What Does Darkness Symbolize In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

The Evocation of Terror in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year,” (412) is the first sentence in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. This beginning sentence sets the tone of dark. Gothic Literature’s style has elements of fear, horror, gloomy and death; it gives the feeling of suspense and fear. This story is a great example of Gothic Literature. In this story the narrator goes to Usher’s house, which is mysterious, and becomes aware that the house is like Usher who is sick. Poe’s technique of the unified effect accomplishes its intended purpose through the setting, plot development and imagery.

In most of Poe’s stories the setting is set in a dark or dreary place. A dark or dreary place is usually associated with suspense, just look at some of the most famous horror films, the settings of these films are set in a dark or dreary place. The best horror films are so suspenseful that they make you imagine what no mind has ever imagined before, as said in the Raven by Poe. The black cat is set in a very wet and dark place, not only literally but figuratively as well because of the narrators dark mind. In this story the setting helps to establish the mood of suspense because it is so tragic and dark. You realize that the narrator's mind is in such a dark place that nothing is too weird or disgusting for him to do it. This adds suspense seeing you do not know what will happen next. Also in The Raven the setting is at night, which is almost always associated with creepy. The setting in the raven is at night, by himself, reading a book, and almost falling asleep. All of a sudden he is startled by a mysterious visitor knocking at his door. This is around one o’clock in the morning and a person or something is knocking at his door. You do not know what it, is so this builds suspense due to the fact that it is a mystery and makes you excited. As you can see Edgar Allan Poe uses the setting of his stories and poems to build

A Sense of Tension in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe

The most powerful insight provided by this text is into the nature of fear. Edgar Allen Poe uses this text to illustrate the paralyzing control that fear has over all humans. An important item in the text is the shear dread that overtakes Roderick Usher. This fear was best described when Usher stated, “I dread the events of the future... I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident... I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, fear,” (Poe 299). Usher fears such a large number of small incidents that could potentially happen, he is living his life in fear. Roderick believes that this terrible dread will ultimately kill him. This sense of fear is rather extreme, since Usher believes it will kill him. The dramatization created by Poe helps to show the power that fear has over everyone. He furthers this by making the reader afraid, largely with his descriptive language, such as, “I looked upon the scenes before me-upon the bleak walls-upon the vacant eyelike windows-upon a few rank sedges-and upon a trunks of decayed trees-with… the hideous dropping off of the veil,” (Poe 294). The language is ridden with despair and an anxious fear, painting a horrendous scene in the reader’s mind. Poe uses the fear created from images similar to

In fact, the first five paragraphs of "The Fall of the House of Usher" are devoted to creating a gothic atmosphere. An ancient, decaying castle paints an eerie, moldy picture. The surrounding moat seems stagnant and sullen. The time period also ties into this mood. It's autumn and the weather is cool and dreary. How many horrors take place in the daytime? Not many, and this story is no different. It's dark, or at least semi-dark. Immediately Poe entraps the reader. There is a sense of being confined within the walls of the Usher house. Outside a storm is raging and inside there are mysterious rooms where windows suddenly whisk open, blowing out candles. Creaking and moaning sounds fill the air. The wind is whipping, and the landscape is barren. This is gothic writing and these are its trappings. The darkness of everything symbolizes death to come. Upon entering the gothic archway of the deteorating mansion, the narrator is led "through many dark and intricate passages" filled with "somber tapestries" and "ebon blackness". Over everything, Poe drapes his atmosphere of sorrow and irredeemable gloom. He evokes his primary effect, the anticipation that some fearful event will soon transpire.

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

Poe is an exceedingly solemn author and displays that in his writing of the plot. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe’s tone is displayed when the narrator says "The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the

Throughout the story the author refers to these creepy and gloomy descriptions of how symbolism is used. The most significant way symbolism is used in the story is used to explain how the outlook of the mansion portrays the emotions of the people in the mansion. One of the ways this can be explained is shown when the narrator rides up to the house. The narrator explains his experience, "I know not how it was but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit" (Poe). An Explanation to this quote is how The narrator is depressed by the appearance of The House of Usher as he approaches.

Edgar Allan Poe presents a remarkably enticing, gothic story with “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Poe exemplifies the point that he makes in this short story through the addition of “The Haunted Palace”, a ballad composed by Poe, said to be written by Roderick Usher, a character in the story. This ballad consists of many parallels with the rest of the short story, inviting readers to better understand the story presented by Poe with this piece of literary work. The tremendous amount of symbolism and parallels contribute to readers understanding many of the prominent events that occur through the course of the short story.

In the story “The fall of the house of usher” written by renowned author, Edgar Allen Poe is a tale with incredibly high, imagery upon which the author builds a fanatic story with horror the points the most vivid of pictures within the mind of the reader. The literary technique of imagery is seen in the opening line “During the whole of the dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low… (Poe1). Due to the fact that the narrative begins with such graphic detail, it is highly probable that this style will pervade throughout the text. From there and on the story will reveal that poe goes above and beyond to describe the falling house. Through an analysis of imagery particular to the mansion it can be demonstrated that there is a relationship between the shifting condition, of the mansion and the metamorphosis occurring to the usher’s family.

The speaker recounts their surroundings being tomb like, encompassing them in blackness and vacancy. The walls were smooth, slimy, and cold. This setting creates a feeling of dismay and uncertainty. The narrator says “The blackness of eternal night encompassed me.” This means that the tomb is dark as midnight and solitary. Feeling blind and alone in unknown surroundings is scary. If the description of the tomb was similar to that of a jail cell, it would not create the same sense of terror for the reader. At least in a jail cell, there are small amounts of light. Adding instruments of torture and a large pit into the setting also create a feeling of unease. Poe creates the mood of terror through the description of the setting.

“The Fall of the House of Usher (1939)”, arguably Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous short story, is a tale centered around the mysterious House of Usher and its equally indiscernible inhabitants. These subjects are plagued with physical and mental degradation – the Usher siblings suffer from various abnormal ailments and unexplained fears, while the house itself seems to be tethering on the edge of collapse. The gothic elements in the story are distributed generously, and the plot is increasingly ridden with the supernatural as it progresses.

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 conclusion, this essay shows that The Fall of the House of Usher is written according to the guidelines Poe proposes in his Philosophy of Composition. The general set up, including aspects like setting, tone and theme align with his theory as well as the construction of the plot, whose outcome is already summed up in the title. Based on specific examples, the essay shows that all details serve to increase the effect of horror, conveyed through the mixture of reality and the