Similarities Between The Raven And The Fall Of The House Of Usher

Character and setting are typically thought to be separate elements in a single piece; Poe instead chooses to connect the two, adding a whole new aspect to his writing. In each of his pieces, The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe establishes a connection between his characters and the setting to increase and define the emotional response evoked from the reader. The bond between the two is blatantly shown by Poe in his writing. This is revealed through how Poe links character and setting in both The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher, and the reasons why he does so.

In Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, the connections that Poe attempts to establish between his characters and the setting are shown from the

beginning. The piece begins with the narrator arriving at the home of his old friend Roderick. Upon arrival, the narrator experiences an immense feeling of gloom.

“I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (308). Without even entering the house, the narrator can sense something is wrong just by the looks of the home. The depressingly drab weather along with the unkempt appearance of the old house adds to the ominous vibe the narrator is experiencing. The house’s appearance is not only haunting, but also the house, to the narrator, seems to be sickly. This personification is based upon the run-down appearance of the house. The house has a large crack, ranging from the roof all the way down to the bottom of the home. This crack shows the reader than the foundation of the house is weak and could fall apart any moment. The connection between the house and the characters living within, Roderick and his sister, Madeline, is first shown through Roderick’s letter to the narrator. In his letter, Roderick explains to his old friend that he hasn’t been himself lately. Roderick indeed has been sickly for the past few months. Roderick’s senses are all on edge and he is trapped in his dull, lifeless, and mysterious home. The home in which Roderick lives in represents he and his sister quite well. The home is quiet,

dark, and somewhat scary for a normal person. Roderick and his sister are both odd people and stand out from the rest. Like Roderick, Madeline, his sister, is also sick. Madeline’s sickness causes frequent and violent seizures. Poe connects Roderick and Madeline to the house by giving them both a sickly demeanor. The houses sickly appearance comes from the unkempt outside, the large crack in the middle of the house, and the dark, lifeless inside of the home. Towards the end of the poem, after a significant turn in events, Poe uses the weather to portray the feelings of the characters. It is a dark stormy night, complete with whirlwinds and mysterious mists. “The impetus fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from out feet. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty” (321). The abrupt and uncontrollable weather perfectly represents the events recently taken place. Poe associates the weather and the crumbling of the home to the uncontrollable and frail Usher family; the house crumbles along with the demise of the family.
Poe, like he did in The Fall of the House of Usher, sets a melancholy mood in the beginning of his poem, The Raven. The poem begins with the narrator, struggling in thought, on a dreary night in December. The narrator is alone in his study and hears a tapping noise, dismissing it under the belief that it is just a late night visitor. “’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered. ‘tapping at my chamber door – / Only this, and nothing more’” (Lines 5-6). At this point, the reader is already getting a spooky vibe from Poe’s poem. The dramatic irony created as soon as the narrator dismisses the noise causes to reader to feel uncomfortable and foreshadows plot events to come. The narrator at first admires the bird upon its arrival, “Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly” (49). The bird mystifies the narrator, who with a a romantic mindset, sets out to befriend the bird. Soon, after failing to answer the narrator’s questions, the Bird upsets the man. The Raven begins to drive the narrator insane and the narrator becomes irate with the bird. “‘Prophet!’ said I, ‘thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil!” (91). The harsh feelings the narrator develops towards the bird is instantly paralleled with the weather Poe establishes. The weather outside is just as unpleasant as the events occurring within the home between the bird and the narrator; the dreary night has evolved into a fierce tempest. The progression in the weather parallels with the narrator’s feelings towards the bird. The plot events are represented also through the progression of the storm, quiet and dull at first but soon they both become uncontrollable.
In each of the stories, Poe blatantly connects both characters and plot events to the setting he establishes. By doing this, Poe adds a whole new dimension to his writing, making it more interesting and thought-provoking for the reader. Not only does it cause the reader to think, it also makes the story easier to understand in some ways. With the setting reflection character’s emotions, the reader can easily determine what the characters are feeling in the story or poem. Without the links between character and the setting, the reader would feel less involved with the writing and the character’s feelings toward the plot events may not be as clear.
In his pieces, The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe very carefully connects the character’s emotions and events of the story to the setting in attempt to create a stronger emotional reaction from the reader. Poe also uses these connections to help the reader further understand the feelings and responses of certain characters towards major plot events. Without these connections, the reader can easily dismiss the importance of setting and also the reader may miss key attributes of each character that Poe otherwise may not be able to communicate.