「어셔가의 몰락」: 우울증의 치유를 위한 언캐니 판타지

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the inner mind of the hero Roderick, who suffers from extreme remorse and guilt-consciousness. Various psychological symptoms such as hysteria, hypochondria and oppressive melancholia are as pervasive as psychic nightmares in the story. These psychic illnesses are related to the incest committed by siblings. Roderick’s incestuous relationship is the main source of all his mental problems and the direct cause of his sister Madeline’s cataleptic. Eventually, like a horror movie, she is buried alive by her brother. Moreover, the sister who returns from the dead evokes an uncanny kind of unimaginable terror. Roderic’s repressed unconscious desires burst out impulsively with destructive power. This indicates the return of the repressed, in which the mental symptom ultimately leads to their own death. The dark atmospheres are further complicated by mirroring images of the narrator and Rodrick’s self-destructiveness. In fact, the latter is a doubling image of the narrator as an alter ego. The story alludes to the uncanny fantasy the narrater has created, suggesting a sort of ‘ritualistic exorcism’ to heal the narrator’s melancholia and his trauma. (Hannam Univiersity)