Gender Roles In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

Once when I was young I went to the amusement park with my big brother. My brother always kept saying to me that roller coaster rides are scary and dangerous, which made me imagine them really being scary and dangerous. “The fall of the house of usher” written by Edgar Allen Poe and “house taken over” written by Julio Cortazar are both short stories. It will be about fear and how the imagination can sometimes cause fear. Fear is a response to physical or emotional danger, whether the threat is real or imagined.

Our source tells us that the Usher House was shrouded in gloom and misery, so much so that Roderick Usher believed his house was “sentient”. Usher, a slave to his terror and anxiety, spent his remaining days worried over the death of his

In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe skillfully integrates dramatic irony and portrays Fortunato’s ignorance as a way to engage the reader. He utilizes the power of human emotions and compassion to capture the audience’s attention. In the story, Montresor uses reverse psychology to coax Fortunato deeper into the catacombs and towards his own death. An example of dramatic irony occurs when Montresor says, “‘Come, (...) we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as I once was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi-’” (Poe 868). Only the reader and Montresor know of his plan to end Fortunato’s life. Through Fortunato’s point of view, it would seem that Montresor is trustworthy and worried about his health. However, Montresor could care less about Fortunato’s well being and is using this mask to hide his true intentions to complete his master scheme. At the end of this quote, Montresor sneakily mentions getting help from Fortunato’s rival Luchresi instead, knowing that Fortunato is extremely egotistic and greedy. Fortunato is the kind of man who thinks he is the finest and most sought after wine connoisseur in the area. He believes that Luchresi should not be trusted in the wine tasting business, especially with something as precious as Amontillado. This undesirable quality leads Fortunato to his death while the reader could do nothing to help. Unlike Fortunato, the reader can see Montresor’s tactics and can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the victim. This emotional attachment intrigues the reader since they want to find out the result of the story and Fortunato’s fate. After taking another drink of Medoc, Fortunato performed a movement that symbolizes the Mason Brotherhood. Montresor did not understand what he meant by this unpredictable action. Fortunato got a little suspicious and said “‘A sign, (...) a sign.’ ‘It is this,’ I answered producing from beneath the fold of my roquelaire, a trowel. ‘You jest,’ he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. ‘But let us proceed to the Amontillado’” (868). At this point in the story, the audience knows

Who is Edgar Allan Poe and why does he write such gothic tales? Edgar Allan Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families(Poe's). In 1826 Poe left Richmond and attended the University of Virginia. After numerous challenges in his life leading him to poverty, he eventually met the love of his life. He moved to the city and began writing and soon became a household name after "The Raven". Two years after his wife died, he died of grief.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a story based on a family driven to madness. Throughout the story the reader sees evidence of a house that is a physically connected to the Usher family. The actual house is a alive and has a dependency on the Usher family to survive without the Usher family the house crumbles to dust. The actual house in "The Fall of the House of Usher" is directly connected to each individual "Usher" through a supernatural bond.

(Usher 14 )Though as time passed, and incest tainted the family, “evil things, in robes of sorrow, assailed

After the completion of their ballad, Roderick tells the narrator that he believes in the “sentience of all vegetable things” (Poe par. 19). In other words, he believes that all things, no matter how primitive, have some sort of conscious understanding. Now that the only surviving members of the Usher race are twins Madeline and Roderick, the house itself senses it is in danger of becoming extinct and takes control. It traps Roderick and pushes him to continue the family line with his sister, allowing the “House of Usher” to continue on surviving. Roderick even develops an “acute bodily illness… which oppressed him” (Poe par. 2).

The short story Fall of the House of Usher, starts with the quote : “Son coeur est un luth suspendu” can translate to ‘his/her heart is a poisoned luth’ (Poe 18). Madeline, whom the quote refers to, her character vaguely described and rarely shown in the Fall of the House of Usher proves to be the most influential and in fact the most important character of the short story, as the entire plot concerns her. Rodrick, Madeline’s brother, and their relationship with one another, obvious as incestuous as described by signs in the story, is toxic. Poe utilizes limited personal narration and descriptions of Rodrick’s guilt and Madeleine's death to hide and lessen his accountability in the situation.

In the story of the house of Usher, it is implied that Roderick was the result of inbreeding happening in the Usher family. The narrator said that there is

The Fall of the House of Usher, a 19th century Gothic short story indirectly deals with the theme of incest between the protagonist Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline. The author takes the utmost care not to mention the term anywhere in the text but rather conveys it through the description of the extraordinary nature of their family.

In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allen Poe, setting is used extensively to do many things. The author uses it to convey ideas, effects, and images. It establishes a mood and foreshadows future events. Poe communicates truths about the character through setting.

Throughout history, various works of literature compelled the readers to feel a specific way. The authors used different techniques to illustrate emotions toward their audience. Specifically, Edgar Allan Poe, author of The Fall of the House of Usher, uses literary elements, such as imagery, characterization and word choice, to portray the build up the sense of horror.

     One of the central themes underlying the short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, is that of the nature of the house. The way it is described and the way it is so mysterious. Another central theme about this story is the nature of the people that live in the house. They are portrayed very much in the same manner throughout the story. Thus, they have several similarities with each other. All of which are of a bad feeling, showing how bad things are for the people and the house. These similarities are very well laid out in the story and are, I believe, meant to be something to be considered when reading it.

In the story “ The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, has an American romanticism with its characters. Edgar Allan Poe is considered a Dark Romanticism because of the way he writes his poems and short stories centered around the concept of evil human nature, darkness, and death. Roderick and Madeline Usher were said to be related during the middle of the story; they were twins. It explained how they were sick, Roderick had a mental disorder and Madeline was physically sick. As the narrator enters the desolate house, he finds both Roderick and his sister in a severe state of depression and they both appear sick like. The narrator tries to make Roderick feel better, but Roderick wouldn’t budge. Roderick thinks that the house is making him sick and making him to appear crazy.

In the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” there are three characters the narrator, Roderick Usher, and Madeline Usher. The story starts with the narrator arriving at the Usher family home where both Roderick and Madeline live, Roderick is both physically and mentally ill and Madeline is just mentally ill. The Usher family