The Fall Of The House Of Usher Analysis

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.

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:

Most times, anything abnormal or odd tend to be pushed under the rug. Edgar Allan Poe subtly brings attention to topics the are typically ignored. E. A. Poe had far from a perfect childhood. His father left when he was young and his mother died when he was three. Poe also seemed to have a lonely childhood after his parents were gone. He was separated from his relatives and didn’t appear to have many friends. He attended the army and after went into West Point. His academics there were well but he was eventually kicked out because of poor handlings of his duties. Before Poe died, he struggled with depression and a drinking problem. Some believe Poe’s tragic lifetime was the inspiration for some of his stories. Such as, “The Fall of the House of Usher”. A possible theory about this story is that Roderick and the Narrator were one in the same. This essay will discuss the possibility of them being the same through plot, characterization, and personification.

The human imagination is portrayed as a wild and uncontrollable being. This can be shown throughout the story by loss of control of his mental state by Roderick Usher, and by the narrator’s belief that he too is being infected by the house’s tormenting nature. I believe that Edgar Allan Poe personifies the mental concept of the imagination because it seems that throughout the story, the main culprit to the cause of madness is the torment of the person by his own imagination. The unnamed narrator is persistently

The narrator only ends up at the house of Usher because he was friends with Usher when they were young. Upon receiving the letter from his childhood friend, the narrator felt the urgency in Usher’s tone and immediately went to assist him. The narrator was “indeed his only personal friend” and Usher hoped that the narrator’s presence would help provide “some alleviation of his malady” (Poe). Once at the house of Usher the narrator did everything he knew how to help Usher, but nothing could fully help Usher’s superstitious mind.

In The Fall Of The House of Usher, Poe explores challenging themes, the most prominent of which is the theme of identity. Throughout the story, the narrator tells us of his experiences with what is left of the Usher family at their estate. The theme of identity is clearly stated right at

In the story, “The Fall of The House of Usher”, there are many mysterious happenings that go on throughout the story between the characters Roderick Usher and the narrator. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe uses themes such as madness and insanity to connect the house back to Roderick Usher. In the “Fall of The House of Usher”, the narrator goes through many different experiences when arriving to the house. The narrator’s experiences start out as almost unnoticeable in the beginning, turn into bigger ones right before his eyes, and end up becoming problems that cause deterioration of the mind and the house before the narrator even decides to do anything helpful for Roderick and his mental illness. In “The Fall of The

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

Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher.

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

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.

The Night Circus, “The Black Cat”, and “The fall of the House of Usher” display elements of gothic literature through the supernatural. Even though they only have one common theme, it is very prominent in all three stories. The Night Circus connects to both the “The Black Cat” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

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 famous author Edgar Allen Poe relies heavily on imagery, description and setting to convey a sense of horror to the reader which also establishes mood and foreshadows future events. Poe also portrays the gothic element of psychological issues in his short story by describing Roderick as having “an unceasingly agitated mind” and “a mad hilarity in his eyes.” To a certain degree, these psychological problems caused by the “death” of his sister began to dictate Roderick’s life, eventually leading him to discover his sister who is still alive. This reveals the process of annihilation of the human mind which offers the reader perception through psychological shocks. The Fall of the House of Usher also presents a terrifying atmosphere and a dark plot through the use of morbid and horrific imagery and description.

The short story The Fall of the House of the Usher is a mind twisting tale that will make one question the peculiarities of this world. It brings up the capabilities of one’s mind and how what one sees and processes can lead to various things. Some people can be very influential, and can diminish others thoughts and mind, such as Roderick Usher. Unintentionally, he affects all of those around them, just like our narrator, who eventually joins him in becoming insane.