Gothic Romanticism: Criticism of human nature.

1) Rodrick's nerves, weakness and fears caused Madeline's transformation of a vampire. Poe writes why Rodrick wanted to see the narrator. "It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy- a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which would doubtfully soon pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations." The reader can interpret from these couple of sentences, that supernatural events were taking place in The House of Usher. The family evil was the curse of the vampire. The remedy was putting Madeline under the home. Nervous affection would pass off, as said by Rodrick, but by the end off the story the reader discovers that it did not. Host refers to Madeline, and unnatural sensations would be the craving of blood. It is also seen in the story that the worse Usher gets, the more powerful Madeline becomes. Usher whispers to himself over and over how he has heard her underneath, suffering. Yet he does not save her, instead he weeps and becomes more fragile. When Madeline finally makes her appearance, they both die once she reaches him. It's as though Ushers true weakness was face to face with him, and he let it take over.
2) The Gothic Fiction writers show a clear, direct criticism of human nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne criticizes lust in, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment". The 3 gentlemen, and the widow, easily drink the water of The Fountain of Youth, longing to be young again. He warns them not to turn to their youthful past, but they do not listen. They start a riot. Dr. Heidegger then says after the potion wears off,"Well--I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it--no, though it delirium were for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!" Hawthorne gets the fact across that lust is a nature that is easily rebounded, for which he does not like. Edgar Allen Poe criticizes the human nature of easily believing, in his work, "The Masque of Red Death." Although this terrible plaque spreads in the country, it takes one person, Prince Prospero, to influence these people that all is well. Instead of going frantic and being protected, he throws a Masquerade Ball. When the plaque comes in a figure of a person, the Prince whom all looked up to, dies as soon as he makes contact. When the people go to attack this cloaked Red Death, they die as well. It took just one individual to decide the fate of the rest. Lastly, Poe also criticizes the fact that as humans, it's easier to fall into darkness than it is to rise to light, as seen in,"The Fall of the House of Usher." Although Rodrick Usher knows that something unnatural is seizing his twin sister Madeline, he fails to overcome the problem. Instead of facing his fear, he withers and dies in it. Poe writes, "I will not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the staircase, on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at the best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution". At this moment, the narrator and Usher are doomed. With their lack of taking charge, all falls down, including The House of Usher. The Gothic writers have a similar criticism. They all recognize the "go to" feelings of humans. Instead of sitting down having a clear thought process in times of trouble, they let their fears and insecurities compel them into the wrong actions. The writers recognize more downfalls of human nature, than the good traits.