SlideShare a Scribd company logo
1 of 77
Download to read offline
Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher
In the story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, creates suspense, symbolism, and
Gothic elements. The author shows this by using a sincere expression of terror. In The House of
Usher suspense is used when Lady Madeline is sick and cataleptic. The rest of the story you are left
in suspense over if she is actually dead or is now a ghost. She suddenly dies when Roderick comes
to check on her while she is laying in bed. Roderick is traumatized over his sister's death but shortly
after The Narrator and him put her in a coffin and lock her up for 2 weeks. The author quotes
"...having informed me abruptly that the Lady Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of
preserving her corpse for a fortnight...in one of the numerous ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Throughout the story the author refers to these creepy and gloomy descriptions of how symbolism is
used. The most significant way symbolism is used in the story is used to explain how the outlook of
the mansion portrays the emotions of the people in the mansion. One of the ways this can be
explained is shown when the narrator rides up to the house. The narrator explains his experience, "I
know not how it was but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom
pervaded my spirit" (Poe). An Explanation to this quote is how The narrator is depressed by the
appearance of The House of Usher as he approaches. He instantaneously knew and recognized the
evil feeling he had felt just by the look of the house. Another symbolism that the author expresses in
the story is the crack of the house. The narrator observes a crack in the mansion upon his arrival to
the Usher estate. Since it is mentioned that "The House of Usher" refers both to the family and the
building. The is a connection between the two. Indeed we can see how in the House of Usher
mention small fissure as representative of a disruption in the unity of the family, more specifically,
between Lady Madeline and Roderick. This is the disruption that ultimately tears the family and the
mansion to pieces. It quotes "It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one
wildly singular in its terror and its beauty" (Poe). The storm
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe was filled with noteworthy ideas. One of the
prominent ideas in this story is the title of the story itself, "The Fall of the House of Usher." The title
forebodes that at some point in the story a house, whether metaphorical or realistic, will fall. Poe
establishes this at the end of the story when "the mighty walls" are "rushing asunder" meaning the
house has finally broken down (90, 91). The title is a colossal part in establishing the basis of the
story. If the story was called anything else, Poe wouldn't have been able to convey to the reader what
he wanted to and the reader would be entering the story with a different assumption in mind.
Another noteworthy idea in the story is how Poe uses
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Symbolism In The House Of Usher
The Symbolism behind the House of Usher
The story uses different forms of symbolism to convey themes and development of characters and
the plot. But the main symbol of the story is the Usher house, itself. The main symbolism behind the
home is to be the setting because through the house Poe wants to show the fear of the narrator and
Roderick's mental illness. The looming crisis can be felt in the air throughout the story because of
Poe's black tones that are used in all of his stories. The fine line between death and reality that Poe
twists is purposely done to showcase Roderick's mental illness. This showcases that the narrator and
readers know something is wrong with the House of Usher. This is found out later that through
generations of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
To showcase how Roderick and Madeline see the world, the setting of the house is very strange and
borderline fiction. The narrator often asks themselves if this is a dream, because of all he is seeing
around him and how strange and out of reality the House of Usher is. The home is straight out of
one's nightmare and this helps the reader visualizes furthers the house as a symbol to see just how
deeply disturbed, dark, and morbid the Ushers are. Then, the isolated nature of the house describes
how lonely, disconnected, and sheltered the Usher family is. The strange ambiance of the setting
helps the reader see, that through the broken lens of the Ushers, just how lonely they are. Roderick,
not able to have offspring, goes insane, thus leaving him to feel alone cause his rampage of burying
his sister alive. The disconnect and brainwashing the Ushers went through not only hurts them but
kills the family in the end. Only having relationships within the family is what leads to the demise of
the beautiful mansion which is described by the narrator in his youth, and is also the gloomy palace
we see in the story. Without caring for the house because of the incapable family members, helps the
reader understand and see how greatly mental illness and distancing have affected the storyline.
In the beginning of the story, as the narrator describes the
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay
In "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Poe, an unnamed narrator is convened to a mansion that had
a "sense of insufferable gloom" (poe) when seen. The man who summoned the narrator was a friend
to who he had known as a child, Roderick Usher. Despite how the house gives him "an utter
depression of the soul." (poe ), he reunites with his boyhood friend. Roderick is experiencing
exceptionally weird psychological disorder and his sister, Madeline is going to die on because of a
mysterious infection. The narrator sits with Roderick and keeps him company while Roderick paints
or plays his guitar, spending all his days inside, keeping away from the daylight and fixating on the
awareness of the non–living. At the point when Madeline passes away, Usher chooses to bury her in
one of his home's huge vaults. A couple of days after the fact, nonetheless, she rises up out of her
tomb, killing her sibling while the Narrator escapes for his life. The House of Usher parts separated
and falls, wiping without end the last remainders of the old family. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
One thing that I noticed was all of the stories we read in class and "The Fall of the House of Usher"
all have similar theme of death. In "Annabel Lee", Annabel dies, in "The Fall of the House of
Usher", Roderick's sister dies, and in "Tell–Tale Heart" the whole story is about an unnamed murder
and the murder he committed. Another similarity is that a lot of Poe's stories have something to do
with some sort of mental illness. Roderick from "The Fall of the House of Usher", has many
different mental illnesses he is going through, and in "Tell– Tale Heart" the unknown narrator kills a
man because of his "vulture eye". So there are many different similarities between almost all of
Poe's
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher Insane
The supernatural intrigues the human race because we want to believe that it is real. We want to
believe in things that can't be true because it makes our lives more interesting. In many of Poe's
pieces, the narrator in the stories are being haunted. Some may argue that the narrator are just
insane, but there is a lot more evidence proving that there is something supernatural going on. For
example in the short story "The Fall of The House of Usher" it is evident that the narrator is being
haunted, and that he is not insane.
In the story Roderick states "We have put her living in the tomb!" & "Have I not heard her footstep
on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? MADMAN!" (Poe
pg#). Many unusual things ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Madeline must've drank their blood and walked upstairs to kill Roderick. That's why when she
stepped into the room she had blood all over the front of her white robes and attacked Roderick.
Also, a stanza in the poem says "The Haunted palace" it says "But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow shall dawn upon him,
desolate!)" (Poe pg#). This particular stanza is telling us that in "The Haunted Palace" something
dreadful must've happened to the family ( such as a vampire bite) , and nothing was ever the same
after the incident. The lovely Madeline not only looked beautiful when she was alive, she looked
beautiful when she was dead too. When she passed away, her cheeks were rosy red from her
blushing which is an impossible thing to do when you are dead. "the mockery of a faint blush, upon
the bosom and face, and that suspiciously lingering upon the lip which is so terrible in death."
Madeline's beauty clearly points to vampirism, and the narrator was not the only person who
noticed. Although the servants did not play big roles in this story, the ones that they were in were
very important. When the narrator first entered 'The House of
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of The Usher
Edgar Allen Poe stories are viewed as being supernatural and tragic; however, when given a closer
look there is much more to meet the eye. His stories give the readers an insight of his life and a more
profound meaning than what 's on the surfaces. "Although Poe was not the social outcast that
Baudelaire conceived him to be, he was, and still is, perhaps the most thoroughly misunderstood of
all American write" (Stovall 417). Poe 's poems and short stories can be analyzed in serval different
perspectives. Take such as, Poe 's "The Fall of the House of the Usher" can be interpreted for most
people as a story about a bizarre relationship between sister and brother. The story appears to just be
about a family that only marries within the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Roderick is following the same path as the Usher 's, which they have been doing for many
generations, before him. He had no other choice and through the years was molded to believe that he
should be his own sister 's lover. They were raised more of future lovers than as siblings. The line
between lovers and family was never drawn for them, so the family secret also stayed with their
family. The secrets sealed "in the direct line of descent" (Poe 703). Another key factor for
intermarriage is to keep any property they own in the Usher 's name. The family house could
possibly be the last thing that the Usher own. Once the house fall in someone else handles who
knows what could have happened. The house was not in the greatest structures, one flaw being the
crack that ran down the center of the house. That house held everything that was the Usher and
when Roderick and Madeline died the house came down right after them. The tragedy to love
someone, but cannot be with them is the downfall of the Ushers and their history. Roderick and
Madeline are a twisted story of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet with the exact same ending, both
lovers dies. Poe took that love story and turned it into his own twisted of his love story. Two–star
cross lovers that just want to live in peace in
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher Tone
"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality"– Edgar
Allan Poe. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe expresses his
gloomy tone throughout his word choice and setting. Poe's use of detailed phrases and words with a
very distinctive connotation make the story more engaging to the audience. He states, "I had so
worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about the whole mansion and domain there
hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity–an atmosphere which had
no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray
wall, and the silent tarn–a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden–
hued" (415). This quote altogether is rich in the amount of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
He sees the room inside the house as "large and lofty" (412) and even says that the small gleams of
light "made their way through the trellised panes" (line 18). His detailed description of the actual
rooms in the house helps create a gloomy tone. It allows the reader to picture the house in their head
while reading. He even describes the feeling he receives from the house. Poe states, "I know not
how it was– but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my
spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half–pleasurable, because
poetic, sentiment with which usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or
terrible" (lines 5–9). The feeling or response he develops from the house is a very important part of
the setting. He receives an "insufferable gloom" which makes the house seem even more dreary than
what is given off from the actual appearance of the house. His anxiousness applies to the gloomy
tone because he obtains a scary feeling from just being in the
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Theme Of Transformation In The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Can transformation put fear into readers? Readers are motivated to view the story in a different
perspective in order to understand stories meant to scare us. One story that uses transformation to
scare readers is,"Where is Here?" Another story is,"House Taken Over." The final story is,"The Fall
of the House of Usher." Transformation plays a role meant to scare us in these stories, because it
reveals something that has been in the story the whole time, but hidden. In,"Where is Here?" the
family should've known letting the stranger inside the house was a bad idea. One can tell that the
stranger possesses weird powers, due to the fact on what he does to the house when he leaves. "I
wasn't the one who opened the door to that man in the first place," said the mom on page 76. This
shows that the mom knew that something was going to happen, which is why she didn't want the
stranger inside their house in the first place. This quote also shows that the stranger had an effect on
their family and home. Another quote which demonstrates transformation is when the father says on
page 76,"Shut up. We'll forget it," he said." This shows that letting the stranger inside the house was
a terrible idea, that the father want's to completely forget about what has happened. The father says
this to the mother because he doesn't want to talk about what has happened at that moment, but
rather forget about the situation. The final quote from the story on page 76, which shows
transformation
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher Effect
Edgar Allan Poe once said that the "artistry of narratives is in the ability to achieve a unity of effect"
(Clement, lecture notes). His narrative "The Fall of the House of Usher," is about a man that gets a
letter from an old friend that wants him to go visit because he is sick. When he arrives, he notices
that his friend and his sister is not the only one affected by illness, the house is too. That leads to the
death of the Ushers and the fall of the house. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe makes death
and decay, and overall illness, his unity of effect. He establishes this effect through his narrator, the
setting of the story, and the tragedy that affects its characters. In this short narrative, there are many
textual examples that ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
This alone gives us the sense that the setting is a somber place. From that brief section of text, we
can begin to picture a place that can be taken as being ill and gloomy. The narrator gives us a very
vivid description of the atmosphere of the house. For example, when entering he said it was like he
"breathed an atmosphere of sorrow" (The Art of the Short Story, 711). A narratives plot may be the
biggest factor in producing an effect. Through the conflict that is presented, the reader is given
events that lead them to become interested in the story and its characters. The conflict that takes
place in this narrative is that Rodrick Usher, the narrators boyhood friend, is sick and he wants the
narrator to go to his estate to visit him. The mystery builds because the illness seems to deadly and it
is unclear what exactly is wrong with him. The narrator learned that the "entire family lay in the
direct line of descent" and it did not have "any enduring branches" (The Art of the Short Story, 709).
Although it is not explicitly stated by the Ushers, the reader can infer that the cause of this family's
illness is incest that has gone on for many
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Fall Of The House Usher
The Fall of the House starts out using a narrow rational point of view from Edgar Allen Poe to
illustrate the eccentric, grotesque and dark effects of the house the appearance of it and also the
impact it had on the character within the house such as Roderick, Madeline and twins sister. Poe's
effective use of personification, foreshadowing, symbolism, and doubling create a morbid tale
leading to, the fall of (the house of) Usher and its what ultimately set the tone for gothic elements in
the story. Roderick and Madeline are both suffering from the alluring stranger illnesses and effects
that the house exhibits and illuminates. Roderick pragmatically suffers from the morbid acuteness of
the sense, because he believes that the
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Identity In The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Oftentimes, Edgar Allan Poe uses in depth literary devices to leave his audience in an uneasy
confusion, which captures the attention of many. In the short story The Fall of the House of Usher
written by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe does exactly this. While many people believed that Poe was
intentful of provoking fear onto his audience, Edgar Allan Poe's short story augments the dark and
mysterious theme of the dangers of identity as supported by word choice and symbolism of
characterization. Authors are commonly particular on their own unique word choice. For Poe in this
short story, he uses imagery with the extensive use of descriptive words to create a strong gothic
ambience. This helps develop the identity portrayed upon characters through first impressions.
Leading into the start of the story, the unknown Narrator sets up the scene with dreary words and
alliteration,
"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds
hung oppressively low...a singularly dreary tract of country...within view of the melancholy House
of Usher... I had learned too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time–
honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire
family lay in the direct line of decent" (412–414). ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
This identity of the house will unconsciously be put onto the rest of the house, including the people
living within it. Perhaps this is because the house is acting as a mirror of the people within. As
noted, the house is dreary, but also falling apart minorly, just as the descents of the family. When the
Narrator sets up this identity, it will continue to be portrayed upon the house throughout the rest of
the story as a dark and mysterious force. Another strong use of words that Poe intently uses sets up
the identity of Roderick
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher
Edgar Allen Poe is very effective at spooking readers and making them feel a sense of mystery with
very vague stories."The Fall of the House of Usher's" setting , characters, and theme all make the
story what it is.The Fall of the House of Usher uses gothic elements to create an uncomfortable and
spooky setting.
The House of Usher's appearance inside and outside uses gothic elements to attribute to the feel of
the story. The outside of the House of Usher causes the reader to feel uneasy. "Our unnamed
narrator, as soon as he looks at the house, he feels a sense of dread, just kind of pervade him."
(Stringfield) Before even stepping in the house, the House of Usher managed to cause the narrator to
anticipate the horrors to come from the building. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Edgar Allen Poe was familiar with vampire stories and their gothic elements."Poe was sufficiently
familiar with gothic materials and techniques [...] and both male and female vampires abound in
literature by the time he published his contribution to the genre in 1839." (Kendall 1) Poe's prior
knowledge of vampire stories very well could lead him to writing his own vampire story himself,
which can be seen in this story as Usher and Madeline have vampire–like qualities. "The Fall of the
House of Usher" can be seen as a whole as the slow drop into insanity of someone."Thus 'The Fall
of the House of Usher' can be read as the effusion of an irrational mind not only about the loss of
sanity but itself an example of that theme." (William 2) Poe wrote "The Fall of the House of Usher"
in a way that makes it so someone can read it and have the whole picture be seen as someone
becoming insane. The ruined condition of the house can be seen as Usher's mental state and the
collapse being his mind breaking and him going mad. Edgar Allen Poe wrote "The Fall of the House
of Usher" in many ways that all attribute to the story in a way that the story would benefit.
"The Fall of the House of Usher" uses gothic elements to create an uncomfortable and spooky
setting. Edgar Allen Poe wrote a story that can be interpreted in many different ways with diverse
and creepy
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Transformations In The Fall Of The House Of Usher
I just just glanced through my phone, swiping quickly to going through the photos of everyone's
snapchat story. But one word caught my eye: fire; it caught my eye but I did not really think about it
afterwards. Several hours later however, I was with my friends working on our english essay when
all of a sudden, I look up to see what looked like an enormous blanket of brown dust staining the
clear blue sky. There was a distinct line between the perfectly blue sky and the disgusting smoke
from the fire and this transformation that occurred so out of the blue causing both shock and awe
from me and my friends. Transformations play a role in stories meant to scare us by creating an
atmosphere of discomfort and uncertainty because the characters are unable to control the situation
around them. Through the short stories of "The Fall of the House of Usher", "House Taken Over",
and "Where is Here", the authors of those stories all elicit an atmosphere of fear through the
combined transformations of setting, mood, and characters. "The Fall of the House of Usher" change
occurs at the climax of the story where Roderick Usher falls into insanity. "House Taken Over'
changes when the mysterious intruders fully overtake the house and the siblings are forced to flee.
In "Where is Here" the stranger leaves the home which causes the house to fade in color, draining it
of life.
First, in "The Fall of the House of Usher" the author uses the transformation of Roderick Usher to
create an
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher Analysis The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe is a
very dark and eerie story. This gothic tale is very complexly written, as many of Poe's works are. In
this story, there were two main themes that stood out: fear and friendship. The fear of Roderick
Usher as well as the narrator's fear and the friendship of the two. And although there are many
elements of this story that are noteworthy, most importantly though is the authors vagueness
throughout. The theme of fear in this story is present throughout. The narrator was uneasy to say the
least upon his first glimpse of the house and about the house in general throughout the story. As well
as his fear for his friends well–being. Roderick Usher's fear
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The setting of "The Fall of the House of Usher" contributes to the overall impact and significance of
the story by showing the parallels between the life of the Usher twins and the life of the house they
live in. In the beginning of the story the narrator describes the House as having a crack of fissure
running down the front of it. He says that if one looked closely they could see "the beginning of a
break in the front of the building, a crack making its way from the top down the wall until it became
lost in the dark waters of the lake" (2). This is representative of the divide growing between the two
siblings who live together in the house, which has its roots in their illnesses. The narrator claims that
he suspected the lake and the air
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of The Usher
Edgar Allen Poe stories are viewed as being supernatural and tragic; however, when given a closer
look there is much more to meet the eye. His stories give the readers an insight of his life and a more
profound meaning than what 's on the surfaces. "Although Poe was not the social outcast that
Baudelaire conceived him to be, he was, and still is, perhaps the most thoroughly misunderstood of
all American write" (Stovall 417). Poe 's poems and short stories can be analyzed in serval different
perspectives. Take such as, Poe 's "The Fall of the House of the Usher" can be interpreted for most
people as a story about a bizarre relationship between sister and brother. The story appears to just be
about a family that only marries within the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Roderick is following the same path as the Usher 's, which they have been doing for many
generations, before him. He had no other choice and through the years was molded to believe that he
should be his own sister 's lover. They were raised more of future lovers than as siblings. The line
between lovers and family was never drawn for them, so the family secret also stayed with their
family. The secrets sealed "in the direct line of descent" (Poe 703). Another key factor for
intermarriage is to keep any property they own in the Usher 's name. The family house could
possibly be the last thing that the Usher own. Once the house fall in someone else handles who
knows what could have happened. The house was not in the greatest structures, one flaw being the
crack that ran down the center of the house. That house held everything that was the Usher and
when Roderick and Madeline died the house came down right after them. The tragedy to love
someone, but cannot be with them is the downfall of the Ushers and their history. Roderick and
Madeline are a twisted story of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet with the exact same ending, both
lovers dies. Poe took that love story and turned it into his own twisted of his love story. Two–star
cross lovers that just want to live in peace in
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher Symbolism
Poe's gloomy and ominous short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," begins with the nameless
narrator (most likely Poe himself) describing his journey to the House of Usher after Roderick, one
of the last two remaining members in the Usher family and proprietor of "the melancholy House of
Usher" (3), summons the nameless narrator to visit him: "I looked upon the scene before me–upon
the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain–upon the bleak walls...with an
utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation [to]" (3). Here, we see the first
signs of the house as a supernatural entity whose beauty can only be seen by people on opium.
Without the use of opium, however, the house remains depressing and lifeless. Poe uses the house as
a symbol of society at the time: forsaken without the use opium. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Continuing with the symbolism of society's addiction to opium, Poe claims that the transcendental
and sentient house serves as the main cause of Roderick's and his sister's illnesses. Moreover, we
can see some withdrawal symptoms when the narrator meets Roderick: " He suffered much from a
morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only
garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even
a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not
inspire him with horror"
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe the most important conflict
is between Rodrick Usher, the protagionist, and fear. 
























The conflict increases throughout the story and
is eventaully resolved. In the beginning of the story the tension starts when the narrator describes the
house he is approaching. He uses words like "dull","dark", and "soundless" to set the mood of the
story and then goes on to give the imagery of an eerie, evil house that is starting to fall apart. Upon
arriving the narrator seeks his childhood friend Rodrick who is ill. Rodrick suffers from extreme
anxiety and fear, which the narrator thinks is caused by the house itself. Throughout the story the
conflict continues
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", written in 1839, is a short story that describes
the final days of the Usher family. The tale begins as the narrator has been summoned by Roderick
Usher to provide him comfort during his mental illness. Through this narrator, Poe shares key
elements that substantiate the anti–Puritanism beliefs of the Ushers. Poe's description of the house
and surroundings set the gothic tone of the story. He describes the house as a "mansion of gloom"
surround by "decayed trees" allowing the reader to understand the uneasiness felt by the characters.
Puritan fear came strongly from the belief in the supernatural. The use of witchcraft and demons was
the Devils way of tempting Godly people to stray from
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher Manipulation
The Fall of the House of Usher is a story written by Poe that demonstrates the ability for the rational
mind to rapidly deteriorate upon influence, as it represents the fall of reasoning. The narrator's mind
begins to lack the ability to make sense of the strange things occurring in the house, and by the end
he has lost his mind, but manages to escape the brink of mental insanity upon the collapse of the
House of Usher. In the beginning, the narrator shows up to the house upon request from one of his
childhood friends, Roderick Usher. Immediately he takes note of the strange phantasmic aura the
house gives off, and the peculiarities of Usher and his sister/wife. Throughout the story, he notes the
feeling of agitation given off by his friend, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In addition to the eerie happenings within the house contributing to the insanity of both the narrator
and Usher, the phantasm of Madeline and the daily readings of Gothic literature begin to rapidly
submerge the narrator in doubtful hallucinations and the questionability of his own sanity. Thus, The
Fall of the House of Usher is a story that represents how the mind under influence performs, and
how reason no longer becomes a mental aspect once the mental state begins to see things that may
or may not be
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher Symbolism
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a story laced with supernatural events. While symbolism is often
believed to play a big part in the story, it is truly a fantasy tale involving a curse, a demon man who
plots to murder his sister, and an undead, revenge seeking woman. Poe is known for his use of
supernatural effects in short stories, so this is the most realistic interpretation of the story. One of the
major events that is claimed to be one of Poe's symbols is the crack in the house that the narrator
points out. This crack is said to symbolize the line of Ushers that is coming to an end. There is only
two remaining in the family, and they are both very sickly. However, it is clear that the house is very
old, and Poe may have added the crack to add to the creepy setting and vibe. The inhabitants of the
house are very creepy, and it makes sense that the house would display that. This brings about the
next point. A theory is that Roderick and Madeline symbolize the dualism of emotion/body and
rationality/mind within people. Roderick is supposedly symbolic of the human's mental capacity and
intellect because he has a mental ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
However, "The Fall of the House of Usher" leans on the side of supernatural and fantasy. He
incorporates a sinister and eerie house for the setting, a curse of some sort that has taken over the
Usher line, and a brother who can see the future and predicts his sister's death. Madeline even
returns from the dead near the end. Taking this story in a more literal sense alters one's view and
creates a reading experience that is uniquely different from much of Poe's other works. Whether he
meant for readers to find symbolism and deep meaning in this story or to take it literally as a
supernatural tale, audiences may never know. However, it is beneficial to understand the two
possible interpretations of the story in order to better your understanding of
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
At first, the erratic, ambiguous, and disorientating narrative style of 'The Fall of the House of Usher'
seems to lack consistent symbolism, and can be understood as a convention of the gothic genre.
Macabre texts often employ unreliable narrators to convey readers down circuitous paths littered
with false steps and red herrings, in order to postpone, and perhaps even prevent, arrival at singular
interpretations of stories. In 'The Fall of the House of Usher', the narrator suddenly and ambiguously
reveals facts about the house and its inhabitants, and couches his observations in ornate and turgid
language. These features seem superfluous, but force readers to collude in the mysterious,
entertaining and infinite game of engineered interpretation that the gothic genre revels in.
Nevertheless, a second reading of the text reveals uncanny similarities between the narrator and
Roderick– both men ultimately share a belief in "the sentience of all vegetable things" (185),
possess the power to distort the distinction between art and reality, and suffer from "a morbid
acuteness of the senses" (181). This suggests that the malady plaguing the surviving branches of the
Usher family has infected the narrator. Therefore, the perplexing, and oftentimes infuriating
narrative style of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' reflects both authorial manipulation essential to
create a suspenseful gothic tale, and also unconscious manipulation by the mentally disturbed
narrator (itself a gothic
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher Setting
Mysterious, captivating, dark, and eerie are some factors that can come to mind when considering
the stories composed by Edgar Allan Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher is no deviant from those
factors, and leads to many open doors of observation. From the very beginning Poe encloses the
setting within an eerie mood, bringing readers though the gothic archway leading to a house of
sorrow, foreboding fear all throughout.
Poe's horror setting development is both symbolic and descriptive. "The Fall of the House of Usher
is merely an adventitious product of atmosphere" (Darrel, 380). Darrel points out the double
importance of the descriptiveness of the setting and the symbolism, because often the elements of
horror are solely accredited to the descriptions themselves. The description presents a visual for the
reader, meanwhile, symbolism is an active element that provides with all of the meanings and
functions. All objects, settings, and characters are ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
"The pervading subject of death has not been closely enough linked to the themes of fear and
madness" (Frank, 314). As Usher attempts to rid of his twin half, Lady Madeline, he is essentially
signing his death. As life and death brings division to them, Lady Madeline will eventually
reemerge, and fear will strike Usher in a way he would never expect as she could be heard her from
her grave, eventually falling upon Usher. Fear is the prevail of The Fall of the House of Usher, and
it's brought up through various forms, whether descriptively, or symbolically, and it supplies the
mood and details. The entirety of the story heavily lies on the concept of fear, and with that it is
necessary to bring it out in many forms. The fear that is brought up in various forms is to shape the
story and establish a sense of terror within every object, image, and description, and it is evoked in
high
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The story of "The fall of the house of Usher" is categorized as a tragic short story published under
the name Edgar Allen Poe, and has proven over time to be a very illusive and vivid tale, as the
extensively descriptive vocabulary eludes readers to entrance them into such a gloomy experience,
of which the overtone of the story unpleasantly provides readers; as even then there is still no certain
meaning from which a person may derive the actual circumstance of which the passage may bring
unto them, while there are a multitude of different interpretations that are neither proved nor
disproved, only ones sense of perception may provide them a viable understanding of which the
passage may present them. Nonetheless the story no less significant or hazy, as it severely dwells on
the emotions and thoughts of the narrator who has the apparent displeasure of experiencing the
events that partake in this story, presenting such prolific portions of idea that can all but resist the
urge to unease the individual who may unfortunately come across this particularly eerie piece of
literature. The story begins with a small epigraph of a quote from a song written by an old French
musician that reads: "Son coeur est un luth suspendu; Sitot qu'on le touché il ressone". This roughly
translates to: His/her heart is a poised flute, as soon as it is touched, it resounds". The brief inclusion
of these lyrics leads me to believe that they were placed there before the execution of the story to
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The House Of The Usher
The "Fall of The House of The Usher" is a novel that gives the thrill of a family who has a troubled
lifestyle. The story is told completely through one character, the narrator. The narrator is not given a
name or any background information. The narrator is merely a door that opens to the reader to see
the story clearly through his eyes. Throughout the story, the narrator slowly becomes a character of
his own and he gets his own personality and thoughts. Him becoming his own character in the story
shows his good reliability as a narrator. He starts to develop a horrific thoughts through the story and
later as he leaves the house he is a changed person. The "Fall of The House of Usher" starts off with
a nameless person receiving an unexpected ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
From entering the Usher household blank and faceless, he left the house with the characteristics of
Madeline and Roderick. The narrator is scarred for life from what he witnessed and went through
during his stay at the mansion. Poe purposefully transfers the qualities of the Ushers to the narrator.
The narrator is very different from most narrators as he is able to tell the story clearly and have an
effect on outcomes of it. In the past, the Usher family was known for starting a pure bloodline
through incest. Throughout the generations the tradition on incest and keeping their bloodline pure
was passed down as older family passed away. In a way, Roderick and Madeline passed down their
mental illness to the narrator. Poe lends the narrator qualities of a character through his experience
of the events that took place in the household. Poe makes the narrator into his own character by
involving him in the story and allowing him to change the outcome of the events in the story. From
the beginning of the story, the narrator has been a window to see the life of Roderick Usher. The
narrator is questioned to be unreliable in the story as he is believed to be so accustomed to the life of
Roderick Usher. The narrator in the story is reliable to an extent as he is Roderick's childhood friend
and would not falsely tell details about his experience in the mansion. The narrator doesn't seem as
shocked to the outburst from Roderick and Madeline coming back from the tomb which shows he is
familiar with gothic emotions. He starts off as an outsider but begins to see the story unfold in front
of
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The fall of the house of Usher is a gothic, short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839. At the
beginning of the story Poe creates horror and mysterious mood. He uses phrases like "dull, dark, and
soundless day; shades of the evening; melancholy." When the narrator looks at the house, he says
"with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." The house
is personified, the windows are "eye–like" and the fungi "hanging in a fine tangled web–work from
the eaves." is like hair. It is what the narrator first and last see and its presence is important in the
story. Poe also uses it metaphorically meaning the Usher family. The genre is gothic. We can find
the gothic tale elements such as the haunted castle, the dreary landscape. We also do not know when
or where the event takes place. The sense of death and fear come along with us throughout the
whole story. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
We can read the story from a first person point of view, which means we can only know about his
experiences and thoughts. He is a mysterious character and we do not find out more about him. He
goes to this castle because his "boon companions on boyhood" Roderick Usher writes him a letter,
complaining about his illness and asking for his help. The narrator confess that although they were
good friends as a child, he really know little of his friend now. It is very odd that despite of this, he
spends weeks with Roderick trying to help him. He says that "it was the apparent heart that went
with his request...which allowed me no room for
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Edgar Allen Poe's short story The Fall of the House of Usher was very captivating. Once I began
reading the story I couldn't put the book down till I was done. I believe the protagonist in the story
was Roderick Usher. I always assumed a protagonist to be heroic in some way. Roderick Usher's
character, however, was not heroic. Usher was not only a hypochondriac, but he was a mentally and
physically sick man. I have no doubt that a lot of his mental and physical maladies sprouted from
years of inbreeding in his family: I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the
Usher race, all time–honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other
words, that the entire family lay in direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very
temporary variation, so lain. (Poe, 1839, p.703). Roderick and his sister Madeline were not only
slaves of their family's bloodline, they were also slaves of their house. I found Madeline and the
house to be the antagonists in this story. It seemed that as the house and Roderick's sister
deteriorated, so did our protagonist. In the start of the story the house was still in one piece, but it
was falling apart slowly in strange ways, such as actual rocks deteriorating, "No portion of the
masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaption
of parts, and the utterly porous, and evidently decayed condition of the individual
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The House Of Usher
The Fall of The House of Usher" is one of Poe's longest pieces and is filled with literary elements.
One literary element among these is the double meaning which the house itself is. The house
represents the narrator's mind, and when the house falls it represents the fall in reason. Which
throughout the entirety of the story the narrator is slowly going insane to the point of complete
corruption. The narrator sees a crack in the house as he approaches it, the crack is small and thin, but
despite its width being subpar the fracture runs all the way from the top of the house to it's
foundation. Roderick Usher is clearly mentally unwell, just as he knows himself to be, so he sent out
a letter to his childhood friend, the narrator, asking for ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
As if Roderick doesn't have enough bouncing around in his head, the story is a fantasy about a
knight who slays some Monsters, like dragons. With his newfound degree in psychiatrics, the
narrator proceeds to read even when he is hearing loud noises that are much like the ones he is
reading in the story. The narrator does end up setting the book down but doesn't go to investigate the
noises, he instead stands there for a second when the door to the room is knocked down. The
narrator sees Madeline standing in the doorway battered and bruised, if she wasn't dead when she
was locked away she looked it now. In most horror movies "I see dead people" is a pretty good
indication that a person is completely out of their mind. For the narrator this was actually happening.
Roderick is the one who really reacted to this sight and approached her, when he did this Madeline
fell onto him and he died instantly. R.I.P. Roderick Death by falling sister (don't know– don't care).
The narrator then does the most sane thing he has done in the entire story and books it out of the
house. As he leaves the house he looks back the once tiny crack which has grown tremendously and
the house falls to the ground. The narrator after having seen the most agonizing death known to
man, death by falling sister, goes completely insane. As the house crumbles to the ground
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The fall of the house of Usher clearly reflect us the meaning behind the death of Roderick and
Madeline. This story is about some twins, Roderick and Madeline, that were living on the house of
their ancestors but the house was in bad conditions, so at the final after the twins died, because they
were mentally and physically sick, the house fall down, as you may noticed about this story we can
conclude in what way does The fall of the house of Usher connect to the decay of the family. The
fall of the house of Usher connect to the family in three important ways: the deterioration of the
house, the sickness, and the fall of the house.
The deterioration of the house. It reflects the deterioration on the life of Roderick and Madeline, the
twins.
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
"The Fall of the House of Usher" has been noted as one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous short
stories. The story begins when the narrator arrives at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher.
Roderick is ill and has been living his life deeply reclusive. His sister Madeline suffers from a
sensory disorder and is considered to be dead. The narrator attempts to comfort Roderick and
alleviate his melancholy by reading a story that appears to foreshadow later events. In this story, Poe
provides his audience with classic themes such as fear, madness, and most important, identity.
Through psychoanalytical criticism the reader can explore and gather a deeper understanding of the
literary work. A comprehensive analysis of psychoanalytical criticism and the characters mental
state in "The Fall of the House of Usher" will provide an in–depth interpretation of the characters
and of the work.
One of the first observations that is made about the narrator is the fact that he is does not have a
name. The lack of a name implies that the narrator is an outsider from the Usher family whose main
purpose is to narrate the story and to serve as a guide through the Usher house. Throughout "The
Fall of the House of Usher," the narrator demonstrates a sense of pre–occupation. At times, he seems
to have trouble classifying reality from hallucination and is possibly under the influence of drugs.
The narrator compares his "depression of soul" to the "after–dream of the reveler upon Opium" (Poe
654). He
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" begins without a valid explanation of
the narrator's motives for arriving at the house of his childhood friend Roderick Usher. Starting the
story with this mystery and unclearness sets the tone for a plot that compares the real world and the
supernatural. The narrator is trapped in the way of behaving of his friend Roderick. Even if the
narrator wants to escape, he cannot until the house of Usher collapses completely. Characters are, in
a certain way, trapped. Without a way to escape from the big and mysterious house, the characters
cannot act and move freely. Because of this, we can assume that the house evokes a diabolical
character of its own. Since the beginning, the most important ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
In fact, we do not know which is the setting of the story. House of Usher shows a gothic side. Its
surroundings are described by the impressions that the author has created with his own mind. The
narrator shows that he is also very nervous because of the landscape in front of him. He defines the
windows as "vacant–eye like windows" but he takes worse fright from its image reflected in the
"black and lurid tarn" which lurks around and beneath it. In the short story, the house is clearly
connected to the surroundings. The exterior of the house is infested with fungi that grow along the
tall walls. The fungi are interpreted as a symbol that it is represented as poisoned place because
some fungus is poisoned. In the text says: "Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a
fine tangled web–work from the eaves." Another very important symbol that the narrator saw from
the beginning was the crack in the middle of the house that seemed very small but eventually at the
end of the story split in two by making the house fall. The crack is connected to the Usher family
because the family it was also divided, and it was only a matter of time before it fell and that
happened to the house too. The narrator comments in the text: "Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing
observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the
building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction until
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Analysis Of The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Edgar Allen Poe sets up specific patterns throughout "The Fall of the House of Usher" that come
together to reveal the ending of the story. The story starts with an unnamed narrator who has to deal
with Roderick Usher's current predicament: his sister's untimely death and his own mental and
physical illness, along with the slow decay of the family household. The narrator's very first words
describe the house's chilling appearance, bringing upon him an "insufferable gloom" (Poe, 231). The
dreariness of the house, and the strangeness of Roderick Usher only progress throughout the story.
One of the aspects of the story that seems most unnatural is that, as Roderick Usher is slowly
decaying, along with the family name, the house is also falling apart. The story portrays the physical
and mental decay of Roderick Usher, coinciding with the deterioration of the literal house, leading
to the ultimate collapse of the house of Usher depicted in the last interactions the narrator has with
both Roderick and the mansion. From the very beginning of "The Fall of the House of Usher", the
narrator expresses the unnerving and oppressive feeling the house creates within him. He describes
the house as having "ghastly tree–stems...gray sedges... vacant eye–like windows" (Poe, 231). The
narrator can hardly find words to describe the dreadfulness of the house, and instead uses more
simplistic terms to try and force the unnaturalness of the house to be seemingly natural. Like
Roderick Usher, the
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher
Gothic literary traditions began in the middle ages and were used to evoke the reader's emotions of
fear and suspense. The elements within the stories were heavily described to add to the author's tone
and mood of the reader. Edgar Allan Poe is a well known author in Gothic literature, one of his
pieces "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a Gothic short story that features a grim tone using
Gothic elements to draw the attention of the readers. The intentions of Gothic authors were to give
the readers a look into the dark side of the time in which the book is written. Poe uses a grim tone
throughout "The Fall of the House of Usher" and expresses it through the setting of the story and the
imagery he uses. Poe uses an intensely described setting ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The narrator sees Roderick's painting he describes it as "One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of
my friend, partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth, although
feebly, in words. A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault
or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device. Certain accessory
points of the design served well to convey the idea that this excavation lay at exceeding depth below
the surface of the earth."(Page 420) He went into such detail only talking about a painting he was
looking at. Just by the way he describes it you can see in your head what he is describing. The vault
is so deep no light gets into it, it's a deep dark place of rest with no way life can get in or out. Laying
awake days after Madeline was put to rest, the narrator claims " I endeavored to believe that much,
if not all of what I felt, was due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room–of
the dark and tattered draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed
fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed." (Page 425)
Poe's use of eloquent imagery makes the reader feel as if they are in the story. His compelling use of
words when describing details makes it easier to read and
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Of Usher
When writing, there are many elements authors use in gothic literature to build the nature of the
story with a dark background. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe uses elements
of suspense, gothic literature, and romanticism to add a dark tone to the story.
In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe uses foreshadowing and pacing to build suspense. When
arriving at the house, Poe foreshadows the fall of the Usher bloodline by using the narrator to
describe "...a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from roof of the building in the front,
made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction,"(Poe,297) displaying the already cracked and
damaged condition of the family. This fissure is later revealed as representing the already ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
As the narrator reads a letter sent to him by Roderick Usher, it is revealed that it, "... spoke of acute
bodily illness– of a mental disorder that had oppressed him...,"(Poe,294) and, having had a past
friendship to Roderick, felt the necessity to go and help his friend back to sanity. By agreeing to help
his friend, the narrator becomes the hero of this story and continues to act as such by helping
Roderick recover and never leaving his side. Unknown to the narrator, Roderick is unintentionally
the villain of the story by stating,"... his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight...,"(304) in
one of their family vaults oblivious to the fact that Madeline was not dead. By deciding to lock her
in a family vault, Roderick unintentionally condemned his sister to death by trapping her there with
no food, light, or water for two weeks. After locking Madeline away in the vault, the narrator is
interrupted when reading to Roderick by a, "... most unusual screaming or grating sound...,"(308)
and moments later Madeline turns up alive but tragically dies moments later. The screams that were
unidentifiable by the narrator were Madeline's screams for help as she was trapped with no food or
water by a villain, her brother, naming her the "young woman" of the story. As the narrator finds
himself in a lonely room, Roderick comes bursting in seemingly out of his mind, but opens the
window to show a, "...whirlwind that [had] apparently collected its force in [their] vicinity..,"(306)
but strangely only appeared to be over the Usher House. This supernatural occurrence symbolizes
the rapid coming of the death of the Usher bloodline and the tragedies to
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
Literary Analysis Of The House Of Usher
In Roger Coreman's 1960 adaption, House of Usher, the fall of the House of Usher is soundtracked
with woman's moans as the house slowly burns and sinks into the tarn. This auditory choice not only
comments on Poe's obsession with the death of women, but it also makes the claim that there was a
supernatural element to the house that was crying out and burning as well. In Poe's 1839 "The Fall
of the House of Usher," the final collapse of the House of Usher is the supernatural and sensory
representation of the death of the family of Usher as perceived by the Narrator. Coreman uses his
soundtrack to portray the family line breaking whereas Peo uses personification, syntax, word
choice, and narration to portray the release of the Usher ancestor ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The full submergence in the tarn represents the cleansing and purifying of the house, Roderick,
Madeline, and the Usher family in whole. Incest kept the Usher lineage pure, yet their purity acted
as a catalyst for the illness that Meldine, Roderick, and the house itself experience. The syntax of the
passage itself mirrors death in its structure and read. The sentence begins slow but grows and grows
in intensity and pain. Semicolon after semicolon suggest a frantic and long yet building process. The
structure of the sentence mirrors the death throes of both Madeline and the House. As one reads the
passage, they struggle to have the breath to keep speaking or stay focused because the excitement
builds and the statements between semicolons get longer and more intense suggesting their power
growing. All of this amounts to the suddenly silent swallowing of the house into the tarn once there
is a comma. This is to suggest that death has finally settled in and a peace has been achieved at the
end of the death throes. The Narrator understands the house to be an extension or embodiment of the
Usher family line, and therefore, the calamity he perceives during the collapse of the house is
equated to the eviction of the ancestors from their dwelling in the mansion and can be seen in the
syntax of the passage.
The fall of the house of usher is perceived by the narrator as a supernatural and sensory experience
in which the simultaneous
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
House Vs Usher Analysis
The author develops the comparison of Ushers mind and house. For examples, the narrator describes
the house, when saying, "Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled
web–work" (Poe, 6). The author also develops the imagery of the house when stating "old wood–
work which has rotted for long years" (Poe, 6) By illustrating the houses condition, the reader can
understand the condition of the Usher family, and how it has been rotting and crumbling. In
comparison, the reader can compare the physical appearance of the house to Ushers mind, when the
narrator says, "He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses" (Poe, 9) Both Usher and
the house are fading, so the reader can assume that they are somehow connected
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay
This Obscure Story The Gothic and Romantic themes in "The Fall of the House of Usher" are
presented in an unusual way. From its landscape to its atmosphere, the author, Edgar Allan Poe,
successfully includes darkness and horror in several dramatic events and objects. Edgar Allan Poe in
"The Fall of the House of Usher" testifies the darkness of its landscape and the symbolism of
numerous objects in order to show how people react to the belief of Gothicism. The landscape plays
a valuable role on how the belief of Gothicism signifies the mood of this haunted short story. The
landscape of "The Fall of the House of Usher" is expressed with possessions of "feelings of its own
sadness and soul" (Thério 7). The narrator himself evaluates it as very ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the idea of symbolism of the house and Usher twins through the
condition of the house and the twins, the collapse of the twins, and the strong bond between the
twins, the house and the darkness and evil throughout the story. First, the man–made object may
have symbolizes the condition of the house and twins. The house of Usher was described throughout
the story as old and cracked. The same description is indirectly stated to the Usher twins, Roderick
and Madeline Usher. They are both old in age and ill. Next, the house symbolized the twin's
collapse, which led to the collapse of the house itself. The state that Madeline was in caused her
death, which also lead to Roderick's death. The disintegration of the twins' minds was, most likely,
the cause of the catastrophic breakdown of the house. The twins were also in the same condition as
the house, which might also be another cause to the collapse of the house since both were, again,
described as old and cracked. The separation of the twins "disrupts the balance, destroying both [the
house and the Usher twins]" (Timmerman 168). "The vitalities of the Ushers had brought about the
decay of the family line" (Abel 381) and the strong bond between the Usher family and their house
destroyed the
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of House Of Usher Essay
First published in 1839, Edgar Allan Poe short story ¨The Fall of House of Usher,¨ is an example of
Gothic fiction. Gothic fiction is a style of writing that expresses elements. Such as fear, horror,
ghosts, an aura of mystery, darkness, dreams, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such
as nature, individuality, and very high emotion. The short story we read shows a lot of examples of
those characterizations that mentioned. The writer introduces the elements, fear, and horror. For
example, ¨Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible
beating of her heart? Madman!¨ The Usher expresses his fear as Madeline awakens and walks the
halls. Another example is ¨Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see
whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind
me.¨ The Usher shows his fear as his body tightens up as he hears the shadows behind him. He's
supposed to be alone. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
For instance, ¨A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond
comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid...¨ Ushers characteristics shown as he died but he's
actually alive. Another example is ¨Dark draperies hung upon the walls.¨ The house is expressed as
dead like. There's no lightness at all. The writer introduces the element, high emotion. For example,
¨He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of the peculiar gloom which thus
afflicted him could be traced to a more natural and far more palpable origin–to the severe and long–
continued illness–indeed to the evidently approaching...¨ Usher starts to admit without hesitating.
Another example is ¨I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and
reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR.¨ He starts to realize what he has to
do when it's time for the period to
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Summaries
The Fall of the House of Usher – A man, called by his friend Roderick Usher, seeks out the House of
Usher. Upon his arrival, he is astonished by the look of the house. He enters in, finding his friend in
despair. Roderick and his sister are each suffering from disease. Roderick tells the narrator that the
house is sentient. The sister dies, and is interred in the house's vault. During the week that follows,
both Usher and the narrator seem to become more anxious. One night, in an attempt to allay Usher's
fears, the narrator reads a book, The Mad Trist. During the reading, certain events in the book are
met with similar sounds in the house. Usher becomes more anxious as the narrator reads onward.
Finally, Usher becomes irrate, declaring his sister is alive and has been alive for the longest time
since interred. Usher opens the doors of the room, his sister enters seizes Usher. They both die, the
narrator flees the house and watches as the house breaks apart and is consumed by the ground. ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Struck by her beauty, he marries her. Ligeia dies a few years after though. The man moves to
London, marries a woman called Rowena. The marriage is loveless. Rowena becomes ill. She soon
dies. During his vigil, Rowena seems to be reviving, but keeps relapsing, each relapse longer and
more death–like. After numerous such revivals and relapses, the body stands and walks. The man
touches her, and the bandages fall away to reveal
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...

More Related Content

More from Karen Oliver

More from Karen Oliver (20)

A Christmas Carol Essay Intro
A Christmas Carol Essay IntroA Christmas Carol Essay Intro
A Christmas Carol Essay Intro
 
7 Band Essay
7 Band Essay7 Band Essay
7 Band Essay
 
60 Words Essay
60 Words Essay60 Words Essay
60 Words Essay
 
3.5 Essay Outline Example
3.5 Essay Outline Example3.5 Essay Outline Example
3.5 Essay Outline Example
 
24 Essay
24 Essay24 Essay
24 Essay
 
123 Custom Essay
123 Custom Essay123 Custom Essay
123 Custom Essay
 
5 Paragraph Essay Outline Template Doc
5 Paragraph Essay Outline Template Doc5 Paragraph Essay Outline Template Doc
5 Paragraph Essay Outline Template Doc
 
A1 Poetry Essays
A1 Poetry EssaysA1 Poetry Essays
A1 Poetry Essays
 
1. Write An Essay On The Evolution Of Computers
1. Write An Essay On The Evolution Of Computers1. Write An Essay On The Evolution Of Computers
1. Write An Essay On The Evolution Of Computers
 
2000 Word Essay Sample
2000 Word Essay Sample2000 Word Essay Sample
2000 Word Essay Sample
 
2005 Ap World History Ccot Essay Example
2005 Ap World History Ccot Essay Example2005 Ap World History Ccot Essay Example
2005 Ap World History Ccot Essay Example
 
9 Ap Language Essay
9 Ap Language Essay9 Ap Language Essay
9 Ap Language Essay
 
5Th Grade Argument Essay Topics
5Th Grade Argument Essay Topics5Th Grade Argument Essay Topics
5Th Grade Argument Essay Topics
 
4Th Grade Persuasive Essay Topics
4Th Grade Persuasive Essay Topics4Th Grade Persuasive Essay Topics
4Th Grade Persuasive Essay Topics
 
556 Essay
556 Essay556 Essay
556 Essay
 
9Th Grade Essay Outline
9Th Grade Essay Outline9Th Grade Essay Outline
9Th Grade Essay Outline
 
500 Word Essay In Mla Format
500 Word Essay In Mla Format500 Word Essay In Mla Format
500 Word Essay In Mla Format
 
4 Paragraph Argumentative Essay Outline
4 Paragraph Argumentative Essay Outline4 Paragraph Argumentative Essay Outline
4 Paragraph Argumentative Essay Outline
 
A Short Essay About Media
A Short Essay About MediaA Short Essay About Media
A Short Essay About Media
 
2000 Word Essay How Many Pages
2000 Word Essay How Many Pages2000 Word Essay How Many Pages
2000 Word Essay How Many Pages
 

Recently uploaded

Spellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPS
Spellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPSSpellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPS
Spellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPS
AnaAcapella
 

Recently uploaded (20)

Graduate Outcomes Presentation Slides - English
Graduate Outcomes Presentation Slides - EnglishGraduate Outcomes Presentation Slides - English
Graduate Outcomes Presentation Slides - English
 
NO1 Top Black Magic Specialist In Lahore Black magic In Pakistan Kala Ilam Ex...
NO1 Top Black Magic Specialist In Lahore Black magic In Pakistan Kala Ilam Ex...NO1 Top Black Magic Specialist In Lahore Black magic In Pakistan Kala Ilam Ex...
NO1 Top Black Magic Specialist In Lahore Black magic In Pakistan Kala Ilam Ex...
 
How to Manage Global Discount in Odoo 17 POS
How to Manage Global Discount in Odoo 17 POSHow to Manage Global Discount in Odoo 17 POS
How to Manage Global Discount in Odoo 17 POS
 
Our Environment Class 10 Science Notes pdf
Our Environment Class 10 Science Notes pdfOur Environment Class 10 Science Notes pdf
Our Environment Class 10 Science Notes pdf
 
On_Translating_a_Tamil_Poem_by_A_K_Ramanujan.pptx
On_Translating_a_Tamil_Poem_by_A_K_Ramanujan.pptxOn_Translating_a_Tamil_Poem_by_A_K_Ramanujan.pptx
On_Translating_a_Tamil_Poem_by_A_K_Ramanujan.pptx
 
Spellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPS
Spellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPSSpellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPS
Spellings Wk 4 and Wk 5 for Grade 4 at CAPS
 
UGC NET Paper 1 Unit 7 DATA INTERPRETATION.pdf
UGC NET Paper 1 Unit 7 DATA INTERPRETATION.pdfUGC NET Paper 1 Unit 7 DATA INTERPRETATION.pdf
UGC NET Paper 1 Unit 7 DATA INTERPRETATION.pdf
 
Beyond_Borders_Understanding_Anime_and_Manga_Fandom_A_Comprehensive_Audience_...
Beyond_Borders_Understanding_Anime_and_Manga_Fandom_A_Comprehensive_Audience_...Beyond_Borders_Understanding_Anime_and_Manga_Fandom_A_Comprehensive_Audience_...
Beyond_Borders_Understanding_Anime_and_Manga_Fandom_A_Comprehensive_Audience_...
 
Sensory_Experience_and_Emotional_Resonance_in_Gabriel_Okaras_The_Piano_and_Th...
Sensory_Experience_and_Emotional_Resonance_in_Gabriel_Okaras_The_Piano_and_Th...Sensory_Experience_and_Emotional_Resonance_in_Gabriel_Okaras_The_Piano_and_Th...
Sensory_Experience_and_Emotional_Resonance_in_Gabriel_Okaras_The_Piano_and_Th...
 
On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan FellowsOn National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
 
How to Manage Call for Tendor in Odoo 17
How to Manage Call for Tendor in Odoo 17How to Manage Call for Tendor in Odoo 17
How to Manage Call for Tendor in Odoo 17
 
Python Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docx
Python Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docxPython Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docx
Python Notes for mca i year students osmania university.docx
 
OS-operating systems- ch05 (CPU Scheduling) ...
OS-operating systems- ch05 (CPU Scheduling) ...OS-operating systems- ch05 (CPU Scheduling) ...
OS-operating systems- ch05 (CPU Scheduling) ...
 
VAMOS CUIDAR DO NOSSO PLANETA! .
VAMOS CUIDAR DO NOSSO PLANETA!                    .VAMOS CUIDAR DO NOSSO PLANETA!                    .
VAMOS CUIDAR DO NOSSO PLANETA! .
 
REMIFENTANIL: An Ultra short acting opioid.pptx
REMIFENTANIL: An Ultra short acting opioid.pptxREMIFENTANIL: An Ultra short acting opioid.pptx
REMIFENTANIL: An Ultra short acting opioid.pptx
 
Model Attribute _rec_name in the Odoo 17
Model Attribute _rec_name in the Odoo 17Model Attribute _rec_name in the Odoo 17
Model Attribute _rec_name in the Odoo 17
 
OSCM Unit 2_Operations Processes & Systems
OSCM Unit 2_Operations Processes & SystemsOSCM Unit 2_Operations Processes & Systems
OSCM Unit 2_Operations Processes & Systems
 
Simple, Complex, and Compound Sentences Exercises.pdf
Simple, Complex, and Compound Sentences Exercises.pdfSimple, Complex, and Compound Sentences Exercises.pdf
Simple, Complex, and Compound Sentences Exercises.pdf
 
Tatlong Kwento ni Lola basyang-1.pdf arts
Tatlong Kwento ni Lola basyang-1.pdf artsTatlong Kwento ni Lola basyang-1.pdf arts
Tatlong Kwento ni Lola basyang-1.pdf arts
 
Introduction to TechSoup’s Digital Marketing Services and Use Cases
Introduction to TechSoup’s Digital Marketing  Services and Use CasesIntroduction to TechSoup’s Digital Marketing  Services and Use Cases
Introduction to TechSoup’s Digital Marketing Services and Use Cases
 

Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

  • 1. Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher In the story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, creates suspense, symbolism, and Gothic elements. The author shows this by using a sincere expression of terror. In The House of Usher suspense is used when Lady Madeline is sick and cataleptic. The rest of the story you are left in suspense over if she is actually dead or is now a ghost. She suddenly dies when Roderick comes to check on her while she is laying in bed. Roderick is traumatized over his sister's death but shortly after The Narrator and him put her in a coffin and lock her up for 2 weeks. The author quotes "...having informed me abruptly that the Lady Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight...in one of the numerous ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Throughout the story the author refers to these creepy and gloomy descriptions of how symbolism is used. The most significant way symbolism is used in the story is used to explain how the outlook of the mansion portrays the emotions of the people in the mansion. One of the ways this can be explained is shown when the narrator rides up to the house. The narrator explains his experience, "I know not how it was but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit" (Poe). An Explanation to this quote is how The narrator is depressed by the appearance of The House of Usher as he approaches. He instantaneously knew and recognized the evil feeling he had felt just by the look of the house. Another symbolism that the author expresses in the story is the crack of the house. The narrator observes a crack in the mansion upon his arrival to the Usher estate. Since it is mentioned that "The House of Usher" refers both to the family and the building. The is a connection between the two. Indeed we can see how in the House of Usher mention small fissure as representative of a disruption in the unity of the family, more specifically, between Lady Madeline and Roderick. This is the disruption that ultimately tears the family and the mansion to pieces. It quotes "It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty" (Poe). The storm ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 2.
  • 3. The Fall Of The House Of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe was filled with noteworthy ideas. One of the prominent ideas in this story is the title of the story itself, "The Fall of the House of Usher." The title forebodes that at some point in the story a house, whether metaphorical or realistic, will fall. Poe establishes this at the end of the story when "the mighty walls" are "rushing asunder" meaning the house has finally broken down (90, 91). The title is a colossal part in establishing the basis of the story. If the story was called anything else, Poe wouldn't have been able to convey to the reader what he wanted to and the reader would be entering the story with a different assumption in mind. Another noteworthy idea in the story is how Poe uses ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 4.
  • 5. Symbolism In The House Of Usher The Symbolism behind the House of Usher The story uses different forms of symbolism to convey themes and development of characters and the plot. But the main symbol of the story is the Usher house, itself. The main symbolism behind the home is to be the setting because through the house Poe wants to show the fear of the narrator and Roderick's mental illness. The looming crisis can be felt in the air throughout the story because of Poe's black tones that are used in all of his stories. The fine line between death and reality that Poe twists is purposely done to showcase Roderick's mental illness. This showcases that the narrator and readers know something is wrong with the House of Usher. This is found out later that through generations of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... To showcase how Roderick and Madeline see the world, the setting of the house is very strange and borderline fiction. The narrator often asks themselves if this is a dream, because of all he is seeing around him and how strange and out of reality the House of Usher is. The home is straight out of one's nightmare and this helps the reader visualizes furthers the house as a symbol to see just how deeply disturbed, dark, and morbid the Ushers are. Then, the isolated nature of the house describes how lonely, disconnected, and sheltered the Usher family is. The strange ambiance of the setting helps the reader see, that through the broken lens of the Ushers, just how lonely they are. Roderick, not able to have offspring, goes insane, thus leaving him to feel alone cause his rampage of burying his sister alive. The disconnect and brainwashing the Ushers went through not only hurts them but kills the family in the end. Only having relationships within the family is what leads to the demise of the beautiful mansion which is described by the narrator in his youth, and is also the gloomy palace we see in the story. Without caring for the house because of the incapable family members, helps the reader understand and see how greatly mental illness and distancing have affected the storyline. In the beginning of the story, as the narrator describes the ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 6.
  • 7. The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay In "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Poe, an unnamed narrator is convened to a mansion that had a "sense of insufferable gloom" (poe) when seen. The man who summoned the narrator was a friend to who he had known as a child, Roderick Usher. Despite how the house gives him "an utter depression of the soul." (poe ), he reunites with his boyhood friend. Roderick is experiencing exceptionally weird psychological disorder and his sister, Madeline is going to die on because of a mysterious infection. The narrator sits with Roderick and keeps him company while Roderick paints or plays his guitar, spending all his days inside, keeping away from the daylight and fixating on the awareness of the non–living. At the point when Madeline passes away, Usher chooses to bury her in one of his home's huge vaults. A couple of days after the fact, nonetheless, she rises up out of her tomb, killing her sibling while the Narrator escapes for his life. The House of Usher parts separated and falls, wiping without end the last remainders of the old family. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... One thing that I noticed was all of the stories we read in class and "The Fall of the House of Usher" all have similar theme of death. In "Annabel Lee", Annabel dies, in "The Fall of the House of Usher", Roderick's sister dies, and in "Tell–Tale Heart" the whole story is about an unnamed murder and the murder he committed. Another similarity is that a lot of Poe's stories have something to do with some sort of mental illness. Roderick from "The Fall of the House of Usher", has many different mental illnesses he is going through, and in "Tell– Tale Heart" the unknown narrator kills a man because of his "vulture eye". So there are many different similarities between almost all of Poe's ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 8.
  • 9. House Of Usher Insane The supernatural intrigues the human race because we want to believe that it is real. We want to believe in things that can't be true because it makes our lives more interesting. In many of Poe's pieces, the narrator in the stories are being haunted. Some may argue that the narrator are just insane, but there is a lot more evidence proving that there is something supernatural going on. For example in the short story "The Fall of The House of Usher" it is evident that the narrator is being haunted, and that he is not insane. In the story Roderick states "We have put her living in the tomb!" & "Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? MADMAN!" (Poe pg#). Many unusual things ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Madeline must've drank their blood and walked upstairs to kill Roderick. That's why when she stepped into the room she had blood all over the front of her white robes and attacked Roderick. Also, a stanza in the poem says "The Haunted palace" it says "But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow shall dawn upon him, desolate!)" (Poe pg#). This particular stanza is telling us that in "The Haunted Palace" something dreadful must've happened to the family ( such as a vampire bite) , and nothing was ever the same after the incident. The lovely Madeline not only looked beautiful when she was alive, she looked beautiful when she was dead too. When she passed away, her cheeks were rosy red from her blushing which is an impossible thing to do when you are dead. "the mockery of a faint blush, upon the bosom and face, and that suspiciously lingering upon the lip which is so terrible in death." Madeline's beauty clearly points to vampirism, and the narrator was not the only person who noticed. Although the servants did not play big roles in this story, the ones that they were in were very important. When the narrator first entered 'The House of ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 10.
  • 11. The Fall Of The House Of The Usher Edgar Allen Poe stories are viewed as being supernatural and tragic; however, when given a closer look there is much more to meet the eye. His stories give the readers an insight of his life and a more profound meaning than what 's on the surfaces. "Although Poe was not the social outcast that Baudelaire conceived him to be, he was, and still is, perhaps the most thoroughly misunderstood of all American write" (Stovall 417). Poe 's poems and short stories can be analyzed in serval different perspectives. Take such as, Poe 's "The Fall of the House of the Usher" can be interpreted for most people as a story about a bizarre relationship between sister and brother. The story appears to just be about a family that only marries within the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Roderick is following the same path as the Usher 's, which they have been doing for many generations, before him. He had no other choice and through the years was molded to believe that he should be his own sister 's lover. They were raised more of future lovers than as siblings. The line between lovers and family was never drawn for them, so the family secret also stayed with their family. The secrets sealed "in the direct line of descent" (Poe 703). Another key factor for intermarriage is to keep any property they own in the Usher 's name. The family house could possibly be the last thing that the Usher own. Once the house fall in someone else handles who knows what could have happened. The house was not in the greatest structures, one flaw being the crack that ran down the center of the house. That house held everything that was the Usher and when Roderick and Madeline died the house came down right after them. The tragedy to love someone, but cannot be with them is the downfall of the Ushers and their history. Roderick and Madeline are a twisted story of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet with the exact same ending, both lovers dies. Poe took that love story and turned it into his own twisted of his love story. Two–star cross lovers that just want to live in peace in ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 12.
  • 13. House Of Usher Tone "Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality"– Edgar Allan Poe. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe expresses his gloomy tone throughout his word choice and setting. Poe's use of detailed phrases and words with a very distinctive connotation make the story more engaging to the audience. He states, "I had so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity–an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn–a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden– hued" (415). This quote altogether is rich in the amount of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... He sees the room inside the house as "large and lofty" (412) and even says that the small gleams of light "made their way through the trellised panes" (line 18). His detailed description of the actual rooms in the house helps create a gloomy tone. It allows the reader to picture the house in their head while reading. He even describes the feeling he receives from the house. Poe states, "I know not how it was– but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half–pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment with which usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible" (lines 5–9). The feeling or response he develops from the house is a very important part of the setting. He receives an "insufferable gloom" which makes the house seem even more dreary than what is given off from the actual appearance of the house. His anxiousness applies to the gloomy tone because he obtains a scary feeling from just being in the ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 14.
  • 15. Theme Of Transformation In The Fall Of The House Of Usher Can transformation put fear into readers? Readers are motivated to view the story in a different perspective in order to understand stories meant to scare us. One story that uses transformation to scare readers is,"Where is Here?" Another story is,"House Taken Over." The final story is,"The Fall of the House of Usher." Transformation plays a role meant to scare us in these stories, because it reveals something that has been in the story the whole time, but hidden. In,"Where is Here?" the family should've known letting the stranger inside the house was a bad idea. One can tell that the stranger possesses weird powers, due to the fact on what he does to the house when he leaves. "I wasn't the one who opened the door to that man in the first place," said the mom on page 76. This shows that the mom knew that something was going to happen, which is why she didn't want the stranger inside their house in the first place. This quote also shows that the stranger had an effect on their family and home. Another quote which demonstrates transformation is when the father says on page 76,"Shut up. We'll forget it," he said." This shows that letting the stranger inside the house was a terrible idea, that the father want's to completely forget about what has happened. The father says this to the mother because he doesn't want to talk about what has happened at that moment, but rather forget about the situation. The final quote from the story on page 76, which shows transformation ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 16.
  • 17. The Fall Of The House Of Usher Effect Edgar Allan Poe once said that the "artistry of narratives is in the ability to achieve a unity of effect" (Clement, lecture notes). His narrative "The Fall of the House of Usher," is about a man that gets a letter from an old friend that wants him to go visit because he is sick. When he arrives, he notices that his friend and his sister is not the only one affected by illness, the house is too. That leads to the death of the Ushers and the fall of the house. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe makes death and decay, and overall illness, his unity of effect. He establishes this effect through his narrator, the setting of the story, and the tragedy that affects its characters. In this short narrative, there are many textual examples that ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... This alone gives us the sense that the setting is a somber place. From that brief section of text, we can begin to picture a place that can be taken as being ill and gloomy. The narrator gives us a very vivid description of the atmosphere of the house. For example, when entering he said it was like he "breathed an atmosphere of sorrow" (The Art of the Short Story, 711). A narratives plot may be the biggest factor in producing an effect. Through the conflict that is presented, the reader is given events that lead them to become interested in the story and its characters. The conflict that takes place in this narrative is that Rodrick Usher, the narrators boyhood friend, is sick and he wants the narrator to go to his estate to visit him. The mystery builds because the illness seems to deadly and it is unclear what exactly is wrong with him. The narrator learned that the "entire family lay in the direct line of descent" and it did not have "any enduring branches" (The Art of the Short Story, 709). Although it is not explicitly stated by the Ushers, the reader can infer that the cause of this family's illness is incest that has gone on for many ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 18.
  • 19. Fall Of The House Usher The Fall of the House starts out using a narrow rational point of view from Edgar Allen Poe to illustrate the eccentric, grotesque and dark effects of the house the appearance of it and also the impact it had on the character within the house such as Roderick, Madeline and twins sister. Poe's effective use of personification, foreshadowing, symbolism, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, the fall of (the house of) Usher and its what ultimately set the tone for gothic elements in the story. Roderick and Madeline are both suffering from the alluring stranger illnesses and effects that the house exhibits and illuminates. Roderick pragmatically suffers from the morbid acuteness of the sense, because he believes that the ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 20.
  • 21. Identity In The Fall Of The House Of Usher Oftentimes, Edgar Allan Poe uses in depth literary devices to leave his audience in an uneasy confusion, which captures the attention of many. In the short story The Fall of the House of Usher written by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe does exactly this. While many people believed that Poe was intentful of provoking fear onto his audience, Edgar Allan Poe's short story augments the dark and mysterious theme of the dangers of identity as supported by word choice and symbolism of characterization. Authors are commonly particular on their own unique word choice. For Poe in this short story, he uses imagery with the extensive use of descriptive words to create a strong gothic ambience. This helps develop the identity portrayed upon characters through first impressions. Leading into the start of the story, the unknown Narrator sets up the scene with dreary words and alliteration, "During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low...a singularly dreary tract of country...within view of the melancholy House of Usher... I had learned too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time– honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of decent" (412–414). ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... This identity of the house will unconsciously be put onto the rest of the house, including the people living within it. Perhaps this is because the house is acting as a mirror of the people within. As noted, the house is dreary, but also falling apart minorly, just as the descents of the family. When the Narrator sets up this identity, it will continue to be portrayed upon the house throughout the rest of the story as a dark and mysterious force. Another strong use of words that Poe intently uses sets up the identity of Roderick ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 22.
  • 23. House Of Usher Edgar Allen Poe is very effective at spooking readers and making them feel a sense of mystery with very vague stories."The Fall of the House of Usher's" setting , characters, and theme all make the story what it is.The Fall of the House of Usher uses gothic elements to create an uncomfortable and spooky setting. The House of Usher's appearance inside and outside uses gothic elements to attribute to the feel of the story. The outside of the House of Usher causes the reader to feel uneasy. "Our unnamed narrator, as soon as he looks at the house, he feels a sense of dread, just kind of pervade him." (Stringfield) Before even stepping in the house, the House of Usher managed to cause the narrator to anticipate the horrors to come from the building. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Edgar Allen Poe was familiar with vampire stories and their gothic elements."Poe was sufficiently familiar with gothic materials and techniques [...] and both male and female vampires abound in literature by the time he published his contribution to the genre in 1839." (Kendall 1) Poe's prior knowledge of vampire stories very well could lead him to writing his own vampire story himself, which can be seen in this story as Usher and Madeline have vampire–like qualities. "The Fall of the House of Usher" can be seen as a whole as the slow drop into insanity of someone."Thus 'The Fall of the House of Usher' can be read as the effusion of an irrational mind not only about the loss of sanity but itself an example of that theme." (William 2) Poe wrote "The Fall of the House of Usher" in a way that makes it so someone can read it and have the whole picture be seen as someone becoming insane. The ruined condition of the house can be seen as Usher's mental state and the collapse being his mind breaking and him going mad. Edgar Allen Poe wrote "The Fall of the House of Usher" in many ways that all attribute to the story in a way that the story would benefit. "The Fall of the House of Usher" uses gothic elements to create an uncomfortable and spooky setting. Edgar Allen Poe wrote a story that can be interpreted in many different ways with diverse and creepy ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 24.
  • 25. Transformations In The Fall Of The House Of Usher I just just glanced through my phone, swiping quickly to going through the photos of everyone's snapchat story. But one word caught my eye: fire; it caught my eye but I did not really think about it afterwards. Several hours later however, I was with my friends working on our english essay when all of a sudden, I look up to see what looked like an enormous blanket of brown dust staining the clear blue sky. There was a distinct line between the perfectly blue sky and the disgusting smoke from the fire and this transformation that occurred so out of the blue causing both shock and awe from me and my friends. Transformations play a role in stories meant to scare us by creating an atmosphere of discomfort and uncertainty because the characters are unable to control the situation around them. Through the short stories of "The Fall of the House of Usher", "House Taken Over", and "Where is Here", the authors of those stories all elicit an atmosphere of fear through the combined transformations of setting, mood, and characters. "The Fall of the House of Usher" change occurs at the climax of the story where Roderick Usher falls into insanity. "House Taken Over' changes when the mysterious intruders fully overtake the house and the siblings are forced to flee. In "Where is Here" the stranger leaves the home which causes the house to fade in color, draining it of life. First, in "The Fall of the House of Usher" the author uses the transformation of Roderick Usher to create an ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 26.
  • 27. The Fall Of The House Of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher Analysis The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe is a very dark and eerie story. This gothic tale is very complexly written, as many of Poe's works are. In this story, there were two main themes that stood out: fear and friendship. The fear of Roderick Usher as well as the narrator's fear and the friendship of the two. And although there are many elements of this story that are noteworthy, most importantly though is the authors vagueness throughout. The theme of fear in this story is present throughout. The narrator was uneasy to say the least upon his first glimpse of the house and about the house in general throughout the story. As well as his fear for his friends well–being. Roderick Usher's fear ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 28.
  • 29. The Fall Of The House Of Usher The setting of "The Fall of the House of Usher" contributes to the overall impact and significance of the story by showing the parallels between the life of the Usher twins and the life of the house they live in. In the beginning of the story the narrator describes the House as having a crack of fissure running down the front of it. He says that if one looked closely they could see "the beginning of a break in the front of the building, a crack making its way from the top down the wall until it became lost in the dark waters of the lake" (2). This is representative of the divide growing between the two siblings who live together in the house, which has its roots in their illnesses. The narrator claims that he suspected the lake and the air ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 30.
  • 31. The Fall Of The House Of The Usher Edgar Allen Poe stories are viewed as being supernatural and tragic; however, when given a closer look there is much more to meet the eye. His stories give the readers an insight of his life and a more profound meaning than what 's on the surfaces. "Although Poe was not the social outcast that Baudelaire conceived him to be, he was, and still is, perhaps the most thoroughly misunderstood of all American write" (Stovall 417). Poe 's poems and short stories can be analyzed in serval different perspectives. Take such as, Poe 's "The Fall of the House of the Usher" can be interpreted for most people as a story about a bizarre relationship between sister and brother. The story appears to just be about a family that only marries within the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Roderick is following the same path as the Usher 's, which they have been doing for many generations, before him. He had no other choice and through the years was molded to believe that he should be his own sister 's lover. They were raised more of future lovers than as siblings. The line between lovers and family was never drawn for them, so the family secret also stayed with their family. The secrets sealed "in the direct line of descent" (Poe 703). Another key factor for intermarriage is to keep any property they own in the Usher 's name. The family house could possibly be the last thing that the Usher own. Once the house fall in someone else handles who knows what could have happened. The house was not in the greatest structures, one flaw being the crack that ran down the center of the house. That house held everything that was the Usher and when Roderick and Madeline died the house came down right after them. The tragedy to love someone, but cannot be with them is the downfall of the Ushers and their history. Roderick and Madeline are a twisted story of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet with the exact same ending, both lovers dies. Poe took that love story and turned it into his own twisted of his love story. Two–star cross lovers that just want to live in peace in ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 32.
  • 33. House Of Usher Symbolism Poe's gloomy and ominous short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," begins with the nameless narrator (most likely Poe himself) describing his journey to the House of Usher after Roderick, one of the last two remaining members in the Usher family and proprietor of "the melancholy House of Usher" (3), summons the nameless narrator to visit him: "I looked upon the scene before me–upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain–upon the bleak walls...with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation [to]" (3). Here, we see the first signs of the house as a supernatural entity whose beauty can only be seen by people on opium. Without the use of opium, however, the house remains depressing and lifeless. Poe uses the house as a symbol of society at the time: forsaken without the use opium. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Continuing with the symbolism of society's addiction to opium, Poe claims that the transcendental and sentient house serves as the main cause of Roderick's and his sister's illnesses. Moreover, we can see some withdrawal symptoms when the narrator meets Roderick: " He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror" ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 34.
  • 35. The Fall Of The House Of Usher In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe the most important conflict is between Rodrick Usher, the protagionist, and fear.                          The conflict increases throughout the story and is eventaully resolved. In the beginning of the story the tension starts when the narrator describes the house he is approaching. He uses words like "dull","dark", and "soundless" to set the mood of the story and then goes on to give the imagery of an eerie, evil house that is starting to fall apart. Upon arriving the narrator seeks his childhood friend Rodrick who is ill. Rodrick suffers from extreme anxiety and fear, which the narrator thinks is caused by the house itself. Throughout the story the conflict continues ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 36.
  • 37. The Fall Of The House Of Usher Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", written in 1839, is a short story that describes the final days of the Usher family. The tale begins as the narrator has been summoned by Roderick Usher to provide him comfort during his mental illness. Through this narrator, Poe shares key elements that substantiate the anti–Puritanism beliefs of the Ushers. Poe's description of the house and surroundings set the gothic tone of the story. He describes the house as a "mansion of gloom" surround by "decayed trees" allowing the reader to understand the uneasiness felt by the characters. Puritan fear came strongly from the belief in the supernatural. The use of witchcraft and demons was the Devils way of tempting Godly people to stray from ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 38.
  • 39. House Of Usher Manipulation The Fall of the House of Usher is a story written by Poe that demonstrates the ability for the rational mind to rapidly deteriorate upon influence, as it represents the fall of reasoning. The narrator's mind begins to lack the ability to make sense of the strange things occurring in the house, and by the end he has lost his mind, but manages to escape the brink of mental insanity upon the collapse of the House of Usher. In the beginning, the narrator shows up to the house upon request from one of his childhood friends, Roderick Usher. Immediately he takes note of the strange phantasmic aura the house gives off, and the peculiarities of Usher and his sister/wife. Throughout the story, he notes the feeling of agitation given off by his friend, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... In addition to the eerie happenings within the house contributing to the insanity of both the narrator and Usher, the phantasm of Madeline and the daily readings of Gothic literature begin to rapidly submerge the narrator in doubtful hallucinations and the questionability of his own sanity. Thus, The Fall of the House of Usher is a story that represents how the mind under influence performs, and how reason no longer becomes a mental aspect once the mental state begins to see things that may or may not be ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 40.
  • 41. House Of Usher Symbolism "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a story laced with supernatural events. While symbolism is often believed to play a big part in the story, it is truly a fantasy tale involving a curse, a demon man who plots to murder his sister, and an undead, revenge seeking woman. Poe is known for his use of supernatural effects in short stories, so this is the most realistic interpretation of the story. One of the major events that is claimed to be one of Poe's symbols is the crack in the house that the narrator points out. This crack is said to symbolize the line of Ushers that is coming to an end. There is only two remaining in the family, and they are both very sickly. However, it is clear that the house is very old, and Poe may have added the crack to add to the creepy setting and vibe. The inhabitants of the house are very creepy, and it makes sense that the house would display that. This brings about the next point. A theory is that Roderick and Madeline symbolize the dualism of emotion/body and rationality/mind within people. Roderick is supposedly symbolic of the human's mental capacity and intellect because he has a mental ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... However, "The Fall of the House of Usher" leans on the side of supernatural and fantasy. He incorporates a sinister and eerie house for the setting, a curse of some sort that has taken over the Usher line, and a brother who can see the future and predicts his sister's death. Madeline even returns from the dead near the end. Taking this story in a more literal sense alters one's view and creates a reading experience that is uniquely different from much of Poe's other works. Whether he meant for readers to find symbolism and deep meaning in this story or to take it literally as a supernatural tale, audiences may never know. However, it is beneficial to understand the two possible interpretations of the story in order to better your understanding of ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 42.
  • 43. The Fall Of The House Of Usher At first, the erratic, ambiguous, and disorientating narrative style of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' seems to lack consistent symbolism, and can be understood as a convention of the gothic genre. Macabre texts often employ unreliable narrators to convey readers down circuitous paths littered with false steps and red herrings, in order to postpone, and perhaps even prevent, arrival at singular interpretations of stories. In 'The Fall of the House of Usher', the narrator suddenly and ambiguously reveals facts about the house and its inhabitants, and couches his observations in ornate and turgid language. These features seem superfluous, but force readers to collude in the mysterious, entertaining and infinite game of engineered interpretation that the gothic genre revels in. Nevertheless, a second reading of the text reveals uncanny similarities between the narrator and Roderick– both men ultimately share a belief in "the sentience of all vegetable things" (185), possess the power to distort the distinction between art and reality, and suffer from "a morbid acuteness of the senses" (181). This suggests that the malady plaguing the surviving branches of the Usher family has infected the narrator. Therefore, the perplexing, and oftentimes infuriating narrative style of 'The Fall of the House of Usher' reflects both authorial manipulation essential to create a suspenseful gothic tale, and also unconscious manipulation by the mentally disturbed narrator (itself a gothic ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 44.
  • 45. House Of Usher Setting Mysterious, captivating, dark, and eerie are some factors that can come to mind when considering the stories composed by Edgar Allan Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher is no deviant from those factors, and leads to many open doors of observation. From the very beginning Poe encloses the setting within an eerie mood, bringing readers though the gothic archway leading to a house of sorrow, foreboding fear all throughout. Poe's horror setting development is both symbolic and descriptive. "The Fall of the House of Usher is merely an adventitious product of atmosphere" (Darrel, 380). Darrel points out the double importance of the descriptiveness of the setting and the symbolism, because often the elements of horror are solely accredited to the descriptions themselves. The description presents a visual for the reader, meanwhile, symbolism is an active element that provides with all of the meanings and functions. All objects, settings, and characters are ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... "The pervading subject of death has not been closely enough linked to the themes of fear and madness" (Frank, 314). As Usher attempts to rid of his twin half, Lady Madeline, he is essentially signing his death. As life and death brings division to them, Lady Madeline will eventually reemerge, and fear will strike Usher in a way he would never expect as she could be heard her from her grave, eventually falling upon Usher. Fear is the prevail of The Fall of the House of Usher, and it's brought up through various forms, whether descriptively, or symbolically, and it supplies the mood and details. The entirety of the story heavily lies on the concept of fear, and with that it is necessary to bring it out in many forms. The fear that is brought up in various forms is to shape the story and establish a sense of terror within every object, image, and description, and it is evoked in high ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 46.
  • 47. The Fall Of The House Of Usher The story of "The fall of the house of Usher" is categorized as a tragic short story published under the name Edgar Allen Poe, and has proven over time to be a very illusive and vivid tale, as the extensively descriptive vocabulary eludes readers to entrance them into such a gloomy experience, of which the overtone of the story unpleasantly provides readers; as even then there is still no certain meaning from which a person may derive the actual circumstance of which the passage may bring unto them, while there are a multitude of different interpretations that are neither proved nor disproved, only ones sense of perception may provide them a viable understanding of which the passage may present them. Nonetheless the story no less significant or hazy, as it severely dwells on the emotions and thoughts of the narrator who has the apparent displeasure of experiencing the events that partake in this story, presenting such prolific portions of idea that can all but resist the urge to unease the individual who may unfortunately come across this particularly eerie piece of literature. The story begins with a small epigraph of a quote from a song written by an old French musician that reads: "Son coeur est un luth suspendu; Sitot qu'on le touché il ressone". This roughly translates to: His/her heart is a poised flute, as soon as it is touched, it resounds". The brief inclusion of these lyrics leads me to believe that they were placed there before the execution of the story to ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 48.
  • 49. The House Of The Usher The "Fall of The House of The Usher" is a novel that gives the thrill of a family who has a troubled lifestyle. The story is told completely through one character, the narrator. The narrator is not given a name or any background information. The narrator is merely a door that opens to the reader to see the story clearly through his eyes. Throughout the story, the narrator slowly becomes a character of his own and he gets his own personality and thoughts. Him becoming his own character in the story shows his good reliability as a narrator. He starts to develop a horrific thoughts through the story and later as he leaves the house he is a changed person. The "Fall of The House of Usher" starts off with a nameless person receiving an unexpected ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... From entering the Usher household blank and faceless, he left the house with the characteristics of Madeline and Roderick. The narrator is scarred for life from what he witnessed and went through during his stay at the mansion. Poe purposefully transfers the qualities of the Ushers to the narrator. The narrator is very different from most narrators as he is able to tell the story clearly and have an effect on outcomes of it. In the past, the Usher family was known for starting a pure bloodline through incest. Throughout the generations the tradition on incest and keeping their bloodline pure was passed down as older family passed away. In a way, Roderick and Madeline passed down their mental illness to the narrator. Poe lends the narrator qualities of a character through his experience of the events that took place in the household. Poe makes the narrator into his own character by involving him in the story and allowing him to change the outcome of the events in the story. From the beginning of the story, the narrator has been a window to see the life of Roderick Usher. The narrator is questioned to be unreliable in the story as he is believed to be so accustomed to the life of Roderick Usher. The narrator in the story is reliable to an extent as he is Roderick's childhood friend and would not falsely tell details about his experience in the mansion. The narrator doesn't seem as shocked to the outburst from Roderick and Madeline coming back from the tomb which shows he is familiar with gothic emotions. He starts off as an outsider but begins to see the story unfold in front of ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 50.
  • 51. The Fall Of The House Of Usher The fall of the house of Usher is a gothic, short story written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839. At the beginning of the story Poe creates horror and mysterious mood. He uses phrases like "dull, dark, and soundless day; shades of the evening; melancholy." When the narrator looks at the house, he says "with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." The house is personified, the windows are "eye–like" and the fungi "hanging in a fine tangled web–work from the eaves." is like hair. It is what the narrator first and last see and its presence is important in the story. Poe also uses it metaphorically meaning the Usher family. The genre is gothic. We can find the gothic tale elements such as the haunted castle, the dreary landscape. We also do not know when or where the event takes place. The sense of death and fear come along with us throughout the whole story. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... We can read the story from a first person point of view, which means we can only know about his experiences and thoughts. He is a mysterious character and we do not find out more about him. He goes to this castle because his "boon companions on boyhood" Roderick Usher writes him a letter, complaining about his illness and asking for his help. The narrator confess that although they were good friends as a child, he really know little of his friend now. It is very odd that despite of this, he spends weeks with Roderick trying to help him. He says that "it was the apparent heart that went with his request...which allowed me no room for ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 52.
  • 53. The Fall Of The House Of Usher Edgar Allen Poe's short story The Fall of the House of Usher was very captivating. Once I began reading the story I couldn't put the book down till I was done. I believe the protagonist in the story was Roderick Usher. I always assumed a protagonist to be heroic in some way. Roderick Usher's character, however, was not heroic. Usher was not only a hypochondriac, but he was a mentally and physically sick man. I have no doubt that a lot of his mental and physical maladies sprouted from years of inbreeding in his family: I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time–honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain. (Poe, 1839, p.703). Roderick and his sister Madeline were not only slaves of their family's bloodline, they were also slaves of their house. I found Madeline and the house to be the antagonists in this story. It seemed that as the house and Roderick's sister deteriorated, so did our protagonist. In the start of the story the house was still in one piece, but it was falling apart slowly in strange ways, such as actual rocks deteriorating, "No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaption of parts, and the utterly porous, and evidently decayed condition of the individual ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 54.
  • 55. The House Of Usher The Fall of The House of Usher" is one of Poe's longest pieces and is filled with literary elements. One literary element among these is the double meaning which the house itself is. The house represents the narrator's mind, and when the house falls it represents the fall in reason. Which throughout the entirety of the story the narrator is slowly going insane to the point of complete corruption. The narrator sees a crack in the house as he approaches it, the crack is small and thin, but despite its width being subpar the fracture runs all the way from the top of the house to it's foundation. Roderick Usher is clearly mentally unwell, just as he knows himself to be, so he sent out a letter to his childhood friend, the narrator, asking for ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... As if Roderick doesn't have enough bouncing around in his head, the story is a fantasy about a knight who slays some Monsters, like dragons. With his newfound degree in psychiatrics, the narrator proceeds to read even when he is hearing loud noises that are much like the ones he is reading in the story. The narrator does end up setting the book down but doesn't go to investigate the noises, he instead stands there for a second when the door to the room is knocked down. The narrator sees Madeline standing in the doorway battered and bruised, if she wasn't dead when she was locked away she looked it now. In most horror movies "I see dead people" is a pretty good indication that a person is completely out of their mind. For the narrator this was actually happening. Roderick is the one who really reacted to this sight and approached her, when he did this Madeline fell onto him and he died instantly. R.I.P. Roderick Death by falling sister (don't know– don't care). The narrator then does the most sane thing he has done in the entire story and books it out of the house. As he leaves the house he looks back the once tiny crack which has grown tremendously and the house falls to the ground. The narrator after having seen the most agonizing death known to man, death by falling sister, goes completely insane. As the house crumbles to the ground ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 56.
  • 57. The Fall Of The House Of Usher The fall of the house of Usher clearly reflect us the meaning behind the death of Roderick and Madeline. This story is about some twins, Roderick and Madeline, that were living on the house of their ancestors but the house was in bad conditions, so at the final after the twins died, because they were mentally and physically sick, the house fall down, as you may noticed about this story we can conclude in what way does The fall of the house of Usher connect to the decay of the family. The fall of the house of Usher connect to the family in three important ways: the deterioration of the house, the sickness, and the fall of the house. The deterioration of the house. It reflects the deterioration on the life of Roderick and Madeline, the twins. ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 58.
  • 59. The Fall Of The House Of Usher "The Fall of the House of Usher" has been noted as one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous short stories. The story begins when the narrator arrives at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher. Roderick is ill and has been living his life deeply reclusive. His sister Madeline suffers from a sensory disorder and is considered to be dead. The narrator attempts to comfort Roderick and alleviate his melancholy by reading a story that appears to foreshadow later events. In this story, Poe provides his audience with classic themes such as fear, madness, and most important, identity. Through psychoanalytical criticism the reader can explore and gather a deeper understanding of the literary work. A comprehensive analysis of psychoanalytical criticism and the characters mental state in "The Fall of the House of Usher" will provide an in–depth interpretation of the characters and of the work. One of the first observations that is made about the narrator is the fact that he is does not have a name. The lack of a name implies that the narrator is an outsider from the Usher family whose main purpose is to narrate the story and to serve as a guide through the Usher house. Throughout "The Fall of the House of Usher," the narrator demonstrates a sense of pre–occupation. At times, he seems to have trouble classifying reality from hallucination and is possibly under the influence of drugs. The narrator compares his "depression of soul" to the "after–dream of the reveler upon Opium" (Poe 654). He ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 60.
  • 61. House Of Usher Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" begins without a valid explanation of the narrator's motives for arriving at the house of his childhood friend Roderick Usher. Starting the story with this mystery and unclearness sets the tone for a plot that compares the real world and the supernatural. The narrator is trapped in the way of behaving of his friend Roderick. Even if the narrator wants to escape, he cannot until the house of Usher collapses completely. Characters are, in a certain way, trapped. Without a way to escape from the big and mysterious house, the characters cannot act and move freely. Because of this, we can assume that the house evokes a diabolical character of its own. Since the beginning, the most important ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... In fact, we do not know which is the setting of the story. House of Usher shows a gothic side. Its surroundings are described by the impressions that the author has created with his own mind. The narrator shows that he is also very nervous because of the landscape in front of him. He defines the windows as "vacant–eye like windows" but he takes worse fright from its image reflected in the "black and lurid tarn" which lurks around and beneath it. In the short story, the house is clearly connected to the surroundings. The exterior of the house is infested with fungi that grow along the tall walls. The fungi are interpreted as a symbol that it is represented as poisoned place because some fungus is poisoned. In the text says: "Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web–work from the eaves." Another very important symbol that the narrator saw from the beginning was the crack in the middle of the house that seemed very small but eventually at the end of the story split in two by making the house fall. The crack is connected to the Usher family because the family it was also divided, and it was only a matter of time before it fell and that happened to the house too. The narrator comments in the text: "Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction until ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 62.
  • 63. Analysis Of The Fall Of The House Of Usher Edgar Allen Poe sets up specific patterns throughout "The Fall of the House of Usher" that come together to reveal the ending of the story. The story starts with an unnamed narrator who has to deal with Roderick Usher's current predicament: his sister's untimely death and his own mental and physical illness, along with the slow decay of the family household. The narrator's very first words describe the house's chilling appearance, bringing upon him an "insufferable gloom" (Poe, 231). The dreariness of the house, and the strangeness of Roderick Usher only progress throughout the story. One of the aspects of the story that seems most unnatural is that, as Roderick Usher is slowly decaying, along with the family name, the house is also falling apart. The story portrays the physical and mental decay of Roderick Usher, coinciding with the deterioration of the literal house, leading to the ultimate collapse of the house of Usher depicted in the last interactions the narrator has with both Roderick and the mansion. From the very beginning of "The Fall of the House of Usher", the narrator expresses the unnerving and oppressive feeling the house creates within him. He describes the house as having "ghastly tree–stems...gray sedges... vacant eye–like windows" (Poe, 231). The narrator can hardly find words to describe the dreadfulness of the house, and instead uses more simplistic terms to try and force the unnaturalness of the house to be seemingly natural. Like Roderick Usher, the ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 64.
  • 65. House Of Usher Gothic literary traditions began in the middle ages and were used to evoke the reader's emotions of fear and suspense. The elements within the stories were heavily described to add to the author's tone and mood of the reader. Edgar Allan Poe is a well known author in Gothic literature, one of his pieces "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a Gothic short story that features a grim tone using Gothic elements to draw the attention of the readers. The intentions of Gothic authors were to give the readers a look into the dark side of the time in which the book is written. Poe uses a grim tone throughout "The Fall of the House of Usher" and expresses it through the setting of the story and the imagery he uses. Poe uses an intensely described setting ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... The narrator sees Roderick's painting he describes it as "One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my friend, partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth, although feebly, in words. A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device. Certain accessory points of the design served well to convey the idea that this excavation lay at exceeding depth below the surface of the earth."(Page 420) He went into such detail only talking about a painting he was looking at. Just by the way he describes it you can see in your head what he is describing. The vault is so deep no light gets into it, it's a deep dark place of rest with no way life can get in or out. Laying awake days after Madeline was put to rest, the narrator claims " I endeavored to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room–of the dark and tattered draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed." (Page 425) Poe's use of eloquent imagery makes the reader feel as if they are in the story. His compelling use of words when describing details makes it easier to read and ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 66.
  • 67. House Of Usher When writing, there are many elements authors use in gothic literature to build the nature of the story with a dark background. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe uses elements of suspense, gothic literature, and romanticism to add a dark tone to the story. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe uses foreshadowing and pacing to build suspense. When arriving at the house, Poe foreshadows the fall of the Usher bloodline by using the narrator to describe "...a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from roof of the building in the front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction,"(Poe,297) displaying the already cracked and damaged condition of the family. This fissure is later revealed as representing the already ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... As the narrator reads a letter sent to him by Roderick Usher, it is revealed that it, "... spoke of acute bodily illness– of a mental disorder that had oppressed him...,"(Poe,294) and, having had a past friendship to Roderick, felt the necessity to go and help his friend back to sanity. By agreeing to help his friend, the narrator becomes the hero of this story and continues to act as such by helping Roderick recover and never leaving his side. Unknown to the narrator, Roderick is unintentionally the villain of the story by stating,"... his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight...,"(304) in one of their family vaults oblivious to the fact that Madeline was not dead. By deciding to lock her in a family vault, Roderick unintentionally condemned his sister to death by trapping her there with no food, light, or water for two weeks. After locking Madeline away in the vault, the narrator is interrupted when reading to Roderick by a, "... most unusual screaming or grating sound...,"(308) and moments later Madeline turns up alive but tragically dies moments later. The screams that were unidentifiable by the narrator were Madeline's screams for help as she was trapped with no food or water by a villain, her brother, naming her the "young woman" of the story. As the narrator finds himself in a lonely room, Roderick comes bursting in seemingly out of his mind, but opens the window to show a, "...whirlwind that [had] apparently collected its force in [their] vicinity..,"(306) but strangely only appeared to be over the Usher House. This supernatural occurrence symbolizes the rapid coming of the death of the Usher bloodline and the tragedies to ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 68.
  • 69. Literary Analysis Of The House Of Usher In Roger Coreman's 1960 adaption, House of Usher, the fall of the House of Usher is soundtracked with woman's moans as the house slowly burns and sinks into the tarn. This auditory choice not only comments on Poe's obsession with the death of women, but it also makes the claim that there was a supernatural element to the house that was crying out and burning as well. In Poe's 1839 "The Fall of the House of Usher," the final collapse of the House of Usher is the supernatural and sensory representation of the death of the family of Usher as perceived by the Narrator. Coreman uses his soundtrack to portray the family line breaking whereas Peo uses personification, syntax, word choice, and narration to portray the release of the Usher ancestor ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... The full submergence in the tarn represents the cleansing and purifying of the house, Roderick, Madeline, and the Usher family in whole. Incest kept the Usher lineage pure, yet their purity acted as a catalyst for the illness that Meldine, Roderick, and the house itself experience. The syntax of the passage itself mirrors death in its structure and read. The sentence begins slow but grows and grows in intensity and pain. Semicolon after semicolon suggest a frantic and long yet building process. The structure of the sentence mirrors the death throes of both Madeline and the House. As one reads the passage, they struggle to have the breath to keep speaking or stay focused because the excitement builds and the statements between semicolons get longer and more intense suggesting their power growing. All of this amounts to the suddenly silent swallowing of the house into the tarn once there is a comma. This is to suggest that death has finally settled in and a peace has been achieved at the end of the death throes. The Narrator understands the house to be an extension or embodiment of the Usher family line, and therefore, the calamity he perceives during the collapse of the house is equated to the eviction of the ancestors from their dwelling in the mansion and can be seen in the syntax of the passage. The fall of the house of usher is perceived by the narrator as a supernatural and sensory experience in which the simultaneous ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 70.
  • 71. House Vs Usher Analysis The author develops the comparison of Ushers mind and house. For examples, the narrator describes the house, when saying, "Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web–work" (Poe, 6). The author also develops the imagery of the house when stating "old wood– work which has rotted for long years" (Poe, 6) By illustrating the houses condition, the reader can understand the condition of the Usher family, and how it has been rotting and crumbling. In comparison, the reader can compare the physical appearance of the house to Ushers mind, when the narrator says, "He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses" (Poe, 9) Both Usher and the house are fading, so the reader can assume that they are somehow connected ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 72.
  • 73. The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay This Obscure Story The Gothic and Romantic themes in "The Fall of the House of Usher" are presented in an unusual way. From its landscape to its atmosphere, the author, Edgar Allan Poe, successfully includes darkness and horror in several dramatic events and objects. Edgar Allan Poe in "The Fall of the House of Usher" testifies the darkness of its landscape and the symbolism of numerous objects in order to show how people react to the belief of Gothicism. The landscape plays a valuable role on how the belief of Gothicism signifies the mood of this haunted short story. The landscape of "The Fall of the House of Usher" is expressed with possessions of "feelings of its own sadness and soul" (Thério 7). The narrator himself evaluates it as very ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Edgar Allan Poe illustrates the idea of symbolism of the house and Usher twins through the condition of the house and the twins, the collapse of the twins, and the strong bond between the twins, the house and the darkness and evil throughout the story. First, the man–made object may have symbolizes the condition of the house and twins. The house of Usher was described throughout the story as old and cracked. The same description is indirectly stated to the Usher twins, Roderick and Madeline Usher. They are both old in age and ill. Next, the house symbolized the twin's collapse, which led to the collapse of the house itself. The state that Madeline was in caused her death, which also lead to Roderick's death. The disintegration of the twins' minds was, most likely, the cause of the catastrophic breakdown of the house. The twins were also in the same condition as the house, which might also be another cause to the collapse of the house since both were, again, described as old and cracked. The separation of the twins "disrupts the balance, destroying both [the house and the Usher twins]" (Timmerman 168). "The vitalities of the Ushers had brought about the decay of the family line" (Abel 381) and the strong bond between the Usher family and their house destroyed the ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 74.
  • 75. The Fall Of House Of Usher Essay First published in 1839, Edgar Allan Poe short story ¨The Fall of House of Usher,¨ is an example of Gothic fiction. Gothic fiction is a style of writing that expresses elements. Such as fear, horror, ghosts, an aura of mystery, darkness, dreams, death, and gloom, as well as romantic elements, such as nature, individuality, and very high emotion. The short story we read shows a lot of examples of those characterizations that mentioned. The writer introduces the elements, fear, and horror. For example, ¨Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? Madman!¨ The Usher expresses his fear as Madeline awakens and walks the halls. Another example is ¨Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so unusual could have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me.¨ The Usher shows his fear as his body tightens up as he hears the shadows behind him. He's supposed to be alone. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... For instance, ¨A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid...¨ Ushers characteristics shown as he died but he's actually alive. Another example is ¨Dark draperies hung upon the walls.¨ The house is expressed as dead like. There's no lightness at all. The writer introduces the element, high emotion. For example, ¨He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more natural and far more palpable origin–to the severe and long– continued illness–indeed to the evidently approaching...¨ Usher starts to admit without hesitating. Another example is ¨I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR.¨ He starts to realize what he has to do when it's time for the period to ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
  • 76.
  • 77. The Fall Of The House Of Usher Summaries The Fall of the House of Usher – A man, called by his friend Roderick Usher, seeks out the House of Usher. Upon his arrival, he is astonished by the look of the house. He enters in, finding his friend in despair. Roderick and his sister are each suffering from disease. Roderick tells the narrator that the house is sentient. The sister dies, and is interred in the house's vault. During the week that follows, both Usher and the narrator seem to become more anxious. One night, in an attempt to allay Usher's fears, the narrator reads a book, The Mad Trist. During the reading, certain events in the book are met with similar sounds in the house. Usher becomes more anxious as the narrator reads onward. Finally, Usher becomes irrate, declaring his sister is alive and has been alive for the longest time since interred. Usher opens the doors of the room, his sister enters seizes Usher. They both die, the narrator flees the house and watches as the house breaks apart and is consumed by the ground. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ... Struck by her beauty, he marries her. Ligeia dies a few years after though. The man moves to London, marries a woman called Rowena. The marriage is loveless. Rowena becomes ill. She soon dies. During his vigil, Rowena seems to be reviving, but keeps relapsing, each relapse longer and more death–like. After numerous such revivals and relapses, the body stands and walks. The man touches her, and the bandages fall away to reveal ... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...