essay questions for the fall of the house of usher

• The Fall of the House of Usher

by Edgar Allan Poe

The fall of the house of usher essay questions.

Is "The Fall of the House of Usher" a sincere expression of horror, or is Poe simply mocking himself and the reader? To what extent can we read his tale as a parody?

Consider the role of the Narrator. At first he may seem the typical faceless, nameless chronicler of events, simply a window into the narrative through which the reader can examine the real man of the story, Usher himself. But he becomes a character in his own right, and the horror of the tale depends in part on our ability to see events through his experience. How does Poe lend the Narrator the qualities of a character like the others? To what extent is he reliable as a narrator?

Madeline only appears three times in "The Fall of the House of Usher." How do her appearances, explicit and implicit, develop the plot and symbolism of the narrative?

Poe wished to be remembered as a poet, but he is today more famous for his short fiction. Examine the poetic imagination and lyrical writing of the tale. Do more than simply identify the various poetic devices; examine the "poem within the story." How does Poe use the Gothic form to suggest or develop a new form of poetry?

How do words encode actions, and what is the power of words? Consider the fact that the "Mad Trist" narrative parallels the actual sounds in the house. Do the characters give themselves self-fulfilling prophecies?

Why does Poe preface his tale with an excerpt from a poem by de Beranger? What do the lines suggest, and how apt are they for the story?

How does Poe describe the Narrator's progressive understanding of Usher's condition? Does the tale offer insight about consciousness, or are we blocked from ever "knowing" any of the characters? Does Poe's story prefigure the novels of consciousness of the late nineteenth century? Consider the line, for example, "I fancied that I perceived, and for the first time, a full consciousness on the part of Usher, of the tottering of his lofty reason upon her throne."

What exactly is meant by "sentience," and why is this idea important in the story?

Is "The Fall of the House of Usher" a love story, a comedy, or a tragedy?

How does it matter that Roderick and Madeline are brother and sister?

The Fall of the House of Usher Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Fall of the House of Usher is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

describe the room in which Roderick Usher is staying (267).

I would think a quote would be the best example for you. From there you can put these ideas into your own words. It's not hard, give it a try!

The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed,...

which details in Usher's appearance of suggest that he has been cut off from the outside world for many years?

"Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher!"

"A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a...

What forms of artistic expression does Usher share with thr narrator ?

Usher is a painter and he shares his art with the narrator. They also read poetry, stories, and share music.

Study Guide for The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher study guide contains a biography of Edgar Allan Poe, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Fall of the House of Usher
• The Fall of the House of Usher Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe.

• The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe's Predecessors on His Work
• Domains in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'
• Structural Purposes and Aesthetic Sensations of the Narrator's Language of "Fall of the House of Usher" within the Opening Paragraph
• Sonnet “X” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Uncertainty: Poe’s Means, Pynchon’s End

E-Text of The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher e-text contains the full text of The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe.

Wikipedia Entries for The Fall of the House of Usher

• Introduction
• Character descriptions
• Publication history
• Sources of inspiration

92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples

Looking for The Fall of the House of Usher essay topics? A gothic fiction masterpiece by Edgar Allan Poe is worth analyzing!

• 🏰 Thesis Statements
• 🏆 A+ Essay Examples
• 📌 Essay Topics
• 👍 Thesis Ideas

❓ The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Questions

In your The Fall of the House of Usher essay, you might want to focus on the character analysis, themes, symbolism, or historical context of the short story. Whether you’ll have to write an analytical, explanatory, or critical assignment, this article will be helpful. Here we’ve gathered top title ideas, essay examples, and thesis statements on The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Poe.

🏰 The Fall of the House of Usher Thesis Statements

• The key themes of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Poe are madness, isolation, family, and identity.
• Though “The Fall of the House of Usher” is told from first-person point of view, which is typical for Poe, the story is unique: its narrator remains nameless; we don’t know anything about their gender or physical features.
• The word choice and Poe’s writing style of “The Fall of the House of Usher” create a special atmosphere of horror and macabre.
• It is widely accepted that in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe tells a story of his own madness.

🏆 A+ The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Examples

• The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe: The Role of the Narrator The role of the narrator of the story The Fall of the House of Usher is great indeed; his rationality and his ability to represent the events from the side of an immediate participant of […]
• “The Fall of the House of Usher” & “The Cask of Amontillado”: Summaries, Settings, and Main Themes As the narration progresses, fear arises in the reader or viewer, and finally, something horrific happens.”The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of the Amontillado” share all of the features above, as […]
• Madeline in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe Her personality seems perplexing because she appears only three times: toward the middle of the story she passes “through a remote portion of the apartment”; some days after her supposed death she is seen in […]
• Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Black Cat” Meanwhile, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the burial of Madeline was the last farewell to send the woman to her grave.
• “The Birth-Mark” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” Poe in his work, The Fall of the House of Usher and Hawthorne in his work’ The Birthmark; they have employed different literary elements.
• Mini Anthology: Poe Edgar Allan and Dickson Emily’ Works The other story that Poe Allen has written is “The fall of the House of Usher” whereby the main theme is about the haunted house, which is crumbling and this aspects brings out a Gothic […]
• “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe Literature Analysis Although “The Fall of the House of Usher” is traditionally believed to be a timeless horror story and a representation of the deepest human fears, it can also be viewed both as a product of […]
• Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe portrays the Usher family as struggling to survive albeit in a gloomy manner that involves degradation, disease, and death.”The Fall of the House of Usher” is […]
• The Fall of the House of Usher Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story which makes the reader feel fear, depression and guilt from the very first page and up to the final scene.
• The Theme of Love: “The Two Kinds,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and “Hill Like White Elephants” In the “Two Kinds” there is some love between the mother and daughter. This love is depicted in the way the mother prevails upon her daughter to succeed in her studies.
• The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe Ideally, using the subjective understanding of Poe’s work, it is possible to evaluate some of the qualities of the story. At the same time, the setting of the story creates a lot of suspense for […]
• Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher In particular, we may analyze such novellas as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
• Pure Rationality in Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” Finally, the destruction of the Usher’s house can be explained by the fact that its base was not solid and the change in weather conditions caused it destruction.
• Madness in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe Poe uses a wide range of tools to create an uncomfortable mood, yet it is his ability to maintain the balance between reality and madness that shines through the whole story.
• “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “Benito Cereno” The narrator appears surprised of the status of his friend’s house, with the inside appearing as spooky as the compound of the house.
• World’s Disintegration: “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” This is one of the similarities in the style of these writers. This is one of the main details that be identified.
• Evans, Walter. “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Poe’s Theory of the Tale. In this article, Walter Evans discusses the narrative style of Edgar Allan Poe and speaks about the peculiarities of such a short story as The Fall of the House of Usher.
• Comparing and Contrasting Good and Evil The essay is a critical examination of how evil and good are portrayed in two literatures; Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher.

📌 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics

• The Feeling of Scare in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Roderick Usher’s Status and Changing Conditions in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Negative Adjectives in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• The Transformation of the Protagonist in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Poe, “Where Is Here” by Oates, and “The Dream Collector” by Tress
• The Importance of the Setting in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Application of Chiaroscuro in “The Scarlet Letter” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Using the Narrator to Deepen the Tale in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• The Gothic Images and Symbolic Motifs in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Comparison of “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Romantic Elements in “Frankenstein” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• An Analysis of the Imagery of the Supernatural in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Women’s Role in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Setting in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Raven,” and “The Oval Portrait” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Exploring the Theme Behind the Character Names in Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• The Use of Symbolism in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Destruction of the Feminine and Triumph of Society: Homosexuality in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Imagination and Hallucinations in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Irrational Actions Caused by Imagination in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

👍 The Fall of the House of Usher Thesis Ideas

• The Mockery of Transcendentalism in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Psychoanalytical Approach to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• The Dark Themes of Horror, Death, and Romance in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Theme of Incest in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• The Similarity of Roderick Usher and the Narrator in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Irony, Imagination, and Description in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Psycho Sexual Reading of “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• The First Person Point of View in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Comparison of “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell Tale Heart”
• The Literary Elements Used by Edgar Allan Poe in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Feminism in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Overcoming Reasoning Due to Imagination and Fear in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Psychology of Fear in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Imagination and Mental Instability in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Reversal of Transcendental Philosophy in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• A Journey Into the Darkness in “The Fall of the House of Usher”
• Imagination Overcome Fear in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Dual Nature of the Twins and the Conflict in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Character of Madeline in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• The Supernatural Atmosphere in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
• Madness and Insanity in “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado”
• How Does Edgar Allan Poe Use the Supernatural to Create a Neurosis Narration in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Does the Storm at the End of “The Fall of the House of Usher” Symbolize?
• What Are the Fairy Tale Elements in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• To What Does the Narrator Compare the Windows of the House in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• Is “The Fall of the House of Usher” a True Story?
• What Is the True Identity of the Narrator in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Does the House of Usher Look Like in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Is the Climax of “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Are Some Examples That Defy Logic in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Causes Roderick’s Death in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Is the Main Point of “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Does Roderick Usher Represent in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Did Roderick Admit They Had Done Without the Visitor Knowing in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• How Does the Narrator React to Lady Madeline’s Death in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Is the Conflict of “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• Does Imagination Overcome Fear in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe?
• Who Is to Blame for “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Does Roderick Believe Is Causing His Illness in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Was the Main Reason Poe Dropped Out of West Point in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• How Are “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” Similar?
• Why Did Edgar Allan Poe Write “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• How Far Does “The Fall of the House of Usher” Meet With the Conventions of Gothic Fiction?
• How Does Roderick Change After He Announces His Sister’s Death in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Is the Conclusion of “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• How Is Fear Shown in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Are Five Examples of Gothic Elements in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Is the Recurring Symbolism in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Idea About the Relationship Between Art and Life Is Supported by These Elements of the Story “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• Who Was a Tortured Character in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• What Is One of Roderick Usher’s Disturbing Ideas in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 13). 92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-essay-examples/

"92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples." IvyPanda , 13 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples'. 13 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples." December 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples." December 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "92 The Fall of the House of Usher Essay Topics & Examples." December 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-essay-examples/.

• The Yellow Wallpaper Ideas
• A Rose for Emily Research Topics
• The Story of an Hour Essay Ideas
• Life of Pi Essay Titles
• The Awakening Questions
• One Hundred Years of Solitude Titles
• The Metamorphosis Research Topics
• Allegory of the Cave Topics

The Fall of the House of Usher

46 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Introduction

Before Reading

Reading Context

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Discussion/Analysis Prompt

Essay Questions

Exam Questions

Exam Answer Key

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Get access to this full Teaching Guide and much more!

• 7,650+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 4,850+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

The SuperSummary difference

• 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
• Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
• 175 + new titles every month

1. Poe’s stories are often unclear about whether the mysterious occurrences are natural or supernatural.

• Are the events of the story mostly natural, a delusion, supernatural, or a mix of these? ( topic sentence )
• Identify three representative events, descriptions, or ideas in the story that relate to your topic sentence on Supernatural Versus Rational Explanations . Discuss how each one might be explained as either natural or supernatural.
• In conclusion, what is the likeliest explanation for the mysterious happenings in the story?

2. Part of Poe’s style involves the creative use of syntax .

• How does the author use words and sentences to create a mood of melancholy, confusion, or fear? ( topic sentence )

Don't Miss Out!

Access Teaching Guide Now

Related Titles

By Edgar Allan Poe

A Dream Within a Dream

Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee

The Black Cat

The Cask of Amontillado

The Conqueror Worm

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

The Gold Bug

The Haunted Palace

The Imp of the Perverse

The Man of the Crowd

The Masque of the Red Death

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket

The Oval Portrait

The Philosophy of Composition

Featured Collections

American Literature

View Collection

Required Reading Lists

Romanticism / Romantic Period

Short Story Collections

Poe's Stories

Edgar allan poe, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 24, 2021

Long considered Edgar Allan Poe ‘s masterpiece, “The Fall of the House of Usher” continues to intrigue new generations of readers. The story has a tantalizingly horrific appeal, and since its publication in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, scholars, critics, and general readers continue to grapple with the myriad possible reasons for the story’s hold on the human psyche. These explanations range from the pre-Freudian to the pre–Waste Land and pre-Kafka-cum-nihilist to the biographical and the cultural. Indeed, despite Poe’s distaste for Allegory, some critics view the house as a Metaphor for the human psyche (Strandberg 705). Whatever conclusion a reader reaches, none finds the story an easy one to forget.

Poe’s narrative technique draws us immediately into the tale. On a stormy autumn (with an implied pun on the word fall ?) evening, a traveler—an outsider, like the reader—rides up to the Usher mansion. This traveler, also the first-person narrator and boyhood friend of Roderick Usher, the owner of the house, has arrived in response to a summons from Usher. We share the narrator’s responses to the gloomy mood and the menacing facade of the House of Usher, noticing, with him, the dank lake that reflects the house (effectively doubling it, like the Usher twins we will soon meet) and apprehensively viewing the fissure, or crack, in the wall. Very soon we understand that, whatever else it may mean, the house is a metaphor for the Usher family itself and that if the house is seriously flawed, so are its occupants.

With this foreboding introduction, we enter the interior through a Gothic portal with the narrator. With him we encounter Roderick Usher, who has changed drastically since last the narrator saw him. His cadaverous appearance, his nervousness, his mood swings, his almost extrahuman sensitivity to touch, sound, taste, smell, and light, along with the narrator’s report that he seems lacking in moral sense, portrays a deeply troubled soul. We learn, too, that his twin sister, Madeline, a neurasthenic woman like her brother, is subject to catatonic trances. These two characters, like the house, are woefully, irretrievably flawed. The suspense continues to climb as we go deeper into the dark house and, with the narrator, attempt to fathom Roderick’s malady.

Roderick, a poet and an artist, and Madeline represent the last of the Usher line. They live alone, never venturing outside. The sympathetic narrator does all he can to ease Roderick’s hours, recounting a ballad by Roderick, which, entitled “The Haunted House,” speaks figuratively of the House of Usher: Evil and discord possess the house, echoing the decay the narrator has noticed on the outside. During his stay Roderick tells the narrator that Madeline has died, and together they place her in a vault; she looks deceptively lifelike. Thereafter Roderick’s altered behavior causes the narrator to wonder whether he hides a dark secret or has fallen into madness. A week or so later, as a storm rages outside, the narrator seeks to calm his host by reading to him a romance entitled “The Mad Trist.” The title could be evidence that both the narrator’s diagnoses are correct: Roderick has a secret (perhaps he has trysted with his own sister?) and is now utterly mad. The tale unfolds parallel to the action in the Usher house: As Ethelred, the hero of the romance, breaks through the door and slays the hermit, Madeline, not dead after all, breaks though her coffin. Just before she appears at the door, Roderick admits that they have buried her alive and that she now stands at the door. Roderick’s admission is too late. Just as Ethelred now slays the dragon, causing the family shield to fall at his feet, Madeline falls on her brother (the hermit who never leaves the house), killing them both and bringing down the last symbol of the House of Usher. As the twins collapse in death together, the entire house disintegrates into the lake, destroying the double image noted at the opening of the story.

The story raises many questions tied to gender issues: Is Madeline Roderick’s female double, or doppelgänger? If, as many critics suggest, Roderick is Poe’s self-portrait, then do Madeline and Roderick represent the feminine and masculine sides of the author? Is incest at the core of Roderick’s relationship with Madeline? Is he (like his creator, some would suggest) a misogynist? Feminists have for some time now pointed to Poe’s theory that the most poetic subject in the world is the “Death of a Beautiful Woman.” Is Madeline’s return from the tomb a feminist revenge story? Does she, as the Ethelred of the romance does, adopt the male role of the hero as she slays the evil hermit and the evil dragon, who together symbolize Roderick’s character? Has the mad Roderick made the narrator complicit in his crime (saying we rather than I buried her alive)? If so, to what extent must we view him as the unreliable narrator? Is the narrator himself merely reporting a dream—or the after-effects of opium, as he vaguely intimates at points in the story? Or, as the critic and scholar Eugene Current-Garcia suggests, can we generally agree that Poe, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, was haunted by the presence of evil? If so, “perhaps most of his tales should be read as allegories of nightmarish, neurotic states of mind” (Current-Garcia 81). We may never completely plumb the psychological complexities of this story, but it implies deeply troubling questions and nearly endless avenues for interpretation.

Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s Stories

BIBLIOGRAPHY Current-Garcia, Eugene. The American Short Story before 1850. Boston: Twayne, 1985. May, Charles E. Edgar Allan Poe: Studies in the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” In The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 3rd ed. Edited by Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 1998. Strandberg, Victor. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” In Reference Guide to Short Fiction, edited by Noelle Watson. Detroit: Gale Press, 1994.

Share this:

Categories: Literature , Mystery Fiction , Short Story

Tags: American Literature , Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , criticism of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , Edgar Allan Poe , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher appreciation , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher guide , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher notes , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher plot , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher structure , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher summary , Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher themes , Essays of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , Gothic Literature , guide of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , Literary Criticism , Notes of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , plot of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , structure of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , Summary of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher , Themes of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher

Related Articles

You must be logged in to post a comment.

(92) 336 3216666

[email protected]

• The Fall of the House of Usher

Background of the Story

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is a short story published in 1839 in American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in Gentleman’s Magazine by Burton and later included in the collection Tales of Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. The story is a work of Gothic Fiction and deals with the themes of isolation, madness, family, and metaphysical identities.

Hezekiah Usher House could provide a source of inspiration for Poe’s story. The house was located in the Usher estate. The house was built in 1684 and was relocated in 1830. The sources indicate that the owner of the house caught a sailor and his young wife in the house and entombed them in their place of trysting. In 1830, when the house was torn down, two bodies were found in the cellar cavity.

The short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” is regarded as the best example of the totality of Poe as every detail and element in the short story is relevant and related.

The characteristic element of Poe’s work is the presence of capacious and disintegrating houses; such houses in the stories symbolize the destruction of the human soul and the human body.

This short story illustrates the ability of Poe to create an emotional tone in his work by employing feelings such as guilt, doom, and fear. The emotions are central to the personality of Roderick Usher, who has been suffering from an unknown disease like many of the characters of Edger Allan Poe.

Like the narrator of the story of “Tell-Tale Heart,” the hyperactive senses of Roderick Usher are inflamed by his disease. Even though the illness is displayed physically, it is based on the moral and mental state of Roderick Usher. His sickness is suggestive because he is expected to be sick based on the illness in his family’s history. Moreover, he buries his sister alive to fulfill his self-creating prophecy.

The Fall of the House of Usher Summary

The short story opens with an unnamed narrator who approaches House of Usher on the dark, dull, and soundless day. The house belongs to his boyhood friend Roderick Usher. The house is mysterious and gloomy. The narrator noticed the diseased atmosphere and absorbed evil in the house from the murky pond and decaying trees around the house. He also observes that even though the house appears to be decaying, its structure is fairly solid. In front of the building, there is no small crack from the roof to the ground.

The narrator has visited the house because Roderick Usher has sent him a letter that sincerely asks him to give him company. In the letter, Roderick has mentioned that he has been physically and emotionally ill due to which the narrator has rushed to help his friend.

The narrator then mentions the Usher family. He says that though they are an ancient clan, they have never flourished. From generation to generation, only one member of the family survives. Therefore, they formed a direct line of descent with no branches from outside. With its estate, the Usher family becomes so much identified that people often confuse the inhabitants with the home.

The narrator further mentions that the inside of the house is as scary and frightening as inside. He goes to the room where Roderick is waiting for him. He observes him be less energetic and paler. Roderick tells him that he is suffering from fear and nerves, and his senses get heightened.

The narrator also mentions that Roderick appears to be afraid of his own house. Madeline, the sister of Roderick, is taken with a mysterious illness that cannot be cured by the doctors. She is perhaps suffering from catalepsy in which one loses the control of his/her limbs. To cheer up his friend, the narrator spends several days with him. He listens to his friend and plays guitar. He also reads stories to him; however, he is able to lift the spirit of Roderick. Soon afterward, Roderick claims that the house is unhealthy.

Madeline dies, and Roderick resolves to bury her in the house temporarily. Since her disease was rare and unique, he fears that the doctors may take her dead body scientific research, so he wants to keep her in house. The narrator helps his friend to put Madeline’s body in the tomb and observes that her cheeks are rosy. He also realizes that Madeline and Roderick were twins.

With passing days, Roderick becomes more uncomfortable. The narrator was unable to sleep one night. Roderick knocks on the door in a hysterical state. He takes the narrator to the window. The see a bright-looking gas nearby the house. The narrator tells him that such gas is natural; there is nothing uncommon in it.

In order to pass the night, the narrator reads a story to Roderick. He reads Sir Launcelot Canning’s “Mad Twist,” a medieval romance. When he reads the story, he starts hearing the noises that resemble the description in the story. Initially, he ignores the noises thinking it to be his imagination. However, the noises become more clear and more distinct after some time that it cannot be ignored.

He also observes that Roderick has fallen over his chair and is muttering to himself. To listen to him, the narrator approaches him. Roderick discloses that he has been hearing such noises for days and thinks that they have buried Madeline alive. It is Madeline trying to escape. He cries that she is standing behind him. The door opens with the wind blowing, and Madeline was standing behind it in a white bloodied robe. She instantly attacks him, and he dies of fear. The narrator runs from the house. As soon as he escapes, the house of Usher cracks and crumbles to the ground.

Roderick Usher

He is the owner of the Usher estate. He is the last surviving male member of the Usher Family. He acts as a twin of his sister, Madeline. He illustrates himself as a mind to her body and suffers from the mental counterpart of his sister’s physical illness.

Roderick is one of the character doubles of Edger Allan Poe. He is a bookish and intellectual man while his sister is sick and bedridden. Roderick’s mental inability to differentiate from reality and fantasy correspond to his sister’s physical weakness. These characters are employed by Poe to explore the relationship and philosophical mystery between body and mind.

Poe imagines what would happen if the connection between the body and mind are served and assigned to different people. The imagery of the twin and the incestuous history in Ushers’ family line shows Roderick is inseparable from his sister. Poe maintains the idea that even though the mind and body are inseparable, they depend on each other for survival. When one of the elements suffers from a breakdown, the interdependence causes a chain reaction. The physical death of Madeline parallels the collapse of Roderick’s sanity and the house of Usher.

Madeline Usher

She is the twin sister of Roderick; she is suffering from mysterious illness catalepsy. When the narrator discovers that she is the twin sister of his friend, it points out the outsider’s relationship of the narrator to the house of Usher.

Unnamed narrator

He is the boyhood friend of Roderick. Roderick contacted him when he was suffering from emotional and mental distress. He does not know much about the house of Usher and is the first outsider to visit the house in many years.

The short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is an account of a madman whose sickness is suggestive because of the sickness in the family line. His fears are apparent and manifest themselves through the sentient and supernatural family estate. The story deals with both mental and physical illness and its effects on people who are close to you.

Much of the apparent madness in the story does not appear to be due to supernatural elements. The main character is not really crazy or mad. However, the house he lives in is haunted. Considering this, one can interpret that Roderick does not bury his sister alive, but she is back from the dead. One can also interpret that madness is imaginary.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is an account of a family that is self-isolated, bizarre, and so remote from normalcy that the very existence of this family has become supernatural and eerie. The bond between the brother and sister is inexplicable and intense. It could possibly be supernatural or incestuous. This between them even surpasses death. One can interpret that twin siblings are actually one person that is split into two. That is why they are inseparable from each other.

The story deals with the family that is so remote and isolated from the world that they have developed their own non-existing barriers to interact with the world outside. The house of Usher has its own reality and is governed by its own rules, with people having no interest in others. This extreme isolation makes the family closer and closes to the extent that they become inexplicable to the outside world.

The idea of fear is worse for Roderick Usher than the object he fears. In fact, it is fear that causes his death in the story. One can interpret the last action in a way that fear of any occurrence manifests it in real life. Roderick has feared his death, and he brings his own death.

The short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” shows a split-personality disorder in a dramatized way. The tale explores the various aspects of identity and the means through which these aspects could possibly be fractioned. The story emphasized the difference between the mental and physical parts and how these parts interact with each other.

Literary Analysis

The short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” contains a quintessential characteristic of gothic fiction. There is a dreary landscape, haunted house, mysterious sickness, and double personality. Even though the gothic elements in the story are easily identifiable, some of the terror in the story is because of its vagueness. The readers cannot identify the location of the house or when the story takes place. Instead of using standard narrative markers, Poe employed gothic elements such as a barren landscape and inclement weather.

The readers are left alone with the narrator as it is such a haunted place. Even though the narrator is the boyhood friend of Roderick, he does not know much about him – even he does not know the basic fact about him that he has a twin sister. Poe makes the readers ponder on why Roderick contacts the narrator in his state of need and the persistence of the response of the narrator.

Though Poe gives the identifiable elements of the Gothic take, he contrasts the standard form of a tale with the plot that is sudden, inexplicable, and filled with unexpected interruptions. The story opens without providing complete information about the motives of the narrator’s arrival at the house of Usher. This ambiguity sets the plot of the story that vague the real and the fantastic.

Edger Allan Poe also creates a claustrophobic sensation in his story. The narrator of the story is trapped in the charm of Roderick’s attraction, and he cannot escape it until the house of Usher completely collapses. Because of the structure of the house, the characters cannot act or move freely in the house. Thus the house is assumed to be a monstrous character/structure in itself. It is a mastermind that controls the actions and fate of its residents.

Poe also creates confusion between the inanimate and living objects by doubling the house of Usher to the genetic family line of the Usher family. The narrator refers to the house of Usher as the family line of the Usher Family.

Even though he metaphorically employs the word “house,” he also uses it to describe the real house. The narrator is not only trapped inside the house, but the house also describes the biological fate of the family as well, as the Usher family has no branches, all the genetic transformation takes place through incestuous relationships within the domain of the house. The people and peasantry also confuse the house with the family as the physical structure effectively portrays the genetic pattern of the family.

The claustrophobia of the house of Usher has a deep influence on the relationship among the characters of the story. Due to claustrophobia, the narrator is not able to realize that Roderick and Madeline are twins. He realizes when they prepare to entomb her dead body. Moreover, he is confined, and the cramped setting of the tomb metaphorically characterizes the characters. The twins are so similar, and it is impossible for them to develop separately. Because of Madeline’s similarity to Roderick, she has been buried before she is actually dead, and this similarity is shown by the coffin that holds her identity.

Madeline appears to be suffering from the typical problems of nineteen-century women. All of her identity is invested in her body. While on the other hand, Roderick possesses intellectual powers. However, when Madeline comes out from the tomb, she possesses more power in the story and counteracts the weak, immobile, and nervous disposition of her brother.

Some scholars and critics argue that the character of Madeline does not exist at all. They have reduced her to the shared figment of the imagination of the narrator and Roderick. However, Madeline appears to be central to the claustrophobic and symmetrical logic of the story. Madeline suppresses Roderick by not permitting him to see her separate or essentially different from him. This attack is completed when she finally attacks and kills him at the end of the story.

Throughout the story, there is a doubling. The story emphasizes the Gothic character of the doppelganger. Doppelganger is the character double and portrays the doubling of the literary forms or inanimate structures. For example, the narrator observes that the mansion is a reflection in the shallow pool or tarn that joins the front of the house. The house is doubled through its image in the tarn; however, the image is upside down, which characterizes the relationship between Madeline and Roderick.

The story also alludes to many other works of literature. It alludes to the poems “Mad Trist” and “The Haunted Palace” by Sir Launcelot Canning. These poems are composed by Poe; however, in the story, he attributed these poems to the other sources. Both of these poems counteract and therefore predict the plotline of the story. The poem “Mad Trist” is about breaking into the dwelling of a hermit by Ethelred and mirrors Madeline’s escape from the tomb.

The overpass of the border is vitally related to the Gothic horror of the story. Poe’s experience in the magazine industry makes him excessively obsessed with word games and codes. This story highlights his obsession with naming characters. The word “Usher” not only refers to the family of the mansion. It is actually the act of crossing a border that carries the narrator into the tenacious world of Madeline and Roderick.

The letters of Roderick ushers the narrator into an unknowable world. And maybe the presence of narration – an outsider – leads to the destruction of the house. The narrator is excluded from the Usher’s fear of the outsider, a fear that highlights the claustrophobic nature of the story. The narrator unwittingly draws the whole structure by undermining the fear of the outside. The poem “Mad Trist” and Madeline escapes also show the similar yet playful crossing of the borders. Thus Poe buries the pun in tales in an invented severity of medieval romance, and this earned him popularity in the magazines of America.

The tone of the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” is deliberate. It is a terrifying story. The narrator of the story is the center of the strange parts of the story. However, an important point should be kept in mind that the story is narrated in retrospect; that is why the deliberate tone of the story is not compromised by the frantic mania of a terrified narrator.

For example, considering the second last paragraph of the story:

“For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold,—then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.”

Poe unfolds the story in a calm and careful manner by keeping a respectful distance from the inexpressible details and maintains the perspective of the narrator on the crazy events going on. Such a calm approach to terrifying and uncommon events is horrifying.

The story “The Fall of the House of Usher” belongs to the Gothic Fiction. There is a sentient house, an underground tomb, a dead body, and dark and stormy nights. All of these feature a tale as Gothic fiction. “Supernatural Gothic” is one of the subgenres of Gothic fiction. In supernatural gothic, weird, and strange things, happenings can be attributed to the supernatural happening.

Moreover, the inexplicable diseases of the mind and body in Roderick Usher and Madeline Usher show the story belongs to the genre of Gothic or horror fiction.

The title of the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” can be interpreted in various ways. The first interpretation can be of the actual fall of the house of Usher. The House of Usher is the place or mansion that the narrator visits and the main action of the story occur. The house of Usher falls at the end of the story into the pool of water situated before the house. The small crack that the narrator sees when he enters the house foreshadows the fall of the house. Since from the beginning of the story, the readers see that there is something wrong with the house, and certainly, the fissure/crack splits the house and destroys it.

Now comes the symbolic interpretation of the house of Usher. The narrator tells the readers the term “The House of Usher” does not only refer to the house but also the family dwelling in the house and the Usher bloodline. The title does not only refer to the literal fall of the house but also to the fall of the Usher family with the death of Roderick Usher. The narrator mentions that Roderick and his sister Madeline are the only two surviving family members, so their death makes the death of the family line.

The decline of the Usher family is also foreshadowed in the story. Roderick Usher prophecies his death to the narrator in the manner it really occurs. Roderick claims that he will die of fear. However, it is worth noting that the death of Roderick is another literal fall.

All of the falls in the novel, the fall of Roderick, the fall of the bloodline of the Usher Family, and the fall of the house, occurs at the same time at the end of the story. This coincidence illustrates the fantastical nature of the story.

The setting of the novel is several dark and stormy nights and the haunted mansion. Any particular geographic location of the story or the time of occurrence is completely unknown to the readers. However, the atmosphere and the mood of the setting are far more important than the time and place of the setting. Poe creates a powerful atmosphere. The first of the many settings of the house, Poe describes the outside of the house as spooky. There is an ominous fissure that runs down the center of the house.

Poe creates a more scary setting inside the house. Even though the corridors in the house are filled with the apparently ordinary things, they scream out horror. Moreover, another horrific element of the story is the dank underground tomb. It is masterfully-crafted mini-setting the house of Usher.

The mansion is carefully crafted to emphasize the atmosphere and mood of the story. There are creepy furnishings and tapestries inside the house. The story becomes claustrophobic when the readers know that Roderick Usher has not left the house in ages. In fact, once entered, the narrator also does not leave the house until the story ends.

Writing Style

The writing style of the short story is ornate and rhythmic. Edgar Allan Poe is known for his melodramatic macabre. “The Fall of the House of Usher” indeed bears the mark of this authorial stamp. The story is widely admired for its nearly-poetic rhetoric. For example, the first sentence contains the phrase “singularly dreary tract of country.” The length and weight of the “y” sound are in contrast with the hard and cutting “c” sound in the next two sentences. Moreover, the last sentence also contains rhythmic style as “

“the deep and dark tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the ‘House of Usher.’” 

There are lots of more rhythmic gems in the story. 

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

Reality and art.

In the story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” strangely mingles the real with the fictional. The artistic creation of Roderick is directly connected to what happens in the house of Usher. He creates an underground tomb and then entombed Madeline in the tomb. He then prophecies about the destruction of the house, and the house is destroyed. He yells that Madeline is standing behind the door, and when the door opens with the storm, she is standing. Even at the beginning of the story, Roderick claims that he will die because of fear, and he does indeed die because of fear.  

One can assume that Roderick can see the future with his lustrous and magical eyes. He is aware of the upcoming events, and he speaks about them before. One can also assume that Roderick causes the things to happen; that is why he is preoccupied with the fear that he manifests in reality. 

Besides art mirroring or foreshadowing reality in the story, the other thing such as “reflection” and “doubling” is also going on in the story. When the story opens, we see that the narrator observes the inverted image of the house of Usher in the water pool that lies in front of the house. Moreover, there is also an inverted dichotomy between Roderick Usher and Madeline Usher. 

The House of Usher

The narrator tells the readers the term “The House of Usher” refers to the house and the family dwelling in the house and the Usher bloodline. The title does not only refer to the literal fall of the house but also to the fall of the Usher family with the death of Roderick Usher. The narrator mentions that Roderick and his sister Madeline are the only two surviving family members, so their death makes the death of the family line. 

The decline of the Usher family is also foreshadowed in the story. Roderick Usher prophecies his death to the narrator in the manner it really occurs. Roderick claims that he will die of fear. However, it is worth noting that the death of Roderick is another literal fall.   

The Small Fissure

The narrator, while entering the House of Usher, sees a small crack in the house, this crack not only refers to the crack in the house, but also the crack in the Usher family. There is a symbolic connection between the literal fissure and the metaphorical fissure. This small fissure shows disruption in the family, specifically between Roderick and Usher. This small fissure splits the family and the house of Usher. 

Narrator Point of View

The story “The House of Usher is narrated in the first person with the peripheral narrator. The narrator of the story is nameless, suggesting that his only job is to narrate the story. The readers are not provided much information about the narrator. Instead of focusing on the narrator, much of the interest of the readers are drawn towards the strange events that are being narrated. 

The narrator insists on portraying all of the happenings in the house of Usher with vivid and accurate descriptions. This description is one of the most interesting things to note and very futile to observe.  For example, the narrator writes that 

“…an influence, whose supposititious force was conveyed in terms too shadowy here to be re-stated. 

“I would in vain endeavour to reduce more than a small portion which should lie within the compass of merely written words.” 

“I should fail in any attempt to convey an idea of the exact character of the studies, or of the occupations, in which he involved me.” 

One of the most interesting statements made by the narrator is:

“I lack words to express the full extent, or the earnest abandon of his persuasion.” 

In this statement, the narrator is more like pointing out towards something. By claiming the events in real life are scarier and horrifying that it sounds like the story, Poe tries to render his story more horrifying. Whatever the narrator is telling is actually happening, and the real happening was even worse than that. 

Moreover, there is a mixture of reality and fiction in the narration. Whatever the narrator is reading aloud to Roderick also manifests in reality. Over here, the narrator tries to explain that words are insufficient to describe reality. The words he reads to Roderick Usher turns real. So one can say that the fictional words, read by the narrator to Roderick, are prophetic words that foreshadow or prophesize the upcoming events. These words are similar to the words of Roderick in which he prophesied his death early at the beginning of the story. Thus one can say the narration of the story is prophetic in nature.

More From Edgar Allan Poe

• A Dream Within a Dream

Short Stories

• The Tell Tale Heart
• The Masque of the Red Death

The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay

The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story is about the fall of the house of Usher, and the events that lead up to it. The story is narrated by an unnamed person who tells the story of his visit to the house of Usher, and the events that transpired there. The house of Usher is haunted by the ghost of Madeline Usher, who died under mysterious circumstances.

The narrator is interested in finding out what happened to Madeline, and he begins to suspect that her brother, Roderick Usher, may have had something to do with her death. The narrator eventually learns that Roderick has been cursed by Madeline’s ghost, and that the house will soon fall apart.

The house of Usher eventually falls apart, and Roderick dies in the process. The story is a classic example of Gothic fiction, and it has been praised for its chilling atmosphere and suspenseful plot. The Fall of the House of Usher is considered to be one of Poe’s best works, and it has been adapted into a number of films and television shows.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a classic example of Gothic fiction. The story is set in a dark and spooky house, and it is filled with suspenseful scenes and mysterious characters. The plot revolves around the fall of the house of Usher, and the events that lead up to it. The story is narrated by an unnamed person who tells the story of his visit to the house of Usher, and the events that transpired there. The house of Usher is haunted by the ghost of Madeline Usher, who died under mysterious circumstances.

The narrator is interested in finding out what happened to Madeline, and he begins to suspect that her brother, Roderick Usher, may have had something to do with her death. The narrator eventually learns that Roderick has been cursed by Madeline’s ghost, and that the house will soon fall apart. The house of Usher eventually falls apart, and Roderick dies in the process.

The House of Usher is a gloomy castle inside the city limits of Ravenswood, Illinois. The family has become sick with strange maladies that may be linked to their intermarriage.

The family estate, named Usher, is said to be haunted by the ghost of Madeline’s mother. The house itself seems to be alive and is in a state of decay. The story progresses with Roderick telling his friend, Philip, about the day that Madeline died. She was found in a pool of her own blood and there was a great gash on her forehead (Jacobs and Roberts, pg. 463). The servants refused to go back into the house, so Roderick had to bury her himself.

Roderick fears that he will also die and leave Usher without an heir. He tells Philip that he has been studying the secrets of life and death and that he may have found a way to cheat death. Philip is apprehensive about this, but goes to stay at Usher anyhow. Roderick shows him around the house and leads him down into the crypt. There, they find a hidden door that leads them down into the bowels of the earth (Jacobs and Roberts, pg. 465). They enter a dark and dreary chamber where Madeline’s body is entombed. The air is thick with moisture and it smells of death. The sound of dripping water can be heard from all directions.

Roderick tells Philip that he has been bringing Madeline back to life by giving her doses of a potion that he has made himself. He believes that he can bring her back completely by using an elixir that he has also made. Philip is horrified by all of this and tells Roderick that he needs to get out of the house. The next day, Madeline’s body is found in her bed and it appears that she has died in her sleep (Jacobs and Roberts, pg. 466). The funeral is held and Roderick mourns his sister’s death.

Shortly after the funeral, strange things start happening at Usher. The walls seem to be closing in on Roderick and he complains about the oppressive atmosphere of the house. The windows are boarded up and there is no way for any light or air to enter (Jacobs and Roberts, pg. 467).

Madness, the supernatural, and artistic purpose are all recurring themes in “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The Usher family is known for its history of incest, which has resulted in recent generations including Roderick being afflicted with madness.

The supernatural: The house of Usher is said to be haunted and is full of secret passages and hidden rooms. The narrator is not sure whether the events that take place in the story are caused by the supernatural or by Roderick’s mental illness, but either way, the house exerts a powerful grip on the family. Artistic purpose: The story is written in such a way that it blurs the line between reality and fiction.

The reader is never quite sure what is really happening, which may be intentional on Poe’s part. Some critics have interpreted “The Fall of the House of Usher” as a commentary on the Romantic movement, which was at its peak when Poe wrote the story. Romanticism prized emotion over reason and emphasized individualism and creativity. The story may be seen as an attack on these values, or as a warning against their dangers.

A man discovers a savage family curse while visiting his fiancée’s family home, and he worries that his future brother-in-law has prematurely entombed his bride-to-be. Philip Winthrop contacts his girlfriend Madeline Usher at her home. Roderick, Madeline’s brother, is particularly irritated by Philip’s presence.

The siblings have a strange, but close, bond. Winthrop learns from Madeline that their family is cursed and that Roderick believes she died prematurely. The locals whisper about the house’s malignant influence. Winthrop tries to persuade Madeline to leave the house for her own safety, but she refuses.

Roderick tells Winthrop about an incident in which he and Madeline were swimming in a nearby river. Madeline saw a vision of her death and became so terrified that she drowned while trying to get back to shore. Roderick was able to save her, but since that day he has been convinced that she has an “evil eye.”

Winthrop soon realizes that Roderick has entombed Madeline alive in the family crypt.

Roderick finally agrees to release Madeline from her tomb, but only if Winthrop stays and watches over her. The morbid agreement gives Winthrop just enough time to realize that he is also cursed and that he will soon join Madeline and Roderick in death. The mansion’s oppressive atmosphere overwhelms him, and he dies screaming. The story concludes with a description of the Usher family home crumbling into ruins.

More Essays

• Essay on The Fall Of The House Of Usher Summary
• What Is The Mood In The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay
• Imagery In The Fall Of The House Of Usher
• Usher Supernatural
• Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Edgar Allan Poe Gothic Elements
• Hubris In Things Fall Apart
• Irony In A Doll’s House
• Hawthornes Symbolism In The House Of Seven Gables
• A Doll’s House Analysis Essay

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

English Studies

This website is dedicated to English Literature, Literary Criticism, Literary Theory, English Language and its teaching and learning.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe: Critique

“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe appeared in 1839 and tells the story of a young man, the narrator, who visits his friend Roderick Usher, a reclusive and eccentric aristocrat, in his decaying and isolated mansion.

Introduction: “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe: A Critique

Table of Contents

“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe appeared in 1839 and tells the story of a young man, the narrator, who visits his friend Roderick Usher, a reclusive and eccentric aristocrat, in his decaying and isolated mansion. As the story unfolds, the reader learns of the Usher family’s dark and twisted history, and witnesses the mental and physical decay of both the house and its inhabitants. Through its eerie and haunting atmosphere, vivid imagery, and exploration of the themes of madness and the supernatural, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is considered one of Poe’s most celebrated and influential works of Gothic fiction.

Main Events in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

• Summoning: The narrator receives a letter from his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, pleading for his presence at the Usher estate.
• Arrival and observation: Upon arrival, the narrator notes an atmosphere of decay surrounding both the mansion and Roderick Usher himself.
• Roderick’s condition: Usher reveals a debilitating mental illness characterized by hypersensitivity, morbid dread, and a belief in the house’s sentience.
• Madeline’s illness: Roderick’s twin sister, Madeline, suffers from a mysterious, wasting condition that eventually renders her catatonic.
• Premature entombment: Madeline is declared dead, and Roderick insists on placing her within a family vault beneath the mansion.
• Narrator’s unease: The narrator experiences a growing sense of dread and observes strange occurrences within the house, mirroring Usher’s deteriorating mental state.
• Heightened tension: During a tumultuous storm, Usher becomes increasingly unhinged, claiming to hear sounds emanating from Madeline’s tomb.
• Madeline’s escape: Madeline, alive but gravely weakened, reappears in the chamber, fulfilling Usher’s terrifying prophecies.
• Fatal collapse: Overcome by abject terror, Roderick dies. Madeline falls upon him and expires.
• Narrator’s flight: The narrator flees the disintegrating mansion, witnessing its structural failure.
• House collapses: A widening fissure in the facade causes the House of Usher to collapse entirely, sinking into the surrounding tarn.
• Symbolic annihilation: The destruction of the house represents the final demise of the Usher bloodline.

Literary Devices in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Characterization in “the fall of the house of usher” by edgar allan poe, roderick usher.

• Physical Decay: His appearance is strikingly deteriorated: “gray-white skin,” “eyes large and full of light,” “hair of great softness.” This reflects the decay of the Usher family and his own mental decline.
• Hypersensitivity: His senses are painfully heightened, leading him to be overwhelmed by light, sounds, and textures. This symbolizes his extreme psychological fragility.
• Mental Instability: Plagued by crippling anxiety and a “morbid acuteness of the senses,” Roderick experiences a world distorted by fear and paranoia. His art and music also reflect this instability.
• Obsession with the Supernatural: Roderick is fascinated by the idea of the house having sentience, believing it wields power over him. This suggests a blurring of reality and fantasy in his mind.
• Familial Connection: Roderick is consumed by the Usher lineage and fears the dwindling of his bloodline with Madeline’s illness. This obsession binds him to the house and its decay.
• Paralysis of Will: Despite being aware of his deteriorating state, Roderick is incapable of breaking free from his fears and seems resigned to his fate.

The Narrator

• Outsider Perspective: Serves as a relatively normal, rational observer, highlighting the strangeness of the situation and Roderick’s decline by contrast.
• Growing Unease: The narrator starts as a concerned friend but becomes increasingly infected by the house’s oppressive atmosphere and Roderick’s anxiety.
• Sympathetic yet Limited: While he tries to help Roderick, the narrator cannot comprehend the depth of his friend’s mental anguish. His descriptions also shape our perception of the events.

Madeline Usher

• Ethereal Presence: Madeline is characterized by her illness, “wasting away” and being described as a spectral figure. This creates a sense of mystery and impending doom.
• Symbol of Repression: Her premature burial can be read as a symbol of Roderick’s buried fears and subconscious anxieties.
• The Return of the Repressed: Madeline’s climactic escape from the vault represents the uncontrollable return of what Roderick tried to suppress, ultimately leading to his demise.
• Poe emphasizes Roderick’s mental state over his actions, creating a study in psychological horror.
• The ambiguity of the narrator’s reliability enhances the eerie atmosphere and invites multiple interpretations.
• The characters embody themes of decay, the power of fear, and the inescapable weight of the past.

Major Themes in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Theme 1: The Destructive Power of Fear

• Roderick Usher’s mental state is dominated by an all-consuming, formless fear. He states, “I shall die of this fool’s sickness. In this way, this way and no other way, I shall be lost. I fear what will happen in the future, not for what happens, but for the result of what happens.” His fear erodes his sanity and ultimately leads to his death.
• The oppressive atmosphere of the house itself seems to reflect and amplify Roderick’s fear, suggesting a link between the external environment and internal psychological states.
• The climactic return of Madeline, driven by her own fear of premature burial, reinforces the idea that fear can take on a destructive, uncontrollable power.

Theme 2: The Inevitability of Decay

• The House of Usher is in a state of advanced decay, both physically (the fissure in the facade) and metaphorically (the dwindling of the Usher bloodline). This symbolizes the inevitable decline of all things, both living and inanimate.
• Roderick’s physical and mental deterioration parallel the deterioration of the house. His hypersensitivity and mental instability mirror the fragility of his ancestral home.
• Madeline’s wasting illness further exemplifies physical decay, foreshadowing the ultimate collapse of both the Usher line and the family’s physical dwelling.

Theme 3: The Influence of Environment on the Psyche

• Roderick believes the House of Usher exerts a supernatural influence over him, shaping his thoughts and fears. He declares, “I feel that the time will soon arrive when I must lose my life, and my mind, and my soul, together, in some last battle with that horrible enemy: fear!”
• The narrator also becomes increasingly affected by the house’s oppressive atmosphere, his own anxiety mirroring Roderick’s. This suggests that environments can profoundly influence our mental and emotional states.
• The decaying mansion, with its gloomy atmosphere and lifeless surroundings, contributes to the characters’ sense of isolation and psychological deterioration.

Theme 4: The Blurring of Reality and the Supernatural

• Roderick’s belief in the house’s sentience and his obsession with the occult suggest an unstable grasp on reality. His perceptions are distorted by his fears and anxieties.
• The ambiguous nature of Madeline’s return from the vault leaves open the possibility of a supernatural event. Was it truly a resurrection, or is it a manifestation of Roderick’s guilt and fear brought to life?
• The story’s gothic atmosphere and unreliable narration create a sense of unease where the boundaries between the rational and supernatural world become blurred.

Writing Style in “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Literary theories and interpretation of “the fall of the house of usher” by edgar allan poe, psychological/psychoanalytic criticism.

• Focuses on unconscious drives, repressed desires, and the impact of childhood experiences on behavior.
• Roderick Usher: His extreme anxiety and morbid fears could be interpreted as manifestations of repressed trauma or deep-seated psychological issues.
• The House: The house could symbolize Roderick’s troubled mind, with its dark corners and hidden spaces representing unconscious anxieties.
• Madeline: Madeline’s premature burial and spectral return might represent repressed fears or desires that cannot be fully contained.

Gothic Criticism

• Highlights themes of decay, death, the supernatural, and psychological terror. Explores the appeal of fear and the power of the irrational.
• The House: Classic Gothic setting – crumbling, isolated, shrouded in mystery.
• Roderick’s Madness: His mental breakdown, hypersensitivity, and morbid obsessions are classic Gothic tropes.
• Ambiguous Ending: The supernatural element (Madeline’s return) and the collapse of the house fit squarely within Gothic conventions.

Feminist Criticism

• Examines gender roles, power dynamics, and the representation of women in literature.
• Madeline: Confined, passive, and defined by her illness. Her primary role is as an object of fear and mystery.
• Female Entrapment: The motif of live burial could be seen as a metaphor for the restrictive roles imposed on women of the time.

Reader-Response Criticism

• Emphasizes the reader’s role in constructing meaning from the text. Acknowledges that different interpretations are possible.
• Ambiguity: The story’s open-ended elements (cause of Madeline’s return, the significance of the house’s collapse) invite multiple readings.
• Personal Resonance: Readers may have widely different emotional responses to the story based on their own fears and experiences.

Formalist/ New Criticism

• Focus on the structure, form, and literary devices within the text itself, independent of broader context.
• Symbolism: Analyzing the symbolic significance of the House, Roderick’s paintings, the poem “The Haunted Palace,” etc.
• Unreliable Narrator: Examining how the narrator’s limited perspective shapes our understanding of events.

Questions and Thesis Statements about “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Short question-answer s about “the fall of the house of usher” by edgar allan poe.

• What is the mood of “The Fall of the House of Usher” and how does Poe create it?
• The mood of “The Fall of the House of Usher” is one of gloom, despair, and unease. Poe creates this mood through his use of vivid and unsettling imagery, such as the dark and decaying setting, the grotesque descriptions of Roderick Usher, and the strange sounds and smells that permeate the mansion. The use of Gothic themes and supernatural elements further contribute to the unsettling mood of the story.
• What is the relationship between Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• Roderick and Madeline Usher are twins and have a close, almost inseparable relationship. It is suggested that they share a telepathic connection, and when Madeline falls ill and seemingly dies, Roderick is consumed by grief and despair. However, it is later revealed that Madeline was buried alive, and when she rises from her tomb, it is clear that their relationship is not entirely normal or healthy.
• What is the significance of the narrator’s unnamed status in “The Fall of the House of Usher”?
• The narrator’s unnamed status in “The Fall of the House of Usher” adds to the sense of mystery and unease that permeates the story. It also serves to emphasize the isolation and detachment of the Usher family, as the narrator is an outsider who is only briefly allowed into their world. Finally, the narrator’s anonymity allows the reader to more easily identify with their experiences and emotions, making the story more immersive and unsettling.
• How does “The Fall of the House of Usher” reflect the broader themes and styles of Gothic literature?
• “The Fall of the House of Usher” reflects many of the key themes and styles of Gothic literature, such as the use of dark and gloomy settings, supernatural elements, and vivid and unsettling imagery. The story also explores themes of madness, decay, and the destructive power of isolation and loneliness, which are common in Gothic literature. Additionally, the story’s emphasis on psychological horror and the exploration of the human psyche are hallmarks of the Gothic genre.

Literary Works Similar to “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Literary Works Featuring Similarities to “The Fall of the House of Usher”

• “The Tell-Tale Heart”: A chilling exploration of a guilt-ridden murderer’s unraveling psyche.
• “The Cask of Amontillado”: Delves into the dark themes of revenge and calculated entrapment.
• “The Raven”: A mournful poem fixated on themes of loss, despair, and hints of the supernatural.
• The Castle of Otranto (Horace Walpole): A seminal Gothic novel featuring a haunted castle, hidden family secrets, and supernatural occurrences.
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley): Examines isolation, the dangers of scientific hubris, and the monstrous nature of unchecked creation.
• Dracula (Bram Stoker): A quintessential Gothic horror novel utilizing decaying settings, a powerful supernatural antagonist, and the pervasive fear of the unknown.
• “ The Yellow Wallpaper ” (Charlotte Perkins Gilman): A disturbing portrayal of a woman’s descent into madness, potentially instigated by confinement and repression.
• “The Turn of the Screw” (Henry James): Employs unreliable narration, a suspenseful atmosphere, and leaves the presence of supernatural forces open to interpretation.
• Works by William Faulkner (e.g., “ A Rose for Emily “): Focuses on crumbling settings, the enduring influence of the past, and characters marked by eccentricity or hidden darkness.
• Works by Flannery O’Connor (e.g., “A Good Man is Hard to Find”): Explores violence, moral ambiguity, and religious themes with a distinctly Southern sensibility.

Suggested Readings: “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

Academic Sources:

• Dayan, Joan. “Poe, Persons, and Property.” American Literary History , vol. 13, no. 3, 2001, pp. 405-425. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/3568036. Explores the themes of personhood and possession through a legal framework in Poe’s works, including “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
• Kennedy, J. Gerald. “Poe, ‘Ligeia’, and the Problem of Dying Women.” New Essays on Poe’s Major Tales , edited by Kenneth Silverman, Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 113-129. Focuses specifically on the role of female characters and the theme of death in Poe’s works, with analysis of “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
• Regan, Robert. “Hawthorne’s ‘Plagiarism’: Poe’s Duplicity.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction , vol. 25, no. 3, 1970, pp. 281-298. JSTOR , www.jstor.org/stable/3044358. Examines the literary rivalry and cross-influences between Poe and Hawthorne, including accusations of plagiarism, which may shed light on Poe’s creative techniques.

Critical Essays and Websites:

• Provides a plot summary, analysis of key themes and symbols, and discussion questions.
• Offers detailed analysis, character breakdowns, and resources for deeper exploration.
• Includes a summary, themes, and character analyses with a focus on exam preparation.

Related posts:

• “The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams
• “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce: Analysis
• “Civil Peace” by Chinua Achebe: Analysis
• “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor: Analysis

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.