This episode is an examination of the uncanny - what it means and specifically how the concept of the uncanny can be seen in The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell Tale Heart.
What does uncanny mean?
What are some uncanny elements in User?
What are some uncanny elements in The Tell Tale Heart?
What are some of the interpretations or re-imaginings of The Tell Tale Heart?
What words of The Tell Tale Heart did Mel Brooks use in High Anxiety?
How does the narrator of The Tell Tale Heart show that he is mad?
How could the old man's eye be interpreted?
What are some elements of Gothic stories?
This episode is an examination of the uncanny - what it means and specifically how the concept of the uncanny can be seen in The Fall of the House of Usher and The Tell Tale Heart.
What does uncanny mean?
What are some uncanny elements in User?
What are some uncanny elements in The Tell Tale Heart?
What are some of the interpretations or re-imaginings of The Tell Tale Heart?
What words of The Tell Tale Heart did Mel Brooks use in High Anxiety?
How does the narrator of The Tell Tale Heart show that he is mad?
How could the old man's eye be interpreted?
What are some elements of Gothic stories?
Episode 100 - The Uncanny Mr. Poe
COME REST IN THIS BOSOM INRO
00:01 Introduction
When a baby comes out of the womb, we certainly don’t expect him or her to know what - say - an apple is. But soon enough, mama or daddie will show him an apple - maybe the child will associate the word for apple with the fruit - and eventually he or she will learn that this specific object is an apple.
00:50 Learning language
The baby is still at the stage of life when he or she learns language just by being around people who are speaking. Babies or toddlers are regular little language learninng machines - they soak up the words spoken around them. Later we expand our vocabulary and hopefully our ability to communicate - by studying or being exposed to words and often guessing what a word means largely through context. Sometimes our hunch is right - sometimes is it completely wrong.
When I first heard the word uncanny, I should have stopped and looked it up in a dictionary. For example, i would hear a lady say about a situation, “That is really uncanny” and thought it meant the situation is funny - For some reason - I have no idea why - I thought it something was uncanny, that meant it was funny. And that’s what I thought for years. Actually, uncanny means strange or mysterious - sometimes ghostly or even having a supernatural character and sometimes uncanny means what excites fear - you get what I mean. And the opposite of uncanny is ordinary. So remember - the basic meaning of uncanny is strange or mysterious - often supernatural.
01:30 Meaning of uncanny
Understanding the concept of the uncanny is key to understanding Edgar Poe’s works. He certainly did not concentrate on the ordinary, and was a master at being able to tap into our uncanny sides.
My name is George Bartley, and this is episode number 100 of Celebrate Poe - a bit of a milestone. Today, I want to skip the largely chronlogical structure of this podcast - using Edgar Poe’s life as a kind of timeline to follow - for an overall look at the concept of the uncanny - especially as it relates to Edgar Poe.
3:00 Into to uncanny in Poe
Perhaps the first time young Edgar experienced the uncanny or supernatural was in the death of his mother - a traumatic event that he certainlyy did not understand. And I can’t help but feel that the travels through the forests at night during the Allans summer vacations at White Sulphur Springs were terrifying to a young child. We will never know for sure - but the spooky tales that were told by the African American slaves that were part of the Allan household most likely also spoke to the imagination of the young Poe.
Now, to really get into the concept of the uncanny in Edgar Poe, it is helpful to look back at what are called Gothic stories. Now, gothic stories have lots of gloomy anxieties and are written NOT to make you believe that everything is allright with the world, but to develop a sense of anxiety, and even fear. You might have dopplegangers in a work - a theme in many MOVIES - such as The Double with Jessie Eisenbertg (think The Social Nework) and in BOOKS - such as The Double by Fydor Doestoevsky. Or a work might have beautiful, "dead" women who are buried alive - think Madeline Usher or many of Poe’s heroines. Or you might have ghosts or mad narrators such as The Tale Heart. Edgar Poe was certainly familar with the Gothic genre, and took it to new heights.
05:02 Freud on the uncanny
Many writers have tried to explain the concept of the uncanny, but perhaps none more articulately than Sigmund Freud -
The subject of the 'uncanny' is undoubtedly related to what is frightening — to what arouses dread and horror; equally certainly, too, the word is not always used in a clearly definable sense, so that it tends to coincide with what excites fear in general. Yet we may expect that a special core of feeling is present which justifies the use of a special conceptual term. One is curious to know what this common core is which allows us to distinguish as 'uncanny'; certain things which lie within the field of what is frightening.
And Freud has some interesting observations to make about our willingness to accept uncanny characters and situations.
The souls in Dante's Inferno, or the supernatural apparitions in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Macbeth or Julius Caesar, may be gloomy and terrible enough, but they are no more really uncanny than Homer’s jovial world of gods. We adapt our judgement to the imaginary reality imposed on us by the writer, and regard souls, spirits and ghosts as though their existence had the same validity as our own has in material reality.
I know that psychological jargon can be very difficult to wrap you head around, but here I think Freud is comparatiely straight-forward compared to some of his hard to read prose.
For a modern-day example illustrating Freud’s ideas, look at the popularity of Stephen King.
07:08 Gothic stories and beliefs
Now early Gothic novelists often set their novels in what we consider remote times - such as the Middle Ages. The pre-Romantics - and here I’m talking about writers BEFORE Blake, Shelley, and Byron, for example - the pre-Romantics often enjoyed setting their scenes in a churchyard or maybe a graveyard - here was a place where people could meditate on life and death. So if you are in a graveyard, it was only natural for that character to think about uncanny forces such as ghosts, spirits, or blazing fires that have imagined connections to life and death.
Many people have a complete inability to accept death, and uncanny experiences often speak of the presence of ghosts or spirits - creatures that will live forever. And just that feeling of whether a spirit or character is alive or dead can produce a sense of the uncanny.
Earlier this week, the great Betty White died, and years ago said - almost jokingly - that when she died she would know the secret - that no one living can know the secret. Man has used uncanny beliefs to deal with that secret that no one totally understands, as well as the inevitablity of death.
08:48 The uncanny in the Fall of the House of User
Now Poe had written several classic stories that dealt with uncanny situations during the early portion of his writing career - such as Berenice and Morella - but I feel he didn’t really hit his stride until around 1839. In September of that year, he wrote The Fall of the House of Usher for Burtons Magazine.
Now our frequent inability to accept death can result in an uncanny feeling that at the end of his or her life, we subconciously believe a person is not really dead and is in a state of existence between life and death - in other words, a longing and refusal to accept death. We might consciouly know that such and such is true or false, but you can’t control the subconscious. This is illustrated in The Fall of the House of User in the half alive/half dead state of Madeline Usher.
I know this might sound wierd - but the concept of the uncanny can also be expressed in architecture - huge buildings with narrow corridors hidden chambers, and winding stairsteps - as though the house is mentally ill and controlled by evil forces.
The feeling of the uncanny increases in a story when the character feels that house might have what might be called a personality - the horrible sense that inanimate objects have become animated - the sense of fear when a character believes that a house might have a personality or soul - and is possessed by a ghost or reacts at the behest of evil forces. In the first paragraph of The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe writes about the windows as though they were eyes - and The Fall of the House of Usher has a double meaning - the decline and destruction of a home, and the decline and destruction of the last surviving members of the Usher family,,
In The Fall of the House of Usher, the twins Roderick and Madeline Usher are like doubles or doppelgangers of each other. In this case, they are two distinct individuals, but abnormally connected to each other, as though neither of them can live without the other. So when Roderick confronts his double, Madeline, it is as though he is confronting himself. This naturally results in a great deal of anxiety that doesn’t end well. He hears strange noises in the house, and is terrified. Then he announces that the sounds coming from the tomb in the house are from Madeline, and they buried her alive. Now she is trying to escape.
Celebrate Poe will look at The Fall of the House of Usher in far more detail later - it is one of Poe’s best tales.
Apparently, Netflix is slated to produced an 8 episode version of The Fall of the House of Usher - it could be very interesting.
Back to the Burton’s Magazine publication of The Fall of the House of Usher - not the Netflix version - less than approximately after Usher was published, Burton’s Magazine publshed another story by Poe that is a great example of the uncanny - William Wilson. Celebrate Poe touched on the first part of this story in an episode last year, but I am going to come back to the later part - and the use of the uncanny in William Wilson. The story is far more complex than I orginally thought. So the next episode will concentrate on the first part of William Wilson in “Was Poe Abused?”
MUSICAL TRANSITION (HEARTBEAT SOUND)
13:42 The uncanny in The Tell Tale Heart
Four years later, Edgar Poe wrote The Tale of the Heart for The Pioneer.
And for the rest of this episode, I would like to talk about some of the uncanny elements of The Tell Tale Heart.
The Tell Tale Heart is my favorite Poe story , and I could talk for hours about its complexities - but I won’t do that to you.
The story begins:
TRUE!—NERVOUS—VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
If you have never heard the story before, you might give the narrator the benefit the benefit of the doubt when he starts out saying that everything is true - that he IS nervous, but definitely not mad. After all, he can see all things in heaven and earth (must get noisy with all those sounds) And he uses the phase very very dreadfully nervous.
Now let me take a litle sidebar here regarding the filmaker Mel Brooks. Apparently Brooks is actually a very serious person - nice - but very intellectual - someone who is constantly reading all kinds of great literature. In the movie High Anxiety, a comedy about mental illness - and a lot funnier than it might sound - the lead characters visit an asylum. The hospital has a huge sign at the entrance that says home for the very, very dreafully nervous - straight out of Poe - the kind of almost tasteless literary reference that Mel Brooks woud use.
But I digress.
The narrator of Poe’s story says that he has very sharp senses and can tell us his story in a very honest and logical manner. But it becomes obvious as the story continues that he is suffering and even violent.
Poe doesn’t tell us if the narrator is living with his father, relative, friend, or servant. In fact, a group in Baltimore did a version of The Tell Tale Heart where all the characters were gay males, and that interpretation certainly works - though in Poe’s day I doubt that the word gay would be used except to mean happy. - perhaps the words “special friend” would be used. I have even seen a great version where the narrator is a lady - the lady implied that she had been abused - or at least she gave that impression.
One of the great things about Poe is that usually leaves his works open to universal interpretation.
He states that the reason he has to kill the old man is because of the old man’s eye. Has the old man seen the narrator doing something that the narrator is ashamed of? Is it a sexual act? Does the eye have some kind of imagined power that terrifies the narrator? Poe never specifically tells us but we do know that the narrator gains some kind of joy or satisfaction in killing the old man.
In fact, after he kills the old man, he is proud of the actions he takes to hide the body.
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.
I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye—not even his—could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out—no stain of any kind—no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all—ha! ha!
The narrator appears very satisfied that the room is clean!
Several officers come, and the narrator tries to act calmly. It seems doubtful that they would suspect anything at this point. The police are there sinply because a neighbor reported a noise.
The narrator continues:
I smiled,—for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search—search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.
The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct:—It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness—until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.
Either the narrator is experiencing his OWN heartbeat as the heartbeat of the old man - or there is some kind of supernatural occurence where the body has come back to life - or never really died - and the narrator hears the actual heart of the old man. Actually, such uncanny experiences were popular with Victorian audiences.
The narrator is at a complete loss regarding what to do!
No doubt I now grew very pale;—but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased—and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound—much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath—and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly—more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men—but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed—I raved—I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder—louder—louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God!—no, no! They heard!—they suspected!—they knew!—they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now—again!—hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!
Not surprisingly, Poe does not tell us exactly what is happening and leaves a great deal open to interpretation. That makes the events even more uncanny.
Finally, the narrator confesses to the crime:
“Villains!” I shrieked, “dissemble no more! I admit the deed!—tear up the planks! here, here!—It is the beating of his hideous heart!”
23:45 Summary
I think this is one of the best examples of the uncanny at work in Poe - a narrator who initially believes he is quite rational and even superior to other individuals. He gradually lets us know that - unknown to him - his thoughts and actions are becoming increasingly uncanny as he descends further and further into madness.
Poe certainly had his share of madmen - and a few madwomen - in his works. It could be said that such characters were frequently out of sync with the rest of society. They acted in reaction to universal forces, and often felt their irrational actions were entirely reasonable - and I haven’t even mentioned The Pit and Pendulum! Edgar Poe developed characters whose uncanny actions frequently evoked overwhelming fear in the reader.
In conclusion, this will not be the last time that Celebrate Poe looks at the concept of the uncanny - a concept that runs through much of Poe’s work, and we will see it over and over again.
24:52 Future episodes
Join Celebrate Poe for Episode 101 to be released Monday, January 10th at midnight. This episode is a re-examination of William Wilson, and focuses on the possible psychological damage that Poe might have experienced at boarding school. The episode “Was Poe abused’ deals with what might be considered unpleasant subject matter, but possible physical molestation that could very well be a contributing factor in forming Poe’s often fatalistic attitude towards life. “Was Poe abused?’ is an episode you won’t want to miss.
Sources
Sources for this episode include The Uncanny by Sigmund Freud, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight Thomas and David K. Jackson, The Reason for the Darkness of the Night. by John Tresch, Poe and Place by Phillip Edward Phillips, the Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Thomas Alive Mabbott, and lectures by Dr. Bokos Borbala at Partium Christian University in OrODDea, Romania.
Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.