Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

In “Fall of the House of Usher”, Edgar Allan Poe uses parallels between Roderick Usher and the House to illustrate how one affects the other. The House particularly compares to the physical appearance with Roderick Usher. To illustrate, Rodericks physical appearance is crumbling, much like the Houses “crumbling condition of the individual stones” (Poe 323). With human like qualities, the Houses “vacant eyelike windows” are a direct parallel to Rodericks “large eye, liquid and luminous” (Poe 322-324). In other words, the Usher family is so connected to their home that Roderick begins to physically look like the worn down, dark and mysterious House that is his abode. Not only does the House have similar physical parallels, but Rodericks

During his life, Edgar Allan Poe wrote many classic poems and short stories. Two of his most famous works are “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” a man goes to visit his childhood friend and while there witnesses the fall of the Usher family line. “The Masque of the Red Death,” on the other hand, is about Prince Prospero’s attempts to keep death from his abbey and what ensues when death enters. Throughout both short stories, “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Fall of The House of Usher,” Poe enforces his theme of the fear of death, by carefully crafting the setting, characterization, mood, and point of view of each piece.

One of Roderick's fears was death. He was from a well-known and honored family, and he and his sister were the last of the long line of Usher descendants. His sister, Madeline, had been fighting a severe and long-continued illness for quite some time, which had added to much of Roderick's gloom. " Her decease, would leave him the last of the ancient race of the Ushers." Roderick seemed not only to fear the death of his sister and ultimately of himself, but also the uncertainty of the future. "I dread the events of the future, not only in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul."

A concern of Roderick Usher is the waning health of his twin sister, Lady Madeline. Usher explains to his dear friend, the narrator, that she is the only surviving relative he has. He further explains that his sister’s health condition baffles any physician that has come to the house. After a few days of the narrator’s visit, Lady Madeline dies. Usher explains to the narrator that he wishes to preserve her body by placing her into the underground crypt of the house. I believe that Poe is trying to use symbolism in Lady Madeline’s death in relation to Roderick’s faltering mental stability. For example, Lady Madeline represents a part of Usher that he has lost; a part of him that has become so strange and frightening to him. When he and the narrator place Lady Madeline’s body into the crypt, it is a desperate act to help preserve a part of himself.

Though he is not truly a frightening man, little things such as his ghostly appearance and various disabilities that prevent him from everyday life such as severe sensitivity to light make him as a person unnerving and slightly disturbing. Even the narrator’s understanding of Roderick and the home are shown to be similar when he recalls that “the eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling” (267). Not only are there various nooks and crannies in the mansion, but the narrator also understands that there are many things about Roderick that are so personal that he will never be able to understand him completely. Poe uses the narrator to show the audience that making connections between living and non-living

The short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe is about how a nameless narrator gets invited to come see his childhood friend. Because his childhood friend named Roderick Usher, is feeling emotionally and physically unwell, the narrator rushes to be with his friend. During the narrator’s stay at the house many strange things like noises and death begin to happen. Towards the end of the story the narrator begins to hallucinate being under the power of Roderick Usher and the house.

The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.

Usher represents the inner self of Edgar A. Poe, he is the personality for which Poe knew, and possibly became. Poe quite possibly became Usher but he did not realize it until he re visited his inner self and mind. “Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had been one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed since our last meeting” (236). Roderick Usher can represent Poe’s madness, Poe knew him in the past but finally along his journey he is coming to terms with his insanity. Edgar is excepting his madness although he still is frightened by the truth. “The writer spoke of acute bodily illness-of a mental disorder which oppressed him-and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed his only personal friend” (236). Poe realized that his insanity did exist but he needed to address it and come to terms with it.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Fall of the House of Usher" the opening paragraph develops a particular attitude towards the House of Usher. The attitude that is created toward the house is insufferable gloom. This attitude is created through the choice of words and phrases Edgar Allan Poe uses throughout the paragraph.

Roderick Usher is a victim of circumstance. The House he has known his whole life seems to have turned against him. Poe

“I must perish in this deplorable folly” (Poe par. 11). With this statement, Roderick Usher seems to be both accepting and sealing his fate. The “House of Usher” was once a mighty and well-respected family, but it has now dwindled down into almost nonexistence. Twins Roderick and Madeline are all that survive of this once proud race. A summons from Roderick to the unknown narrator of this story, a childhood friend of Roderick, sets the events in motion. He speaks of an illness and mental disorder which has become a great burden on him, and he wishes for the company of his dearest friend to help comfort and give “some alleviation of his malady” (Poe par. 2). As the narrator arrives at the family mansion, he is struck by the aura of “gloom”

After evaluating the work of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, he utilizes with imagery to build up the feeling of terror. First of all, the passage is about an ill man, Roderick Usher, who invites his old friend of his to come meet him. In this passage both him and his sister, Madeline Usher, are the last remaining of the Usher race and is diagnosed with an unnatural illness. The narrator begins to feel terror with the supernatural things going on in the house of Usher and the illness of the Ushers. Although the narrator feels the sense of terror from the moment he entered the house, through the use of imagery, Poe is able to bring emotion to the reader. Throughout the passage, the author continues to build up the sense of terror by asserting the image and setting of both the passage and the atmosphere. For instance, he starts the passage by stating “a dull, dark, and a soundless day...clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens” (Poe 194). In relation to the previous quote, the quote illustrates the image of the atmosphere and the setting of the story. In particular, because Poe expresses the sense of terror by describing the atmosphere as dark, quiet, and gloomy, the reader can get an image of the surroundings and get the feeling of the darkness and horror. In addition, according to Poe, during the first glimpse of the house of Usher, the narrator describes it as gloomy and unpleasant. In particular, Poe states “the shades of the evening drew on… a sense of insufferable gloom” (Poe 194). Additionally, the description of the house adds on to the sense of terror that Poe established in the beginning of the story. Based on the past two quotes stated by the author, the reader can begin to picture a dark and dull day with a gloomy house adding on to the darkness. Lastly, in regards to Edgar Allan Poe, the house of Usher is

Hence, Poe appropriates a setting that seems to contaminate the characters. Just as the atmosphere and landscape seem translated into the characters, the house, as another primary feature of setting, functions as a symbol for the Usher family. The narrator even mentions initially that “House of Usher” had come to represent both family and home. Therefore, the house itself can be seen as an embodiment of the family. Poe emphasizes this symbolism by personifying the house, providing it with the anatomy of humans: “eye-like windows” and clothing: a “veil.” Moreover, the house is deteriorating just as the family is. The Ushers, Roderick and his sister Madeline, have no relatives, only themselves, and both are suffering with unusual illness. Finally, after Roderick and Madeline die, likewise the house completely breaks apart, characterizing the fate of the family.

Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of American Literature's legendary and prolific writers, and it is normal to say that his works touched on many aspects of the human psyche and personality. While he was no psychologist, he wrote about things that could evoke the reasons behind every person's character, whether flawed or not. Some would say his works are of the horror genre, succeeding in frightening his audience into trying to finish reading the book in one sitting, but making them think beyond the story and analyze it through imagery. The "Fall of the House of Usher" is one such tale that uses such frightening imagery that one can only sigh in relief that it is just a work of fiction. However, based on the biography of Poe, events

In this view, then, the letter from Usher to the narrator takes on a new meaning. The nervous agitation, the acute bodily illness, the oppressive mental disorder which he hints at are no longer ambiguous or unexplainable. They rise from and are the aftermath of a longstanding, deliberately incestuous relationship with his sister, the Lady Madeline, in which she no less than he is a participant. Poe prepares us when he remarks on the extreme sensitivity of the family, their susceptibility to musical vibrations and other curious stimuli and when he reviews the weakness of the family's loins. Intermarriage has been a household tradition; the line has lain in direct descent; the moral fiber is extinct. Usher's chin, finely moulded though it is, bespeaks in its "want of prominence" this absence of moral tenacity.