tionships of reference, grammar, tone, and systems which reveal the overall form of the work. The context, or world the writer creates, is also considered. In "FHU," the world bears little resemblance to reality, and is more like a dream world.
In a formalitis approach the point of view of the author is a crucial factor. In "FHU," it shall be seen, there is a double point of view, that of the narrator, who, in this story is an "unreliable narrator," and that from the vantage point of Roderick Usher.
"FHU" can be read ag a story of descent into madness or unreality. It is not only Roderick who goes insane, but temporarily the narrator as well. Both experience the hallucination of accepting Madeline as a living being in the climax of the story. Because the narrator "sees" Madeline the reader accepts her as real, but he is in fact, as a close reading of the text shows, unreliable. Poe carefully has explained that Madeline's "coffin lid is screwed down, and the iron door bolted when the narrator and Roderick leave the vault. Even if Madeline does revive in her coffin it is impossible to believe that after eight days in the tomb she could emerge alive" (Walker 53).
A careful reading of the text shows that Madeline is not alive, and that the narrator has faulty judgment.
Poe affords a unique situation regarding a formalistic approach to "FHU" since he deliberately chose a formalistic approach as the basis of his work and of "FHU." Thus, Poe's own principles can be used to analyze "FHU" as formal structure.
In his review of Hawthorne's "Twice-Told Tales," Poe wrote that a skillful literary artist should not fashion his tho
...