Compare And Contrast Vertigo And The Fall Of The House Of Usher

The Fall of House of Usher and Vertigo Comparison Essay

"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a horror story written in the gothic style by Edger Allan Poe. Firstly, as the narrator arrives to the scene, tension is already being built by Edgar and creates a gloomy and deterioration atmosphere. Then, there is undoubtedly one of the best films ever made. Vertigo, which is a well-known psychological thriller, that came out in 1958, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, that tells the story of a retired acrophobic detective, John “Scottie” Ferguson, who is asked to find the answer of Madeleine, the wife of Elster, who has been acting out of the norm and might have some mental issues. These two pieces of art are similar in so many ways to one another like how they build tension with the characters, the setting and how it was developed.

First, in “The Fall of the House of Usher” Poe start to create tension when he started to set the mood and unity of effect by describing the area around and inside the house, he often gives it a gothic feel. Secondly, Poe created tension when talking about Roderick Usher's depression and his illness, which symbolizes him and to the conditions of the house. Thirdly, there is a gothic feel to the story when they mention the Usher family has almost died out, except from Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline who

maybe be alive or dead. This story is hinting at death and Poe has illustrated tension because the reader would be worried what is going to happened at the end to narrator and Roderick. The unity of effect of this story is the feeling of the Gothicism. The reader will be tense and would desperately want to carry on reading, therefore tension is created effectively throughout the short story even till the house collapsed.
Vertigo has techniques of suspense, one of their technique was how they use music. The music was often very intense and made the audience almost prepare their self as if something exciting was about to happen. An example of this is when Scottie is running, trying to catch up with Madeline in the Mission San Juan Bautista. When she first starts running towards the Mission, the music builds up, but when Scottie enters and can’t see Madeleine, the music gets more quiet. When he sees her running up the stairs, the music starts up again. As he runs after her the music keeps building in intensity. Another techniques ls that it is slow building, it had a constant slow speed. Wherever you stop the movie and pick it right back up, you’ll be fine because of its not really fast pace.
In the beginning of the film Vertigo it really focused on the mysteriousness of Elster’s wife Madeleine, reflecting to “The Fall of House of Usher” with Roderick’s sister Madeleine. ln Vertigo Elster is Usher because he is explaining his concern for Madeleine, making Scottie the tales narrator or the childhood friend, because he came to help him like how in the short story/ Whether, dealing with plot, theme and characterization, both of these pieecs do relate to one another.
So in conclusion, Edger Allan Poe and Robert Hitchcock created a sense of tension on many occasions of their book and film.

This is most effective as it will keep the audience interested and wanting to carry on reading or watching the movie. In the book it also makes the reader more anxious and worried about the whole short story in general. For example, what is going to happen to the characters, is Madeleine really alive, and etc., therefore, they would find it a better read. Hitchcock was the master in creating tension, whether with the different levels of intensity of the music, awkward moments between Scottie and Madeleine and

eic.