Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

The fracturing and collapse of the house acts as a symbol for the end of the Usher family. The escape from the mansion acts as a symbol of rebirth. Examining the Fall of the House of Usher through the Structural/Archetypal Lens

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 Fall of the House of Usher” the story starts with the narrator saying that he is overcome with a feeling of gloom upon first seeing the house. He compares the windows to vacant eyes. The narrator goes on to tell how the house appears to him but then tries to explain it away as his overactive imagination.

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.

The narrator states, "I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (702). It must also be noted that the narrator makes a point to establish the connection between the family and the house very early on in the story. He contemplates "the perfect keeping of the character of the premises with the accredited character of the people, and while speculating upon the possible influence which the one, in the long lapse of centuries, might have exercised upon the other" (703). This makes the reader see the house and character of Usher connected to one another. However, unlike

The narrator goes on to comment about how the scenery provided “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart”(Poe 3). This is the beginning of a depressive episode in the narrator that most readers might overlook. The dreariness and decaying state of The House of Usher, a home he

The catalog of the Usher mansion symbolises its inhabitants. The article Themes and Construction: "The Fall of the House of Usher" from Gale Cengage Learning, remarks, “The Usher mansion is the most important symbol in the story; isolated, decayed, and full of the atmosphere of death, the house represents the dying Usher family itself”. Poe writes that Roderick and Madeline are the last two members of the Usher family left alive. Also, Madeline is on the brink of death, and Roderick mental state isn’t stable. Nevertheless, there are more symbolisms between the setting and the family of Usher. The melancholy

At the genesis of the short story, the narrator, upon a cursory inspection of the façade of House Usher, notes the existence of ‘a few white trunks of decayed trees’, as well as ‘a few rank sedges’ not only surrounding the House. This final observation is also noted by the house’s resident, Roderick Usher, who mentions the ‘many fungi which overspread’ the stones of the house. This, coupled with the physical deterioration of the house, which is severely cracked, ties the house symbolically to the physical deterioration of Roderick and Madeline Usher. The house is enshrouded by a ‘pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden hued’, and the narrator believes the source of this vapour to be ‘the decayed trees, and the grey wall, and the silent tarn’. The decayed state of the vegetation surrounding the house and the resultant dense atmosphere appear to contribute to the symbolic value of plants as representing the mental illnesses that have ostensibly afflicted the Usher family ‘for centuries’, clouding their minds, ‘moulding’ their destinies, and converting them into the state in which the narrator perceives Roderick. Put simply, this ‘mystic vapour’, the source of which is the decaying vegetation surrounding the house, has poisoned the air, causing substantial illness to all who inhale it. This appears to symbolically reflect the negative

Later in the text, the narrator mentions that Usher is “enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted”(Poe 599). The narrator is trying to explain that due to his poor living conditions in the Usher Mansion, Usher has found himself following groundless superstitions. This alone is evidence of demented behavior, and, in this case, is easily linked back to the environment in which Usher lives in. Dull settings as well as obscure plotlines create mental derangement in characters in Dark Romantic texts and explain the behaviors, effects, and causes of guilt.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a story “of sickness, madness, incest, and the danger of unrestrained creativity. This is among Poe's most popular and critically-examined horror stories” (Gordon). For example if you were to close your eyes while someone was reading the story you would see the house “decaying” in your imagination (Poe). From the start of the story the narrator’s strange “insufferable gloom” is introduced. He notes the darkness of his surrounding (Gordon). The stories are very deeply described and felt.

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

     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.

Faithful to the principles of the author, the first detailed words of description of the setting announce the decadent character of the composition- “All the main lines of action are supported by a systematic elaboration of detail” (Robinson, 79). The Fall of the House of Usher begins with the description of the place where all the facts of the story will develop: “It was a dark and soundless day near the end of the year, and clouds were hanging low in the heavens… through country with little life or beauty; and in the early evening I came within view of the House of Usher” (Poe, 22). At exterior levels, the presence of a crack crosses the whole structure of the house: “a crack making its way from the top down the wall until it became lost in the dark waters of the lake.” (Poe, 23). The dark aspect is present in the obscure interiors of the house: “Dark covering hung upon the walls. The many chairs and tables had been used for a long,

In the play, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe, the house affects the characters by eventually causing them to go crazy. The house has caused the members of the family Usher to become mentally ill. They all become melancholy and feel like they cannot leave, each eventually dying there. The house is old, has decaying trees, and has cracks on the foundation. It a dark and gloomy place that is very unsafe to stay.

The opening of the story depicts and sets the gloomy atmosphere of the short story “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone” (Poe 109). That is, rather than having the transcendentalist ideas that build to an optimistic ending, The Fall of the House of Usher presents a lifeless plot that comes to be gloomier as the story develops. For instance, the description of the house and its residents are presented as a sarcastic criticism of that