One of the quintessential aspects of Gothic fiction is the
individual's incapability to escape their past. In Poe's Fall of the House of
Usher, Roderick and Madeline Usher are beset with physiological afflictions and
psychologically unsound due to their family's inbreeding. In Lovecraft's The
Rats in the Walls, the narrator is cursed by his family's hideous past. The
Haunting of Hill House is no different in its use of the malign effects of the
past; however, it turns the trope on its head by having Hill House embody a
shared history for its visitors.
Throughout the text, reference is made to Hill House's
'consumptive' qualities, and it can be read that this includes it's consumption
of the characters' histories. It is well established that Hugh Crane and his
family were beset by troubles during their stay at Hill House, and reminders of
this morbidly dysfunctional family are a recurring theme in the novel.
Furthermore, during her stay, Eleanor is plagued by recurring guilt of the
death of her mother. The supernatural occurrences, particularly the repeated
rapping on the wall, serve to remind her of her perceived failings.
Behind these occurrences is the implication that the house
consumes all, and will continue to do so. Some of the first and last lines of
the book- "Hill house, not sane... stood for eighty years and might stand
for eighty more," stress the permanence of the house, but also its
'madness'. A madness it has taken from its residents.
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