The grand finale of “The Fall of the House of Usher” delivers answers and three more deaths. But how does episode 8 relate to “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe?
The Fall of the House of Usher (Source: Eike Schroter/Netflix)
Our comparisons between the “Fall of the House of Usher” episodes and the works of Edgar Allan Poe occasionally refer to events from future episodes. So don’t read on until you’ve already seen the entire Netflix series!
After the first episode of “The Fall of the House of Usher” had a quote from “The Raven” in the title, we encountered the black bird several times throughout the Netflix series. But it was only in the big finale that the plot clearly referred to Edgar Allan Poe’s original.
Anyone who already knows “The Raven” could of course have guessed early on that “The Fall of the House of Usher” would not end well for Lenore Usher either. All other viewers may have been surprised that the darkly humorous horror miniseries still delivered a large dose of tragedy at the end.
The Raven The Fall of the House of Usher (Source: Themoviedb.org)
Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” is one of his most famous works. In it, the narrator is reading a book at night and is almost asleep when he is woken up by a knock on the door. The death of his beloved Lenore, his reading, the fire in the fireplace and the wind in the curtains make the narrator restless and he can only slowly bring himself to let in his late visitor, whom he suspects is behind the door.
But there is no one behind the door and the narrator suddenly has the hope that Lenore might have returned to him. There is another knock, this time at the window, and when the narrator opens it, a raven flies into the room and sits on a bust.
The narrator asks the raven his name and the raven answers “Nevermore”, which surprises the narrator very much. When he tells himself that he must forget Lenore, the raven repeats his “Nevermore”. The question of potential peace of mind for the narrator and a reunion with Lenore in heaven is answered immediately by the raven.
When the raven announces that he will “never” leave the narrator, the narrator realizes that his spirit will never again escape the raven’s shadow.
This event is not found exactly, but in a similar form in the finale of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. After Lenore’s death, Roderick also meets the raven and mourns the loss of his beloved granddaughter. He also doesn’t see a way out of this sadness, of course because he knows of his coming end through Verna’s actions.
By the way, you can read a successful translation of the Poe poem here.
All episodes from “The Fall of the House of Usher” and their Poe scripts explained:
| Review The Fall of the House of Usher | |
| genre | drama |
| First broadcast | October 12, 2023 |
| First broadcast in Germany | October 12, 2023 |
| Homepage | netflix.com |
| Other sources | |
| network | Netflix |
production | Intrepid Pictures |
| Squadrons |
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