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Critical analysis of the fall of the house of usher by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar allen poe symbolism the fall in the house of usher
Critical analysis of the fall of the house of usher by Edgar Allan Poe
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The short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” by Edgar Allan Poe is filled with mystical and gothic tale that shows house actually the house of the Usher’s is such a demonic and horrifying place. Demonstrates the relationship between Roderick and his twin sister Madeline and also the narrator. Shows how the events that occur really torture the people’s souls that are in the house and how the people have these mental issues and horrific thoughts. This story is filled with many types of American Romanticism characteristics. For example, there is a supernatural and also unrealistic features in this story. To demonstrate, the destruction of the house during the storm as well at the same time that Roderick Usher dies and then the house vanishes …show more content…
That even though they are twins, they both might have a deeper connection between each other. It describes that since the Usher’s family tree runs in a straight line, means that their whole family have been an inbred family. Later in the story Madeline falls into a deep coma that puts her into a death-like state even though Madeline is still alive. Roderick didn’t know that Madeline is still alive, but Roderick and the narrator buried her in a underground basement and put her in her coffin. Roderick never had intentions of killing his twin sister and also his soul mate. Even after that happened Madeline came out of her tomb and killed Roderick. In the story, there are also many themes and symbols. For example, one of the symbols in the story is the Usher’s mansion. It represents the decline of the Usher family and later in the story the mansion ends up to disappear after both Madeline and Roderick 's death. Also the storm that happens towards the end of the story. “The storm was still abroad in all its wrath as I found myself crossing the old causeway. Suddenly there shot along the path a wild light, and I turned to see whence a gleam so
He does not appear as he used to; mentally and physically. He then realizes that Roderick has a twin sister named Madeline who has fallen ill. Roderick confesses that this illness is hereditary in the Usher family and that there is no cure. As days pass, Roderick’s sanity is questionable; he hears voices, hallucinates, and buries his sister alive. Madeline then escapes from the tomb and collides with Roderick only to fall and both die.
The ultimate demise of the House of Usher and its connected members is the second part of the theme. A separation from the external world will result in death. The fragments in the house that were so miniscule in the beginning of the story can be likened to the fragmented connection between Usher and the external world. As the story progresses the cracks grow and result in the collapse of the house and of the death of Roderick Usher.
In "The Fall of the house of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe creates suspense and fear in the reader. He also tries to convince the reader not to let fear overcome him. Poe tries to evoke suspence in the reader's mind by using several diffenent scenes. These elements include setting, characters, plot, and theme. Poe uses setting primarily in this work to create atmosphere. The crack in the house and the dead trees imply that the house and its surroundings are not sturdy or promising. These elements indicate that a positive outcome is not expected. The thunder, strange light, and mist create a spooky feeling for the reader. The use of character provides action and suspense in the story through the characters' dialogue and actions. Roderick, who is hypochondriac, is very depressed. He has a fearful apperance and his senses are acute. This adds curiosity and anxiety. The narrator was fairly normal until he began to imagine things and become afraid himself. Because of this, the audience gets a sense that evil is lurking. Madeline is in a cataleptic state. She appears to be very weak and pail. Finally, when she dies, she is buried in a vault inside of the mansion. In this story, the plot consists of rising events, conflict, climax, and resolution. The rising events include the parts in the story when the narrator first arrives at the house, meets Roderick, and hears about Roderick's and Madeline's problems. Madeline's death and burial are part of the conflict. At this point, Roderick and the narrator begin to hear sounds throughout the house. The sounds are an omen that an evil action is about to occur. The climax is reached when Madeline comes back from the dead and she and her twin brother both die. Finally, the resolution comes when the narrator escapes from the house and turns around to watch it fall to the ground. The theme that Edgar Allen Poe is trying to convey is do not let fear take over your life because it could eventually destory you.
In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe, many descriptive words are used to create an eerie mood. Poe’s use of figurative language allows readers to delve into his chaotic view of loss and to experience the mood of despair.
In the story “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe presents the history of the end of an illustrious family. As with many of Poe’s stories, setting and mood contribute greatly to the overall tale. Poe’s descriptions of the house itself as well as the inhabitants thereof invoke in the reader a feeling of gloom and terror. This can best be seen first by considering Poe’s description of the house and then comparing it to his description of its inhabitants, Roderick and Madeline Usher.
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.
In The Fall of the House of Usher, the noble Roderick and Madeline Ushers are the remaining children of the family line. Since they have been keeping their bloodline pure, they have developed some unusual traits that prevent them from leaving their decaying house. As Madeline lives with a life-threatening disease that will soon take her life one day, Roderick refuses to see his twin sister die in that painful man...
The Fall of The House of Usher is an eerie, imaginative story. The reader is captured by the twisted reality. Many things in the story are unclear to the reader; but no less interesting. For instance, even the conclusion of the story lends it self to argument. Did the house of Usher truly "fall"? Or, is this event simply symbolism? In either case, it makes a dramatic conclusion. Also dramatic is the development of the actual house. It seems to take on a life of its own. The house is painted with mystery. The narrator himself comments on the discerning properties of the aged house; "What was it, I paused to think, what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the house of Usher" (54)? The house is further developed in the narrator's references to the house. "...In this mansion of gloom" (55). Even the surroundings serve the purpose. The narrator describes the landscape surrounding as having, "... an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden hued" (55). This fantastic imagery sets the mood of the twisted events. Roderick Usher complements the forbidding surroundings terrifically. His temperament is declining and he seems incessantly agitated and nervous. And, as it turns out, Roderick's fears are valid. For soon enough, before his weakening eyes, stands the Lady Madeline of Usher. This shocking twist in the story is developed through the book that the narrator is reading. The last line that he reads is, "Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door" (66)! Without suspecting such an event, the reader soon finds Lady Madeline actually standing at the door. She is described as having, "...blood on her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame" (66). This line not only induces terror but invites debate. Upon seeing the woman the reader has to consider the cause of her death.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe’s use of dark, descriptive words allow him to establish an eerie mood. Poe’s unique style of writing along with his foreshadowing vocabulary is significant in creating a suspenseful gothic story. At the beginning of the short story, Poe describes the House of Usher to be “dull”, “oppressive”, and “dreary” (1265). His choice of words strongly emphasizes a mood of darkness and suspense as he builds on the horrific aspects of this daunting tale. At first glimpse, the house itself is surrounded by the feeling of “insufferable gloom”, (1265) “[t]here was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness of thought [...]” (1265). The atmosphere that Poe describes in the statement above establishes a spine-chilling mood. Poe uses words such as “insufferable gloom”
Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of American Literature's legendary and prolific writers, and it is normal to say that his works touched on many aspects of the human psyche and personality. While he was no psychologist, he wrote about things that could evoke the reasons behind every person's character, whether flawed or not. Some would say his works are of the horror genre, succeeding in frightening his audience into trying to finish reading the book in one sitting, but making them think beyond the story and analyze it through imagery. The "Fall of the House of Usher" is one such tale that uses such frightening imagery that one can only sigh in relief that it is just a work of fiction. However, based on the biography of Poe, events that surrounded his life while he was working on his tales were enough to show the emotions he undoubtedly was experiencing during that time.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” exhibits an accurate representation of the Gothic genre. Edgar Allan Poe’s work presents itself as mystifying because of the way he is able to confuse and muddy up the concepts to his readers. Poe incorporates the disappearance and reappearance action of the characters throughout the short story as well as an eerie feeling to represent the Gothic genre. Poe also uses the literary device, Gothic double. However, critics of Poe’s work have considered that some of his short stories are a parody of the Gothic genre. They are both equally represented throughout the short story. Furthermore, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a the best of both worlds.
Stories come in many way; some are easy to interpret others have more than one way of understanding the essence, such is the case of The Fall of the House of Usher. There are two obvious ways to interpret the story one is of the madness of the characters especially Roderick Usher. The other interpretation would be that the story is truly real and it has much of the supernatural. Many things point to both ideas. The argument for insanity comes from the idea that Roderick seems to be mentally ill, the possibility that Madeline is not real, and the narrator also not seeming to be competent mentally, at least within the mansion. As for this being a story of the supernatural various factors dictate that idea for example, Madeline super human strength, the mansion seeming to be its own person, and the demise of the Usher house and family. (Hustis 3-20)
The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.
Romanticism authors rely heavily on symbolism, the narrator mentions a "fissure" (a crack) in the foundation of the Usher house. While that is a literal crack or fracture, it is also symbolic of the "cracks" in the Usher family. Roderick and Madeline are flawed just like the house, and therefore neither can survive death of the individual, but also death of the mind and soul this is the tragic tale of two siblings and a childhood friend, their struggles, dependence, and eventually, their death. Every paragraph of the story contains examples
In The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe writes of a sickly brother and sister that live in an old estate, and a narrator’s account of the Ushers’ final days. The story is scary on two different levels. The first and most obvious that is noticed just by reading on the surface is the creepy atmosphere of the house and death of the main characters. Poe makes this level of scariness very accessible by the diction and imagery that he uses. The second level of scariness is the psychological aspect of the story. The themes of isolation, madness, and fear become terrifying because they are able to transcend the story; they are real, and they could quite possibly affect us.