'The Fall of the House of Usher' - Edgar Allan Poe
 Lesson 4 | A Portrait of Roderick Usher - Character Analysis

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“Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with the companion of my early boyhood”.

Upon examining Roderick's face, the narrator is shocked at the dramatic shift in appearance. Roderick - once a vivacious and attractive boy – is now wasting away because of his disease. In fact, the narrator is so surprised by Roderick's physical appearance that he even doubts the fact that it is the same person that he once knew.  

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Elements from the extract referring to Roderick Usher’s description 

​Complexion / skin	‘a cadaverous complexion’ – R. Usher looks extremely pale and ill. ‘The ghastly palor of the skin” – this expression conveys an idea of death.
Eyes	“an eye large, liquid and luminous” / “the miraculous lustre of the eye”
Lips	“lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of surpassingly beautiful curve”
Nose	“a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations” ( = delicate but with very large nostrils)
Chin	“a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy”.
Hair	“silken” / “unheeded”( =​that is heard, seen or noticed but then ignored) / “floated about the face” – his hair is extremely messy

Roderick Usher is described as having a ‘cadaverous complexion’ and a ‘ghastly pallor’. He looks extremely pale and ill.  His lustrous, silken hair has grown wildly and floats about its face. His nose is described as delicate, albeit with unusually large nostrils. The narrator is utterly shocked and amazed at how much Roderick has changed since childhood. He even has trouble recognising him: “(…) lay so much of a change that I doubted to whom I spoke”.
Roderick Usher’s chin is described as small and not prominent. According to contemporary physiognomy /ˌfɪziˈɒnəmi/, his weak chin indicates a weak will. (cf – ressources complémentaires)What is the most striking for the narrator is the “miraculous lustre of [his] eye[s]”: they are large, liquid and luminous. It seems that Roderick Usher’s physical features mirror the state of his house: neglected. 

“His action was alternately vivacious and sullen. His voice varied rapidly from tremulous indecision (…) to that species of energetic concision”.

The narrator describes Roderick's inconsistent behaviour as being full of life at one moment and absolutely sullen (boudeur / renfrogné) the next. He goes from one extreme to the other. His wild and unkempt physical appearance reflects his mental state. Roderick's hair is dishevelled and his mental instability, which seems to alternate between depression and nervous energy, shows in his voice and gestures. ​

‘[…] which may be observed in the lost drunkard and irreclaimable eater of opium” 

The narrator now seems to interpret Roderick’s mental state in terms of alcohol or opium usage. It is suggested here that Roderick's appearance is like that of an alcoholic or opium addict.

Symptoms

‘extreme nervous agitation’ – he suffers from overly-acute anxiety. ‘a morbid acuteness of senses’ – he has become hypersensitive. He can no longer stand certain garments, the smell of flowers, light and most sounds.He is terrified and lives in fear. He is in a constant state of “intolerable agitation”

Is Roderick’s illness physical or psychological ? 

The narrator implies that Roderick Usher is suffering from a nervous illness, not a physical one: “an excessive nervous agitation”. He is suffering from an impairment of the mind causing disruption to normal thinking and feeling: he is in a constant state of “intolerable agitation”. “He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses”: the expression “morbid” clearly indicates an abnormal and unhealthy interest in death.
There is also a supernatural and superstitious dimension to his affliction. He thinks that the family mansion exerts a considerable influence on him: “He was enchained by certain superstitious impression in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted (…)”. Moreover, his “ghastly” physical appearance, (“cadaverous”, “the wan being”) is reminiscent of supernatural creatures such as ghosts and phantoms. He is tormented by fear – and more precisely the fear of his own fear. This feeling is even personified as a ghost which is haunting him: “in some struggle with the grim phantasm: FEAR

According to Roderick Usher, what is the cause of his condition? What does he think will happen to him?

He thinks his illness stems from the tragic history of his family and from a genetic predisposition: “It was, he said, a constitutional and family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy”. Roderick believes that his family is doomed and that he will eventually die, like all family members before him: “I shall perish”, “I must perish in this deplorable folly”

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