher. During the fall, he
died. It shows that the return of Madeline is part of terror of death toward Usher.
b. Fear
The other major theme of the story is fear. Fear is a distressing emotion induced by a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a
specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. In short, fear is the ability to recognize danger and flee from it or confront it, also known as the Fight or
Flight response. Worth noting is that fear almost always relates to future events, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is
unacceptable. Fear could also be an instant reaction to something presently happening.
I try to define Roderick Ushers illness precisely; we might diagnose him with acute anxiety. It seems like to terrify Usher is fear itself. To an anomalous
species of terror I found him a bounden slave. Poe, 1839:4. The quotation shows how the narrator saw Usher fear. The other quotation that shows the Usher
fear is:
…..I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect--in terror. In this unnerved-in this pitiable
condition--I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some
struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR. Poe, 1839: 4
Usher tried to explain to the Narrator that he dreads ―the events of the future, not in themselves but in their results‖ Poe, 1839:4. He dreads the
intangible and the unknowable; he feared precisely that cannot be rationally feared. Fear for no apparent reason except ambiguity itself is an important motif
in Poes tale, which after all began with the Narrators description of his own irrational dread: ―know not how it was--but, with the first glimpse of the building,
a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.‖ Poe, 1839: 1. Later, Usher identified fear itself as the thing that will kill him, suggesting that his own anxiety
was the blood-stained Madeline. I n the quotation: ―I feel that the period will
sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some
struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR
‖ Poe, 1839: 4 Poe tried to explore about Usher’s fear towards terror of death that will come to him.
c. Madness
