'The Fall of the House of Usher' Ending Explained Who Is Verna?

Table Of Content

• thought on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’”
• The Tell-Tale Heart
• The Fall of the House of Usher Cast & Characters in Mike Flanagan Series - Netflix Tudum
• Episodes
• The Fall of the House of Usher review – a gleefully terrifying take on Edgar Allan Poe
• Downtown Los Angeles

The narrator also notes that Madeline's body has rosy cheeks, which sometimes happens after death. Over the next week, both Roderick and the narrator find themselves increasingly agitated. The Fall of the House of Usher is an American gothic horror drama television miniseries created by Mike Flanagan. All eight episodes were released on Netflix on October 12, 2023, each directed by either Flanagan or Michael Fimognari, with the latter also acting as cinematographer for the entire series. We heard this banging throughout the series, and much like Momma Usher when Roderick and Madeline were children, Madeline was not quite as dead as she initially seemed. She burst above ground, strangling Roderick as a surrounding storm began to take their childhood home down to the ground with them, just as Dupin got out of the house in time.

thought on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’”

But, still, a few lingering things remain that need to click in order for the series—based on the collected writings of Edgar Allen Poe—to really all fall into place. The song Roderick sings, “The Haunted Palace,” is an extended metaphor that compares the mind of a mad person to a haunted house or a palace under siege. In the first stanza of the song, Roderick names the monarch Thought (“In the monarch Thought’s dominion”), suggesting that reason rules over this mind. The physical elements of the palace additionally map onto the features of a human face. The “banners yellow, glorious, golden” that “float and flow” on the roof are locks of blond hair. It has two “luminous” windows representing eyes, and the door made of pearls and rubies is a mouth with red lips and pearly white teeth.

The Tell-Tale Heart

An ambitious and driven man, Roderick expects the most out of his six children, giving them access to every resource imaginable — except his fatherly affection. “It’s batshit crazy in the best possible way,” Carla Gugino told Netflix during production. “It has quite a lot of very dark humor, but also really touches the soul.” In the series, Gugino portrays a shape-shifter named Verna, whose origins can be traced back to a — let’s just say — very famous Poe character. “There is a fantastical supernatural element to the story, and she is the manifestation of that,” she added.

'Fall of the House of Usher' Production Designer Reveals on-Set Details - Business Insider

'Fall of the House of Usher' Production Designer Reveals on-Set Details.

Posted: Wed, 08 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The Fall of the House of Usher Cast & Characters in Mike Flanagan Series - Netflix Tudum

Occupying a former flour mill, Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles is a vibrant communal space that links art and architecture with a dynamic events program. In addition to supporting and collaborating with many local and international cultural organizations, nonprofits, and universities, the Los Angeles gallery fosters public dialogue with the arts through a range of activities that engage the city’s diverse population. London-based artist Catherine Goodman held a drawing session on the occasion of her exhibition, ‘New Works,’ in Downtown Los Angeles. ARTBOOK @ Hauser & Wirth Bookstore is a contemporary art and culture bookstore which highlights topical issues throughout the year by presenting a rotating thematic inventory of titles. ARTBOOK carries an extensive selection of magazines in a wide variety of subjects, as well as a large selection of children’s books, critical texts and performance titles.

Episodes

This death comes as a major twist; throughout the conversation between Roderick and Dupin, he notes that he's not answering texts he's receiving from his granddaughter. As you may remember, Madeline's plan was to turn Fortunato into a tech company, and one of her major projects was A.I. In a direct reference to Poe's most famous work (and how did we not see this coming with the name "LENORE"?!), A.I. Lenore only kept texting Roderick variations of, you guessed it, "Nevermore."

Storyline

This time, Flanagan’s ghoulish crew is entering familial territory, as ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege, and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the setting, diction, and imagery combine to create an overall atmosphere of gloom. The story opens on a “dull, dark, and soundless day” in a “singularly dreary tract of country.” As the narrator notes, it is autumn, the time of year when life begins to give way to old age and death. A mere glimpse of the Usher mansion inspires in the narrator “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart.” Upon entering the house, the reader as the narrator navigates through a series of dark passages lined with carvings, tapestries, and armorial trophies. Poe draws heavily on Gothic conventions, using omens and portents, heavy storms, hidden passageways, and shadows to set the reader on edge.

The Fall of the House of Usher review – a gleefully terrifying take on Edgar Allan Poe

Only, as evidenced by the noises coming from the basement, Madeline wasn't quite dead. In exchange for this protection, both Roderick and Madeline had to consent to the bargain that at the end of Roderick's life, just before he was fated to die anyway, his entire bloodline would die with him. Roderick and Madeline would also have to die at the same time, leaving this world the same way they came into it. The siblings agreed to the deal, left the bar, and soon after became convinced that the whole thing had been a shared delusion. The bedroom door is then blown open to reveal Madeline, bloodied from her arduous escape from the tomb.

Poe was often dismissed by contemporary literary critics because of the unusual content and brevity of his stories. When his work was critically evaluated, it was condemned for its tendencies toward Romanticism. The writers and critics of Poe’s day rejected many of that movement’s core tenets, including its emphasis on the emotions and the experience of the sublime. Accordingly, commentaries on social injustice, morality, and utilitarianism proliferated in the mid-19th century. Poe conceived of his writing as a response to the literary conventions of this period. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” he deliberately subverts convention by rejecting the typical practices of preaching or moralizing and instead focusing on affect and unity of atmosphere.

Downtown Los Angeles

The bookstore also features a comprehensive collection of Hauser & Wirth artists’ titles and exhibition catalogues. Situated at the center of Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles, Manuela unites chef, farmer and artist to create an authentic and original dining experience. Under the direction of Executive Chef Kris Tominaga, the menu celebrates seasonal ingredients sourced from the best farms and producers in Southern California. For groups of 10 or more people, Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles offers guided tours Tuesday through Thursday of the exhibitions currently on view. To request a guided tour, please email us at with your preferred date and time. The final episode finally reveals what Roderick and Madeline did—and were running from—all those years ago, and how they first got involved with Verna in the first place.

As he watches, the House of Usher splits in two and the fragments sink away into the lake. It is revealed that Roderick's sister, Madeline, is also ill and falls into cataleptic, deathlike trances. The first two episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2023 before the Netflix release the following month, being viewed more than 13 million times in its first two weeks. It was met with positive reviews, with critics praising its production values, directing, and performances (in particular from Gugino, Greenwood and Mark Hamill), although they were divided on its narrative, notably in relation to the source materials. Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles Learning programs aim to instigate a dialogue between the works on view and our diverse audiences – artists, downtown residents, community partners, students, and faculty of Southern California schools and academic institutions. The garden, a certified Wildlife Habitat as recognized by the National Wildlife Federation, is an oasis within the burgeoning Downtown Los Angeles Arts District.

Several days later, Roderick tells the narrator that Madeline has died, and they lay her to rest in a vault. In the days that follow, the narrator starts to feel more uneasy in the house, and attributes his nervousness to the gloomy furniture in the room where he sleeps. The narrator begins to suspect that Roderick is harbouring some dark secret. The eldest of the Usher “bastards,” Victorine has made helping people her life’s work, but like her siblings, the true source of her ambition is her desire for her father’s approval and affection.

Might we then interpret Roderick as a symbol of the conscious mind – struggling to conceal some dark ‘secret’ and make himself presentable to his friend, the narrator – and Madeline as a symbol of the unconscious? Note how Madeline is barely seen for much of the story, and the second time she appears she is literally buried (repressed?) within the vault. When Poe began writing short stories, the short story was not generally regarded as serious literature.

As a parent himself, Roderick doesn’t fare much better, having six children by five different women who range from obnoxious hedonists (Napoleon and Prospero Usher) to despicable creeps (Frederick, Tamerlane and Victoria) to obnoxious, despicable hedonist creeps (Camille). The family is made up of Flanagan’s regular ensemble of actors, and to buy them as relatives requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, but for Flanagan fans, there’s great fun to be had seeing how these favourites fit into his new tale of terror. Alongside his favoured players is Mark Hamill as an unfeeling lawyer/fixer for the Usher family who sounds as if he gargles a pint of nails every morning. But as we know from the start, there’s no point in getting overly attached to them, as grisly fates are assured for all. It’s not so much the “what” as the “why” that the audience and Dupin need to be answered. It turns out that almost every branch of the Usher family tree has been cut by violent horror.

Featuring a chicken coop and beds of herbs and vegetables, which support the onsite restaurant, Manuela – this space aims to integrate community with urban food production and sustainability. The serene and contemplative environment is surrounded by an abundance of street art murals, which have been kept in their original locations, creating a juxtaposition of the site’s local history with its new life. The open-air courtyard and garden won the 2019 Landscape Architecture category of the 49th Los Angeles Architectural Awards. While under testimony, he went against what he said he would do, saying instead that Dupin was harassing him, that Fortunato did no wrong, and this his signatures were never forged. She's first present tending bar when Roderick and Madeline stop in on New Year's Eve 1979, and we don't know what's going on with them, but we know they're nervous about something. Throughout the rest of the series, Verna continues to show up—more than 40 years later, always looking exactly the same as the day she met them.