The Fortunato Tower is the place from which the Ushers look "gigantically down" on their city. To represent this, she turns the raindrops outside into the bodies Ligodone has killed, turning the whole city into a truly frightening representation of death. The Usher siblings have used the certainty of success she gave them to take hold of Fortunato and build a pharmaceutical empire based on Ligodone, a miracle drug that Roderick claims is non-addictive, but that has led to an opioid epidemic all around the world, killing one person every five minutes just in the USA. At first, it may seem like she has come for him this time, but she's actually there to explain to him why she killed all his children and is bringing down his empire, going back to the deal she struck with him and Madeline in 1979 on New Year's Eve. The visual callback this scene makes to "The City in the Sea" is already striking, but Verna makes it even more so when she confronts Roderick. The only entity that is above all is Death itself, looking "gigantically down" on everyone and everything "from a proud tower in the town." This realm is described as lavish and luxurious, "Babylon-like," but dark and sad, as "No rays from the holy heaven come down on the long nighttime of that town." There is no distinction of morals or social status to those who live in this city, they are all equal in their eternal rest. The verses speak of a remote city in the West - where the Sun sets, meaning the literal "end of days" - that Death itself has built, where souls go upon their deaths. ![]() ![]() It seems that, through the years, Poe reworked the poem to make it as much about death as it is about the sinners. They were destroyed by a rain of fire and sulfur, which immediately makes us think of Prospero Usher's ( Sauriyan Sapkota) death. The previous titles are possibly references to the biblical locations of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that were destroyed by God due to their sins and morals that were contrary to those of the ancient Israelites. ![]() There were multiple versions of "The City in the Sea" throughout the years, the original one coming out in 1831 with the name "The Doomed City", and being renamed "The City of Sin" in 1936 before getting its final title in 1849.
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