Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” describes the view of the narrator as he cares for his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, whose mental and physical illnesses worsen. The narrator later finds out about Roderick’s sister and the destruction of the family line, leading to the fall of the House of Usher.

As soon as the narrator arrives at Roderick’s mansion, he immediately perceives in the house as “a sense of insufferable gloom...the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable” (1). Around him, the narrator contemplates “upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows...and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees” (1). However, “no portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be

a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and...a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction” (3). The house represents the Usher’s family line, where at first, stands powerful and strong. However, when Roderick and his twin, Madeline, come to be the heads of the house, the estate sinks toward the shadows. Not even having taken a step into the house, the narrator feels an evil aura surrounding the house and fears to enter the house.
Having entered the House of Usher, the narrator sees the family doctor and many objects, strongly foreshadowing a dreadful event.

Going through the “Gothic archway of the hall” (3), the narrator takes notes of the “many dark and intricate passages in my progress to the studio” (3). He walks down through the labyrinth of hallways with coat arms until he reaches the staircase. As the narrator climbs up the stairs, he meets “the physician of the family…[where he accosts the narrator] with trepidation” (3). On the second floor, “many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene” (4). No life seems to rise when the narrator walks around the house; everything feels like time has stopped, and no one seems to be alive in the

estate.
When the narrator meets Roderick, his friend looks “enchained by certain superstitious impressions” (5), fearing to perish.

Like a prisoner, the narrator’s friend never left the estate, slowly causing his mind to deteriorate. Roderick explains to the narrator that the cause to his gloom “could be traced to...the severe and long-continued illness...of a tenderly beloved sister” (5). According to Roderick, on the night that the narrator arrives at the estate, Madeline “succumbed (as her brother told [the narrator] at night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the destroyer” (6). The narrator believes him and “at the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the arrangements for the temporary entombment” (10) of his

sister.
A week after they buried Roderick’s sister, the narrator “[experiences] the full power of” (11) Roderick’s madness. None of them can sleep, so the narrator decides to read “‘The Mad Trist’ of Sir Launcelot Canning” (12) to Roderick. As he reads, the sounds from the story have been recreated from below the house, terrorizing Roderick. Hardly hearing Roderick’s “low, hurried, and gibbering murmur[s]” (14), the narrator listens to Roderick as he cries, “I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb... I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin” (14). Immediately, Madeline, with “blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame” (14), swings the door open and “fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother” (15). With “her violent and now final death-agonies,” (15) Madeline dies, while strangling Roderick to his death.
Having experienced the deaths of the Ushers, the narrator flees from the mansion. As he runs away, the small crack that use to be unnoticeable splits open and “the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight” (15). Before, when the narrator thought that the “barely-discernible fissure” (15) appears to have no consequence, leads to the total destruction of the House of Usher and their family line. Terrified of what he has experienced, the narrator pushes the memories of his time with Roderick Usher into his subconscious, never remembering his childhood friend again.

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” at https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/pdf/passage/5312/the-works-of-edgar-allan-poe-055-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher.pdf.
Citations from this on-line edition of the story are documented with the pages in parentheses.