Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Julio Cortazar’ “House Taken Over” the short stories represent the genre of Gothic Literature. Gothic Literature is a genre that combines fiction, horror, death, and romance. Some of these traits are seen in both of these stories through characters and settings. However, there are other traits that set them apart.

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

     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.

Madeline both have illness The narrator is the childhood friend of Roderick usher The house of has a connection to all three of them living in the house The fall of the usher is

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.

The narrator realizes they buried her alive and looks to Roderick for answers. Roderick, terrified, is unable to look at Madeline, realizing that death has come for him. Madeline proceeds to walk towards Roderick and falls on him, the reader assumes that she begins to eat him but the narrator flees in fear of death.

The narrator comes to the House to aid his dying friend, Roderick Usher. As he arrives at the House he comes upon an “aura of vacancy and decay… creating a pathologically depressive mood” (Cook). The state of the House is daunting to the narrator – he describes it with such features as “bleak walls”, “eye-like windows”, “rank sedges”, “decayed trees”, and “an utter depression of the soul”. These images foreshadow a less than pleasant future for the narrator and his dear friend Roderick. Poe continues to foreshadow the narrators turn of events with a description of the House’s “dark” and “comfortless” furniture. The House becomes a living hell for the narrator as he watches Roderick’s condition evolve and struggles to understand the mystery tying unfortunate events together. However, as the narrator gradually becomes more enveloped in Roderick and the House’s malady, he seems to develop a malady of his own. While the narrator’s illness is less prominent than that of Roderick and his sister Lady Madeline, the sicknesses are one in the same.

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).

In the middle of the story, readers start to see clues that will eventually show that the Ushers will meet their demise due to their illnesses. For example, as the story progressed, one can see that Roderick Usher’s symptoms got worse. He started to hear things as well as see strange images. Usher tried his absolute best to get his friend to get better. He calmed him down with his favorite things like arts and crafts and reading. The narrator also started to get affected by Roderick’s illness. He felt he was also getting progressively worse. He would relate Roderick’s illness with other aspects and works he read. It was basically a struggle for survival in the house. It was not until the end that the narrator left and feared for his life. It creates that aspect of fear that is prevalent in horror stories. According to Dawn B. Sova, “The focus in this story is placed on the narrator’s perceptions and observations of a disintegrating intellect—of a crumbling Roderick Usher rather than a crumbling castle or abbey” (87). Because of their eventual changing, they provided readers with a clear

“The Fall of the House of Usher” follows a similar symbolic storyline. Throughout the story, the narrator uncovers significant details regarding the mysterious childhood friend of his and many of the important elements are revealed. Specifically, Poe designed the plot in such a way that the Usher siblings represent two sides of the same individual; Madeline and Roderick as the body and the mind respectively (Miller par 32). Since the twins are the first in their family, it shows the separation from original unity (genetically) and foreshadows that the twins must die in order for the restoration of peace. The House of Usher also has a significant symbolic value in the story; it represents Roderick’s psychological state of mind and is described by the narrator as having disturbing realistic qualities (Poe 893). Nevertheless, toward the end of the story, the epitome of the symbolic nature of this story is revealed and is concluded by an epic turn of events. Madeline collapses on Roderick as the narrator rushes to leave the house; the siblings death at the end symbolize the destruction of the physical world as shown by Madeline and the destruction of the spiritual world as displayed by Roderick’s immediate death

Roderick Usher specifically can be seen reaching his total breaking point and losing his mind over the supposed death of his sister, Madeline. The reader eventually learns that Madeline had never actually died and that Roderick had buried her alive. The reader sees his complete mental breakdown with him screaming, “We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them—many, many days ago—yet I dared not—I dared not speak!” (Poe 46). At this point, Roderick has gone from being somewhat mentally unstable to being absolutely broken inside. Any person who would willingly bury their own sister alive can not be in the right state of mind. When he starts yelling and repeating himself, the reader can tell that he is not okay. Those reading the story have no idea what Roderick could possibly be thinking and are worried about what he may do. The fear of not knowing what is going to happen can affect the readers and cause fear to rise up inside them. Another example of when characters transform is when characters change emotionally. “Where is Here?” is a story about a man who comes to visit his childhood home. While he is there he starts to go from a seemingly polite person to losing control of all of his emotions. He was in the son’s room, showing him a math riddle, and “after several minutes

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's ¨ The Fall of the House of Usher¨ uses symbolism to describe how the house takes a dark turn to drive the main character insane. Poe describes the main character, Roderick, to be and sinister character throughout the whole plot. Poe writes, ¨ A cadaverousness of complexion of complexion ; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison.¨ ( Poe, ¨The Fall of the House of Usher¨ 163). By describing Rodericks physical appearances, Poe creates a dramatic affect on the reader's mind to create the storyline of him being dark and insane. The narrator comes to visit Roderick since he is ill and when he arrives he sees how old and dilapidated the house is. Poe writes, ¨Upon the bleak walls - upon the vacant eyelike windows¨

In “The Fall of the house of Usher” Edgar Allan Poe creates a setting that

Roderick suffers from a nervous illness which manifests itself both in his appearance and his temper. We soon find out that his sister, Madeline, is also wasting away and has an unknown sickness, the symptoms of which include cataleptic attacks. Soon after, Madeline dies and Roderick entombs her in a vault placed where there once had been a donjon-keep, with the narrator’s willing aid. He is quick to do so and does not take into consideration the fact that she might actually be still alive, which, as we will find out, is really the case.