Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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