Roderick and Madeline Usher both have very unparalleled physical characteristics that concludes they are vampires. First, Roderick has multiple characteristics similar to those of a vampire. The text states: A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten. (Poe 4). This quotation explains the acuteness and precision of Roderick’s physical features. Also, it demonstrates how Roderick has a dead complexion …show more content…
According to the text, the House of Usher included “vacant eye-like windows…, a few rank sedges..., white trunks of decayed trees…, and an utter depression of soul” (Poe 1). This quotation explains how the house itself seemed like it was inspecting your every move with decaying trees that signify death which compares to how vampires are the living dead with an eerie cloud hovering above the house. In addition, the text interpreted how the house smells like death which could be the result of all the dead victims that Roderick and Madeline have killed. In the text, it states, “Feeble gleams of encrinsoned light made its way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around” (Poe 4). In this quotation, it explains how the room is surrounded by deep red lights which symbolize blood and leads back to the conclusion of the Ushers as vampires. The House of Usher includes all the characteristics of where a vampire would be
Vampires have been a common monster used in horror literature; dating back to the 18th century. These creatures have been able to make an identity for themselves within the genre. For years authors have been able to take the essence of the vampire’s identity and ability by turning it into something new. The reinvention allows for there to be a fresh new take on the vampire’s identity and ability. The original template for a vampire has been created through Bram Stokers, Dracula.
Edgar Allen Poe 's, "Fall of the House of Usher" symbolizes the narrator reaction to witnessing Madeline 's return from the grave and trying to comprehend the supernatural events that take place inside the estate. Also, this includes the narrator observing Roderick Usher losing his mind. His perspective is important because it is an interpretation of his surroundings while visiting the House of Usher and the allegories of the nature of art. From the very first paragraph, the overall suggestion of the story is that the tone is the story if going to be mournful and somber. This is supported by the narrator describing his journey on horseback towards the house.
Written down, these attributes seem to fit in their own categories, but in the story the conscious mind meshes with the unconscious, showing you the digression of the character as he is thrown into the abyss. The soul of the dwelling. Now, the house of Usher is most certainly not a living human, although, it is talked upon as though it breathes in oxygen. However, the house is most definitely a character in this story and that is represented by the first few paragraphs as the narrator sees the house for the first time, he says “with the first glimpse
Also they do not sleep in the coffin or burn in the sunlight. 'Twilight ' blood suckers do not sleep, in the sunlight they shine like diamonds. These characters seem to be normal forever young teens with bizarre feeding habits. In the same time Dracula is presented with some super powers as hypnosis, telepathy, shape shifting (when he changed into a wolf) and super strength. In the opposite to the ‘Twilight’ vamps Dracula has more then call of blood problems, he is sensitive to garlic, holy water, stakes and crucifixes.
Vampires have been seen throughout history as bloodsucking, evil monsters who come out at night to prey upon the innocent by piercing their flesh with their fangs. While this is true, there are more than just this type of literal vampires in literature. In Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, he describes vampires as any older figure that represents corrupt values who violates young women and leaves them helpless followers in his sin. Although characters in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Harriet Jacob’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl did not suck anyone’s blood or run away at a glimpse of sunlight, they are still vampires. Slave owners in these novels are vampires as they exploit young women and strip them of their
The BA paper titled The evolution of the vampire. The case study of Dracula (1987) and Twilight saga (2005-2008) by Stephanie Meyer focuses on the changes in the perception of vampires which have occurred since Victorian ages in the United Kingdom until contemporary vampire literature, which was rediscovered in American literature for youths. As the example, the author used two most recognizable novels in this field from both time periods. One is Dracula, written by the one of the pioneers in European Gothic literature Bram Stoker; and the other is Twilight saga, written by American young adult fiction writer Stephanie Meyer.
Various types of vampire figures have appeared since the end of 18th century in literature, and by a closer observation, we can get a deeper insight of these monstrous creatures’ diversity. Focusing on the Victorian vampire figure in contrast to the contemporary one, might ensure us one way to shed light into the fundamental cultural differences and shared qualities of vampires. Count Dracula, the main character of Bram Stoker’s 1892 novel has undoubtedly earned the reputation of the ultimate vampire, and almost all subsequent works concerned this immortal bloodsucker theme, could be traced back to his page-turner novel. This archetypical vampire figure was integrated to Stephanie Meyer’s contemporary story as well, portrayed by the mixture
Lyle H. Kendall, Jr.’s critical work, “The Vampire Motif in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'” (1996), elucidated that he personally believed that the character Madeline was a physical vampire in the short story by Edgar Allen Poe. To support his “whimsical” claim he provided an explanation of how Madeline’s physical appearance such as “pale skin” and “thin lips” along with her strange actions of appearing only three times within the story. Kendall’s purpose was to provide his own opinion of the story in order to show the depth and creativity of the story and how one can read it in multiple ways. Kendall wrote with a unmistaken love and awe towards the story and wished to share his thoughts with other
Loss of narrative identity. A dichotomous interpretation of the duality motif in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” The purpose of this essay is to contrast the multiple double stances present in the novella “The Fall of the House of Usher” and to show that this duality motif isn’t presenting the double as an exact mirror image, but rather as a doppelgänger with the meaning of ‘evil twin’. By the end of this essay I will demonstrate that even the narrator becomes a dual image of himself, culminating with the loss of the narrative’s identity, which also subdues itself to the laws of duplicity.
In spite of the fact that tales or myths about vampires arose in the beginnings of the 1700’s, with literary works from authors such as Robert Southey, who is well known for being the first writer to ever mention Vampires in the English Literature with his poem “ Thalaba The Destroyer ”, till today the most significant and outstanding pieces of literature to mention vampires rose in the 1900’s. In 1897, the tale “ Dracula ” by Bram Stoker soon became known as the birth of the vampire literature and carried on to be one of the main inspirations and icons of the vampirism culture. Through “ Dracula ” Bram Stoker developed a more captivating and engaging vampire that would differ from the bland and dull vampires that emerged in the 1700’s and 1800’s. “ Dracula ” introduced new conventions and Apotropaics, such as stakes, holy water, crucifixes, which would afterward make their way into upcoming literary works.
The vampire is a mythical being who subsists by feeding on the life essence of living creatures (generally in the form of blood). Even if the notion of vampire has been seen in most cultures millennia ago (Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, etc.), the term “vampire” was popularised in the 18th century because of the vampire superstitions in Western Europe. All the vampires can move fast, have a supernatural strength and are immortal. Vampires can also have different powers of weaknesses. For examples, they can have the ability to seduce women to kill them more easily.
Heathcliff and Catherine have long been identified as inhuman, as a much quoted comment by Dante Gabriel Rossetti shows: “The action is laid in Hell – only it seems places and people have English names there” (qtd. in Krishnan 4) . If one is willing to accept that Catherine's ghost haunts Heathcliff after her death, defining this ghost as a vampiric entity is anything but absurd, as long as one does not equal 'vampire' with Dracula as described in the first chapter. An impartial reading reveals a great number of similarities between the depiction of Catherine and Heathcliff and common vampire tropes.
a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul . . . –the bitter lapse into everyday life” (Lynch and Rampton 16). This passage indicates Poe’s description of Roderick Usher, the narrator’s childhood friend and the man who inhibits in the house. Although Poe merely describes the landscape of the house and its surroundings, he also gives the readers a glimpse of the
1. Introduction Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker’s world famous novel Dracula was first published in 1897, at the dawn of today’s modernity. Although he wrote more than ten novels, Dracula is by far his most popular work up to date. He himself has never been to the country of Transylvania although he describes it vividly in the novel. Bram Stoker became familiarised with the idea of vampires and the dark east of Europe by various
And since the house is really old and passed down from generations, people have died there. There can be many ghosts in the house. Usher also has a mental illness and he acts weird. The weird acts that he makes, make it more weird and scary because it 's unusual that he acts weird. The narrator also describes the house in a way to make is scarier.