essay about the house of usher

A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ is an 1839 short story by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49), a pioneer of the short story and a writer who arguably unleashed the full psychological potential of the Gothic horror genre. The story concerns the narrator’s visit to a strange mansion owned by his childhood friend, who is behaving increasingly oddly as he and his twin sister dwell within the ‘melancholy’ atmosphere of the house.

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ has inspired a range of interpretations: it has been analysed as proto-Freudian and proto-Kafkaesque, among many other things. The best way to approach the story is perhaps to consider its plot alongside the accumulation of detail Poe provides. Before we come to an analysis, however, here’s a brief summary of the plot of the story.

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: plot summary

The story is narrated by a childhood friend of Roderick Usher, the owner of the Usher mansion. This friend is riding to the house, having been summoned by Roderick Usher, having complained in his letter that he is suffering from some illness and expressing a hope that seeing his old friend will lift his spirits.

When he arrives, the narrator finds a gloomy and vaguely menacing atmosphere, and his friend, Usher, is much changed since he last saw him: overly sensitive to every sound and sight, and prone to dramatic mood swings. Meanwhile, Roderick’s twin sister Madeline is afflicted with a disease which, Roderick tells the narrator, means she will soon die. These twins are the last in the family line, the last descendants of the ‘house of Usher’.

Roderick Usher is a gifted poet and artist, whose talents the narrator praises before sharing a poem Usher wrote, titled ‘ The Haunted Palace ’. The ballad concerns a royal palace which was once filled with joy and song, until ‘evil things’ attacked the king’s palace and made it a desolate shadow of what it once was.

Several days later, Roderick tells the narrator that Madeline has died, and they lay her to rest in a vault. In the days that follow, the narrator starts to feel more uneasy in the house, and attributes his nervousness to the gloomy furniture in the room where he sleeps. The narrator begins to suspect that Roderick is harbouring some dark secret.

Roderick grows more erratic in his behaviour, and the narrator reads to his friend to try to soothe him. The plot of the romance (a fictional title invented by Poe himself, called ‘Mad Trist’) concerns a hero named Ethelred who enters the house of a hermit and slays a dragon.

In a shocking development, Madeline breaks out of her coffin and enters the room, and Roderick confesses that he buried her alive. Madeline attacks her brother and kills both him and herself in the struggle, and the narrator flees the house. It is a stormy night, and as he leaves he sees the house fall down, collapsing into the lake which reflects the house’s image.

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: analysis

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ is probably Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous story, and in many ways it is a quintessential Gothic horror story. We have a mysterious secret afflicting the house and eating away at its owner, the Gothic ‘castle’ (here, refigured as a mansion), premature burial (about which Poe wrote a whole other story ), the mad owner of the house, and numerous other trappings of the Gothic novel. Poe condenses these into a short story and plays around with them, locating new psychological depths within these features.

How does he play around with them? First, Poe renders them ambiguous rather than clear-cut. Indeed, there are no overtly supernatural elements in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: just a general sense of something not being quite right. Many things in the story are, to use a term later popularised by Sigmund Freud, ‘ uncanny ’: simultaneously familiar yet unfamiliar; another key element of the uncanny is the secret which ‘out to have remained secret and hidden but has come to light’.

The secret that is buried and then comes to light (represented by Madeline) is never revealed. The symbol which represents the secret – Madeline herself – is hidden away by Roderick, but that symbol returns, coming to light at the end of the story and (in good Gothic fashion) destroying the family for good.

But Madeline is, if you like, a signifier without a signified: that is, she is a symbol with no code. She represents a secret, but what that secret is (an unseemly relationship between her and her brother, or some dark secret from the family’s past?) does remain hidden. The secret, as it were, remains a secret even when it is ‘revealed’.

Doubling is another aspect of the ‘uncanny’, because seeing our double is both a familiar and a strange experience. This person both is and is not me; this reflection of the house in the lake or ‘tarn’ looks exactly like the house and yet clearly is but an image of the house. And doubling is very important in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, as it is in other Poe stories: witness his tale ‘ William Wilson ’, which plays around with this idea of the doppelganger or mysterious double.

And virtually everything seems doubled in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: the title itself has a double meaning (where the ‘house’, or family of Usher falls, but the literal bricks-and-mortar structure also collapses), the house is reflected or doubled in the lake, Roderick and Madeline are twins or ‘doubles’ of a sort, and the plot of the ‘Mad Trist’ mirrors or doubles Roderick’s own situation.

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ can also be analysed as a deeply telling autobiographical portrait, in which Roderick Usher represents, or reflects, Poe himself. After all, Roderick Usher is a poet and artist, well-read (witness the assortment of books which he and the narrator read together), sensitive and indeed overly sensitive (to every sound, taste, sight, touch, and so on). Many critics have interpreted the story as, in part, an autobiographical portrait of Poe himself, although we should be wary, perhaps, of speculating too much about any parallels.

For instance, it has sometimes been suggested that Roderick’s relationship with Madeline echoes Poe’s own relationship with his young wife (who was also his cousin), Virginia, who fell ill, as Madeline has. But Virginia did not fall ill until after Poe had written ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’.

An interpretation which has more potential, then, is the idea that the ‘house of Usher’ is a symbol of the mind, and it is this analysis which has probably found the most favour with critics. Sigmund Freud would, over half a century after Poe was writing, do more than anyone else to delineate the structure of the conscious and unconscious mind, but he was not the first to suggest that our conscious minds might hide, or even repress, unconscious feelings, fears, neuroses, and desires.

Indeed, it was the German Romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854) who distinguished between the conscious and unconscious mind in his early work System of Transcendental Idealism (1800), labelling the latter Unbewusste (i.e. ‘unconscious’). The term ‘unconscious’ was then introduced into English by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). The notion that we might have both a ‘conscious’ and an ‘unconscious’ mind, then, was already in circulation when Poe was writing ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’.

Might we then interpret Roderick as a symbol of the conscious mind – struggling to conceal some dark ‘secret’ and make himself presentable to his friend, the narrator – and Madeline as a symbol of the unconscious? Note how Madeline is barely seen for much of the story, and the second time she appears she is literally buried (repressed?) within the vault.

However, Roderick cannot keep her hidden for long, and she bursts out again in a frenzy – much as Freud would later argue our unconscious drives and desires cannot be wholly repressed and will find some way of making themselves known to us (such as through dreams).

Note that such an analysis of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ complements the uncanny elements in the story: the secret which ought to have remain hidden but has come to light is something deep within the unconscious which has broken out.

But when our unconscious breaks out and communicates with us, it usually does so in ways which are coded: ways which reveal, without revealing, the precise nature of our desires and fears. (As the theatre critic Kenneth Tynan once quipped, ‘a neurosis is a secret that you don’t know you are keeping’.)

Dreams, for instance, are the way our unconscious mind communicates with our conscious mind, but in such a way which shrouds or veils their message in ambiguous symbolism and messages.

If the unconscious did communicate with us clearly and openly, it would overwhelm and destroy us. Perhaps that is what happens at the end of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: Roderick comes face-to-face with his darkest unconscious, and it destroys him.

And this explains why both Madeline and Roderick are destroyed: the mind, both conscious and unconscious, is killed at once. The house (the body which houses the mind?) cannot function without the mind, so it must also be destroyed.

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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.

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The Fall of the House of Usher

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The Fall of the House of Usher , supernatural horror story by Edgar Allan Poe , published in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in 1839 and issued in Poe’s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840).

“The Fall of the House of Usher” begins with the unidentified male narrator riding to the house of Roderick Usher, a childhood friend whom the narrator has not seen in many years. The narrator explains that he recently received a letter from Roderick detailing his worsening mental illness and requesting the narrator’s company. Out of sympathy for his old friend, the narrator agreed to come. Aside from his knowledge of Roderick’s ancient and distinguished family, the narrator knows very little about his friend. Upon arriving, the narrator describes the Usher family mansion in great detail, focusing on its most fantastic features and its unearthly atmosphere. Shortly after entering, the narrator is greeted by Roderick, who displays a number of strange symptoms. He claims his senses are especially acute: therefore, he cannot wear clothes of certain textures or eat particularly flavourful foods, and his eyes are bothered by even the faintest lights.

Within a few hours of the narrator’s arrival, Roderick begins to share some of his theories about his family. Much to the narrator’s surprise, Roderick claims that the Usher mansion is sentient and that it exercises some degree of control over its inhabitants. He declares that his illness is the product of “a constitutional and a family evil.” (The narrator later dismisses this as a cognitive symptom of Roderick’s “nervous affection.”) Roderick also reveals that Madeline, his twin sister and sole companion in the house, is gravely ill. According to Roderick, Madeline suffers from a cataleptic disease that has gradually limited her mobility. As Roderick talks about his sister’s illness, the narrator sees her pass through a distant part of the house.

The narrator spends the next few days painting, reading, and listening to Roderick play music. He recalls the eerie lyrics from one of Roderick’s songs, endearingly titled “The Haunted Palace.” The penultimate stanza goes:

But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Assailed the monarch’s high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him, desolate!) And, round about his home, the glory That blushed and bloomed Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed.

Several days after the narrator’s arrival, Roderick announces the death of his sister. He asks the narrator to help bury her. As they lay her in a tomb beneath the house, the narrator notes that she is smiling, and her cheeks are rosy. Over the next few days, the narrator observes a change in his friend’s behaviour: Roderick has begun to display symptoms of madness and hysteria . He neglects his work, wandering aimlessly around the house and staring off into the distance. Increasingly spooked by his friend and his environment , the narrator begins to suffer from insomnia.

Late one night, Roderick visits the narrator in his bedchamber. After a few moments of silence, he abruptly asks, “And you have not seen it?” He then throws open the window to reveal that the house—and indeed everything outside—is enveloped in a glowing gas. The baffled narrator blames it on electrical phenomena resulting from an ongoing storm. He attempts to soothe Roderick by reading aloud to him from “Mad Trist,” a medieval romance by Sir Launcelot Canning. (The romance and Canning are Poe’s inventions.) As the narrator reads, sounds from the book seemingly begin to manifest in the house. After a while, the narrator stops reading and approaches Roderick, who is slumped over in a chair, rocking and muttering to himself. For the first time, the narrator listens to what Roderick is saying. He learns that Roderick has been hearing sounds for days. He believes they are coming from Madeline, whom he thinks they have buried alive. As the horror of his words dawns on the narrator, Roderick suddenly springs to his feet, yelling “Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!”

At Roderick’s words, the door bursts open, revealing Madeline all in white with blood on her robes. With a moan, she falls on her brother, and, by the time they hit the floor, both Roderick and Madeline are dead. The narrator thereupon flees in terror. Outside, he looks back just in time to see the house split in two and collapse.

It is not uncommon for Poe to use first-person narration in his stories. In fact, the majority of Poe’s short stories use this type of narration. The narrator of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” however, is unique in that he is unidentified aside from his gender. The story contains no descriptions of his physical features, his age, or where he is traveling from. Apart from his boyhood friendship with Roderick, his history is unknown. This is all intentional: Poe designed the character as a surrogate, or stand-in, for the reader. The absence of a specific description of his character allows the reader to easily identify with the narrator. In effect, the reader assumes the role of the narrator and experiences the fall of the house of Usher as both an observer and a participant—just as Poe intended. Poe sought to inspire powerful emotional responses to his stories. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is carefully crafted to elicit feelings of dread, stress, and, above all, what it calls “the grim phantasm, FEAR.”

In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the setting, diction , and imagery combine to create an overall atmosphere of gloom. Death and decay are evoked at the outset. The story opens on a “dull, dark, and soundless day” in a “singularly dreary tract of country.” As the narrator notes, it is autumn, the time of year when life begins to give way to old age and death. The house is as melancholy as its environment. A mere glimpse of the Usher mansion inspires in the narrator “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart.” Upon entering the house, the reader as the narrator navigates through a series of dark passages lined with carvings, tapestries, and armorial trophies. Poe draws heavily on Gothic conventions, using omens and portents, heavy storms, hidden passageways, and shadows to set the reader on edge. The overwhelming sensation is one of entrapment.

Whether the reader is trapped by the house or by its inhabitants is unclear. Poe uses the term house to describe both the physical structure and the family. On the one hand, the house itself appears to be actually sentient , just as Roderick claims. Its windows are described as “eye-like,” and its interior is compared to a living body. Roderick suspects that the house controls its inhabitants. On the other hand, there are plenty of strange things about the Usher family. For one, “the entire family lay in the direct line of descent,” meaning that only one son from each generation survived and reproduced. Poe implies incestuous relations sustained the genetic line and that Roderick and Madeline are the products of extensive intermarriage within the Usher family.

In the end, both houses “die” at the same time: Madeline falls on her brother, and the mansion collapses.

When “The Fall of the House of Usher” was first published in 1839, many people assumed that it was about Poe himself. They observed that the narrator’s description of Roderick also applied to the author:

A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten.

Contemporary readers and critics interpreted the story as a somewhat sensationalized account of Poe’s supposed madness. (As a recluse , Poe often invited such accusations.) Later scholarship pursued alternative interpretations. Some scholars speculated that Poe may have attached special importance to the fact that Roderick and Madeline are twins, noting that Poe previously investigated the phenomenon of the double in “Morella” (1835) and “William Wilson” (1839). Other scholars pointed to the work as an embodiment of Poe’s doctrine of l’art pour l’art (“art for art’s sake”), which held that art needs no moral, political, or didactic justification.

Poe was often dismissed by contemporary literary critics because of the unusual content and brevity of his stories. When his work was critically evaluated, it was condemned for its tendencies toward Romanticism . The writers and critics of Poe’s day rejected many of that movement’s core tenets, including its emphasis on the emotions and the experience of the sublime . Poe’s contemporaries favoured a more realistic approach to writing. Accordingly, commentaries on social injustice, morality , and utilitarianism proliferated in the mid-19th century. Poe conceived of his writing as a response to the literary conventions of this period. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” he deliberately subverts convention by rejecting the typical practices of preaching or moralizing and instead focusing on affect and unity of atmosphere.

When Poe began writing short stories, the short story was not generally regarded as serious literature. Poe’s writing helped elevate the genre from a position of critical neglect to an art form. Today Poe’s short stories are lauded as masterpieces of fiction. “The Fall of the House of Usher” stands as one of Poe’s most popular and critically examined stories.

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“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.

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• “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor: Analysis

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The Fall of the House of Usher

Background of the story.

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 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.

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.

Roderick Usher

Madeline usher, unnamed narrator.

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.

Literary Analysis

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.

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.

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.

“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.”

Writing Style

Symbolism, imagery, allegory, reality and art, 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 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 

“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:

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

Short stories.

The Fall of the House of Usher

• Trebuchet MS

Line Spacing

Column width, text alignment, reading mode.

Son cœur est un luth suspendu; Sitôt qu'on le touche il résonne . —De Béranger.

DURING THE WHOLE of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me—upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant eye-like windows—upon a few rank sedges—and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium—the bitter lapse into everyday life—the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it—I paused to think—what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher? It was a mystery all insoluble; nor could I grapple with the shadowy fancies that crowded upon me as I pondered. I was forced to fall back upon the unsatisfactory conclusion, that while, beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects which have the power of thus affecting us, still the analysis of this power lies among considerations beyond our depth. It was possible, I reflected, that a mere different arrangement of the particulars of the scene, of the details of the picture, would be sufficient to modify, or perhaps to annihilate its capacity for sorrowful impression; and, acting upon this idea, I reined my horse to the precipitous brink of a black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled lustre by the dwelling, and gazed down—but with a shudder even more thrilling than before—upon the remodelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows.

Nevertheless, in this mansion of gloom I now proposed to myself a sojourn of some weeks. Its proprietor, Roderick Usher, had been one of my boon companions in boyhood; but many years had elapsed since our last meeting. A letter, however, had lately reached me in a distant part of the country—a letter from him—which, in its wildly importunate nature, had admitted of no other than a personal reply. The MS. gave evidence of nervous agitation. The writer spoke of acute bodily illness—of a mental disorder which oppressed him—and of an earnest desire to see me, as his best, and indeed his only personal friend, with a view of attempting, by the cheerfulness of my society, some alleviation of his malady. It was the manner in which all this, and much more, was said—it was the apparent heart that went with his request—which allowed me no room for hesitation; and I accordingly obeyed forthwith what I still considered a very singular summons.

Although, as boys, we had been even intimate associates, yet I really knew little of my friend. His reserve had been always excessive and habitual. I was aware, however, that his very ancient family had been noted, time out of mind, for a peculiar sensibility of temperament, displaying itself, through long ages, in many works of exalted art, and manifested, of late, in repeated deeds of munificent yet unobtrusive charity, as well as in a passionate devotion to the intricacies, perhaps even more than to the orthodox and easily recognisable beauties, of musical science. I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact, that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honoured as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain. It was this deficiency, I considered, while running over in thought the perfect keeping of the character of the premises with the accredited character of the people, and while speculating upon the possible influence which the one, in the long lapse of centuries, might have exercised upon the other—it was this deficiency, perhaps, of collateral issue, and the consequent undeviating transmission, from sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the original title of the estate in the quaint and equivocal appellation of the “House of Usher”—an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasantry who used it, both the family and the family mansion.

I have said that the sole effect of my somewhat childish experiment—that of looking down within the tarn—had been to deepen the first singular impression. There can be no doubt that the consciousness of the rapid increase of my superstition—for why should I not so term it?—served mainly to accelerate the increase itself. Such, I have long known, is the paradoxical law of all sentiments having terror as a basis. And it might have been for this reason only, that, when I again uplifted my eyes to the house itself, from its image in the pool, there grew in my mind a strange fancy—a fancy so ridiculous, indeed, that I but mention it to show the vivid force of the sensations which oppressed me. I had so worked upon my imagination as really to believe that about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity—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 vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued.

Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building. Its principal feature seemed to be that of an excessive antiquity. The discoloration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves. Yet all this was apart from any extraordinary dilapidation. No portion of the masonry had fallen; and there appeared to be a wild inconsistency between its still perfect adaptation of parts, and the crumbling condition of the individual stones. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. Beyond this indication of extensive decay, however, the fabric gave little token of instability. Perhaps the eye of a scrutinising observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn.

Noticing these things, I rode over a short causeway to the house. A servant in waiting took my horse, and I entered the Gothic archway of the hall. A valet, of stealthy step, thence conducted me, in silence, through many dark and intricate passages in my progress to the studio of his master. Much that I encountered on the way contributed, I know not how, to heighten the vague sentiments of which I have already spoken. While the objects around me—while the carvings of the ceilings, the sombre tapestries of the walls, the ebon blackness of the floors, and the phantasmagoric armorial trophies which rattled as I strode, were but matters to which, or to such as which, I had been accustomed from my infancy—while I hesitated not to acknowledge how familiar was all this—I still wondered to find how unfamiliar were the fancies which ordinary images were stirring up. On one of the staircases, I met the physician of the family. His countenance, I thought, wore a mingled expression of low cunning and perplexity. He accosted me with trepidation and passed on. The valet now threw open a door and ushered me into the presence of his master.

The room in which I found myself was very large and lofty. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around the eye, however, struggled in vain to reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all.

Upon my entrance, Usher arose from a sofa on which he had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious warmth which had much in it, I at first thought, of an overdone cordiality—of the constrained effort of the ennuyé man of the world. A glance, however, at his countenance, convinced me of his perfect sincerity. We sat down; and for some moments, while he spoke not, I gazed upon him with a feeling half of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with the companion of my early boyhood. Yet the character of his face had been at all times remarkable. A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten. And now in the mere exaggeration of the prevailing character of these features, and of the expression they were wont to convey, lay so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke. The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous lustre of the eve, above all things startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its Arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity.

In the manner of my friend I was at once struck with an incoherence—an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy—an excessive nervous agitation. For something of this nature I had indeed been prepared, no less by his letter, than by reminiscences of certain boyish traits, and by conclusions deduced from his peculiar physical conformation and temperament. His action was alternately vivacious and sullen. His voice varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision (when the animal spirits seemed utterly in abeyance) to that species of energetic concision—that abrupt, weighty, unhurried, and hollow-sounding enunciation—that leaden, self-balanced and perfectly modulated guttural utterance, which may be observed in the lost drunkard, or the irreclaimable eater of opium, during the periods of his most intense excitement.

It was thus that he spoke of the object of my visit, of his earnest desire to see me, and of the solace he expected me to afford him. He entered, at some length, into what he conceived to be the nature of his malady. It was, he said, a constitutional and a family evil, and one for which he despaired to find a remedy—a mere nervous affection, he immediately added, which would undoubtedly soon pass off. It displayed itself in a host of unnatural sensations. Some of these, as he detailed them, interested and bewildered me; although, perhaps, the terms, and the general manner of the narration had their weight. He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.

To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave. “I shall perish,” said he, “I must perish in this deplorable folly. Thus, thus, and not otherwise, shall I be lost. I dread the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect—in terror. In this unnerved—in this pitiable condition—I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR.”

I learned, moreover, at intervals, and through broken and equivocal hints, another singular feature of his mental condition. He was enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tenanted, and whence, for many years, he had never ventured forth—in regard to an influence whose supposititious force was conveyed in terms too shadowy here to be re-stated—an influence which some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion, had, by dint of long sufferance, he said, obtained over his spirit-an effect which the physique of the gray walls and turrets, and of the dim tarn into which they all looked down, had, at length, brought about upon the morale of his existence.

He admitted, however, although with hesitation, that much of the peculiar gloom which thus afflicted him could be traced to a more natural and far more palpable origin—to the severe and long-continued illness—indeed to the evidently approaching dissolution—of a tenderly beloved sister—his sole companion for long years—his last and only relative on earth. “Her decease,” he said, with a bitterness which I can never forget, “would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers.” While he spoke, the lady Madeline (for so was she called) passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and, without having noticed my presence, disappeared. I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread—and yet I found it impossible to account for such feelings. A sensation of stupor oppressed me, as my eyes followed her retreating steps. When a door, at length, closed upon her, my glance sought instinctively and eagerly the countenance of the brother—but he had buried his face in his hands, and I could only perceive that a far more than ordinary wanness had overspread the emaciated fingers through which trickled many passionate tears.

The disease of the lady Madeline had long baffled the skill of her physicians. A settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptical character, were the unusual diagnosis. Hitherto she had steadily borne up against the pressure of her malady, and had not betaken herself finally to bed; but, on the closing in of the evening of my arrival at the house, she succumbed (as her brother told me at night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the destroyer; and I learned that the glimpse I had obtained of her person would thus probably be the last I should obtain—that the lady, at least while living, would be seen by me no more.

For several days ensuing, her name was unmentioned by either Usher or myself: and during this period I was busied in earnest endeavours to alleviate the melancholy of my friend. We painted and read together; or I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of his speaking guitar. And thus, as a closer and closer still intimacy admitted me more unreservedly into the recesses of his spirit, the more bitterly did I perceive the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical universe, in one unceasing radiation of gloom.

I shall ever bear about me a memory of the many solemn hours I thus spent alone with the master of the House of Usher. Yet 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, or led me the way. An excited and highly distempered ideality threw a sulphureous lustre over all. His long improvised dirges will ring forever in my ears. Among other things, I hold painfully in mind a certain singular perversion and amplification of the wild air of the last waltz of Von Weber. From the paintings over which his elaborate fancy brooded, and which grew, touch by touch, into vaguenesses at which I shuddered the more thrillingly, because I shuddered knowing not why;—from these paintings (vivid as their images now are before me) I would in vain endeavour to educe more than a small portion which should lie within the compass of merely written words. By the utter simplicity, by the nakedness of his designs, he arrested and overawed attention. If ever mortal painted an idea, that mortal was Roderick Usher. For me at least—in the circumstances then surrounding me—there arose out of the pure abstractions which the hypochondriac contrived to throw upon his canvas, an intensity of intolerable awe, no shadow of which felt I ever yet in the contemplation of the certainly glowing yet too concrete reveries of Fuseli.

One of the phantasmagoric conceptions of my friend, partaking not so rigidly of the spirit of abstraction, may be shadowed forth, although feebly, in words. A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device. Certain accessory points of the design served well to convey the idea that this excavation lay at an exceeding depth below the surface of the earth. No outlet was observed in any portion of its vast extent, and no torch, or other artificial source of light was discernible; yet a flood of intense rays rolled throughout, and bathed the whole in a ghastly and inappropriate splendour.

I have just spoken of that morbid condition of the auditory nerve which rendered all music intolerable to the sufferer, with the exception of certain effects of stringed instruments. It was, perhaps, the narrow limits to which he thus confined himself upon the guitar, which gave birth, in great measure, to the fantastic character of his performances. But the fervid facility of his impromptus could not be so accounted for. They must have been, and were, in the notes, as well as in the words of his wild fantasias (for he not unfrequently accompanied himself with rhymed verbal improvisations), the result of that intense mental collectedness and concentration to which I have previously alluded as observable only in particular moments of the highest artificial excitement. The words of one of these rhapsodies I have easily remembered. I was, perhaps, the more forcibly impressed with it, as he gave it, because, in the under or mystic current of its meaning, 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. The verses, which were entitled “The Haunted Palace,” ran very nearly, if not accurately, thus:

I. In the greenest of our valleys,      By good angels tenanted, Once a fair and stately palace—      Radiant palace—reared its head. In the monarch Thought's dominion—      It stood there! Never seraph spread a pinion     Over fabric half so fair

II. Banners yellow, glorious, golden,      On its roof did float and flow; (This—all this—was in the olden      Time long ago); And every gentle air that dallied,      In that sweet day, Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,      A winged odor went away.

III. Wanderers in that happy valley      Through two luminous windows saw Spirits moving musically      To a lute's well-tunèd law; Round about a throne, where sitting      (Porphyrogene!) In state his glory well befitting,      The ruler of the realm was seen.

IV. And all with pearl and ruby glowing      Was the fair palace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing      And sparkling evermore, A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty      Was but to sing, In voices of surpassing beauty,      The wit and wisdom of their king.

V. But evil things, in robes of sorrow,      Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow      Shall dawn upon him, desolate!) And, round about his home, the glory      That blushed and bloomed Is but a dim-remembered story      Of the old time entombed.

VI. And travellers now within that valley,      Through the red-litten windows see Vast forms that move fantastically      To a discordant melody; While, like a rapid ghastly river,      Through the pale door, A hideous throng rush out forever,      And laugh—but smile no more.

I well remember that suggestions arising from this ballad led us into a train of thought wherein there became manifest an opinion of Usher's which I mention not so much on account of its novelty, (for other men have thought thus,) as on account of the pertinacity with which he maintained it. This opinion, in its general form, was that of the sentience of all vegetable things. But, in his disordered fancy, the idea had assumed a more daring character, and trespassed, under certain conditions, upon the kingdom of inorganization. I lack words to express the full extent, or the earnest abandon of his persuasion. The belief, however, was connected (as I have previously hinted) with the gray stones of the home of his forefathers. The conditions of the sentience had been here, he imagined, fulfilled in the method of collocation of these stones—in the order of their arrangement, as well as in that of the many fungi which overspread them, and of the decayed trees which stood around—above all, in the long undisturbed endurance of this arrangement, and in its reduplication in the still waters of the tarn. Its evidence—the evidence of the sentience—was to be seen, he said, (and I here started as he spoke,) in the gradual yet certain condensation of an atmosphere of their own about the waters and the walls. The result was discoverable, he added, in that silent, yet importunate and terrible influence which for centuries had moulded the destinies of his family, and which made him what I now saw him—what he was. Such opinions need no comment, and I will make none.

Our books—the books which, for years, had formed no small portion of the mental existence of the invalid—were, as might be supposed, in strict keeping with this character of phantasm. We pored together over such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset; the Belphegor of Machiavelli; the Heaven and Hell of Swedenborg; the Subterranean Voyage of Nicholas Klimm by Holberg; the Chiromancy of Robert Flud, of Jean D'Indaginé, and of De la Chambre; the Journey into the Blue Distance of Tieck; and the City of the Sun of Campanella. One favourite volume was a small octavo edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum, by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne; and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and Ægipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours. His chief delight, however, was found in the perusal of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic—the manual of a forgotten church—the Vigilae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae.

I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of its probable influence upon the hypochondriac, when, one evening, having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, (previously to its final interment,) in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building. The worldly reason, however, assigned for this singular proceeding, was one which I did not feel at liberty to dispute. The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by consideration of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial-ground of the family. I will not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the staircase, on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution.

At the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the arrangements for the temporary entombment. The body having been encoffined, we two alone bore it to its rest. The vault in which we placed it (and which had been so long unopened that our torches, half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, gave us little opportunity for investigation) was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light; lying, at great depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in which was my own sleeping apartment. It had been used, apparently, in remote feudal times, for the worst purposes of a donjon-keep, and, in later days, as a place of deposit for powder, or some other highly combustible substance, as a portion of its floor, and the whole interior of a long archway through which we reached it, were carefully sheathed with copper. The door, of massive iron, had been, also, similarly protected. Its immense weight caused an unusually sharp grating sound, as it moved upon its hinges.

Having deposited our mournful burden upon tressels within this region of horror, we partially turned aside the yet unscrewed lid of the coffin, and looked upon the face of the tenant. A striking similitude between the brother and sister now first arrested my attention; and Usher, divining, perhaps, my thoughts, murmured out some few words from which I learned that the deceased and himself had been twins, and that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them. Our glances, however, rested not long upon the dead—for we could not regard her unawed. The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death. We replaced and screwed down the lid, and, having secured the door of iron, made our way, with toil, into the scarcely less gloomy apartments of the upper portion of the house.

And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change came over the features of the mental disorder of my friend. His ordinary manner had vanished. His ordinary occupations were neglected or forgotten. He roamed from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and objectless step. The pallor of his countenance had assumed, if possible, a more ghastly hue—but the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out. The once occasional huskiness of his tone was heard no more; and a tremulous quaver, as if of extreme terror, habitually characterized his utterance. There were times, indeed, when I thought his unceasingly agitated mind was labouring with some oppressive secret, to divulge which he struggled for the necessary courage. At times, again, I was obliged to resolve all into the mere inexplicable vagaries of madness, for I beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound. It was no wonder that his condition terrified—that it infected me. I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet certain degrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet impressive superstitions.

It was, especially, upon retiring to bed late in the night of the seventh or eighth day after the placing of the lady Madeline within the don-jon, that I experienced the full power of such feelings. Sleep came not near my couch—while the hours waned and waned away. I struggled to reason off the nervousness which had dominion over me. I endeavoured to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the room—of the dark and tattered draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed. But my efforts were fruitless. An irrepressible tremour gradually pervaded my frame; and, at length, there sat upon my very heart an incubus of utterly causeless alarm. Shaking this off with a gasp and a struggle, I uplifted myself upon the pillows, and, peering earnestly within the intense darkness of the chamber, hearkened—I know not why, except that an instinctive spirit prompted me—to certain low and indefinite sounds which came, through the pauses of the storm, at long intervals, I knew not whence. Overpowered by an intense sentiment of horror, unaccountable yet unendurable, I threw on my clothes with haste (for I felt that I should sleep no more during the night), and endeavoured to arouse myself from the pitiable condition into which I had fallen, by pacing rapidly to and fro through the apartment.

I had taken but few turns in this manner, when a light step on an adjoining staircase arrested my attention. I presently recognised it as that of Usher. In an instant afterward he rapped, with a gentle touch, at my door, and entered, bearing a lamp. His countenance was, as usual, cadaverously wan—but, moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity in his eyes—an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanour. His air appalled me—but anything was preferable to the solitude which I had so long endured, and I even welcomed his presence as a relief.

“And you have not seen it?” he said abruptly, after having stared about him for some moments in silence—“you have not then seen it?—but, stay! you shall.” Thus speaking, and having carefully shaded his lamp, he hurried to one of the casements, and threw it freely open to the storm.

The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the lifelike velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. I say that even their exceeding density did not prevent our perceiving this—yet we had no glimpse of the moon or stars—nor was there any flashing forth of the lightning. But the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapour, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion.

“You must not—you shall not behold this!” said I, shudderingly, to Usher, as I led him, with a gentle violence, from the window to a seat. “These appearances, which bewilder you, are merely electrical phenomena not uncommon—or it may be that they have their ghastly origin in the rank miasma of the tarn. Let us close this casement;—the air is chilling and dangerous to your frame. Here is one of your favourite romances. I will read, and you shall listen;—and so we will pass away this terrible night together.”

The antique volume which I had taken up was the “Mad Trist” of Sir Launcelot Canning; but I had called it a favourite of Usher's more in sad jest than in earnest; for, in truth, there is little in its uncouth and unimaginative prolixity which could have had interest for the lofty and spiritual ideality of my friend. It was, however, the only book immediately at hand; and I indulged a vague hope that the excitement which now agitated the hypochondriac, might find relief (for the history of mental disorder is full of similar anomalies) even in the extremeness of the folly which I should read. Could I have judged, indeed, by the wild over-strained air of vivacity with which he hearkened, or apparently hearkened, to the words of the tale, I might well have congratulated myself upon the success of my design.

I had arrived at that well-known portion of the story where Ethelred, the hero of the Trist, having sought in vain for peaceable admission into the dwelling of the hermit, proceeds to make good an entrance by force. Here, it will be remembered, the words of the narrative run thus:

“And Ethelred, who was by nature of a doughty heart, and who was now mighty withal, on account of the powerfulness of the wine which he had drunken, waited no longer to hold parley with the hermit, who, in sooth, was of an obstinate and maliceful turn, but, feeling the rain upon his shoulders, and fearing the rising of the tempest, uplifted his mace outright, and, with blows, made quickly room in the plankings of the door for his gauntleted hand; and now pulling there-with sturdily, he so cracked, and ripped, and tore all asunder, that the noise of the dry and hollow-sounding wood alarumed and reverberated throughout the forest."

At the termination of this sentence I started, and for a moment, paused; for it appeared to me (although I at once concluded that my excited fancy had deceived me)—it appeared to me that, from some very remote portion of the mansion, there came, indistinctly, to my ears, what might have been, in its exact similarity of character, the echo (but a stifled and dull one certainly) of the very cracking and ripping sound which Sir Launcelot had so particularly described. It was, beyond doubt, the coincidence alone which had arrested my attention; for, amid the rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the ordinary commingled noises of the still increasing storm, the sound, in itself, had nothing, surely, which should have interested or disturbed me. I continued the story:

“But the good champion Ethelred, now entering within the door, was sore enraged and amazed to perceive no signal of the maliceful hermit; but, in the stead thereof, a dragon of a scaly and prodigious demeanour, and of a fiery tongue, which sate in guard before a palace of gold, with a floor of silver; and upon the wall there hung a shield of shining brass with this legend enwritten—

     Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin;      Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win.

And Ethelred uplifted his mace, and struck upon the head of the dragon, which fell before him, and gave up his pesty breath, with a shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing, that Ethelred had fain to close his ears with his hands against the dreadful noise of it, the like whereof was never before heard.”

Here again I paused abruptly, and now with a feeling of wild amazement—for there could be no doubt whatever that, in this instance, I did actually hear (although from what direction it proceeded I found it impossible to say) a low and apparently distant, but harsh, protracted, and most unusual screaming or grating sound—the exact counterpart of what my fancy had already conjured up for the dragon's unnatural shriek as described by the romancer.

Oppressed, as I certainly was, upon the occurrence of the second and most extraordinary coincidence, by a thousand conflicting sensations, in which wonder and extreme terror were predominant, I still retained sufficient presence of mind to avoid exciting, by any observation, the sensitive nervousness of my companion. I was by no means certain that he had noticed the sounds in question; although, assuredly, a strange alteration had, during the last few minutes, taken place in his demeanour. From a position fronting my own, he had gradually brought round his chair, so as to sit with his face to the door of the chamber; and thus I could but partially perceive his features, although I saw that his lips trembled as if he were murmuring inaudibly. His head had dropped upon his breast—yet I knew that he was not asleep, from the wide and rigid opening of the eye as I caught a glance of it in profile. The motion of his body, too, was at variance with this idea—for he rocked from side to side with a gentle yet constant and uniform sway. Having rapidly taken notice of all this, I resumed the narrative of Sir Launcelot, which thus proceeded:

“And now, the champion, having escaped from the terrible fury of the dragon, bethinking himself of the brazen shield, and of the breaking up of the enchantment which was upon it, removed the carcass from out of the way before him, and approached valorously over the silver pavement of the castle to where the shield was upon the wall; which in sooth tarried not for his full coming, but fell down at his feet upon the silver floor, with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound.”

No sooner had these syllables passed my lips, than—as if a shield of brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of silver became aware of a distinct, hollow, metallic, and clangorous, yet apparently muffled reverberation. Completely unnerved, I leaped to my feet; but the measured rocking movement of Usher was undisturbed. I rushed to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent fixedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony rigidity. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his lips; and I saw that he spoke in a low, hurried, and gibbering murmur, as if unconscious of my presence. Bending closely over him, I at length drank in the hideous import of his words.

“Not hear it?—yes, I hear it, and have heard it. Long—long—long—many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it—yet I dared not—oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am!—I dared not—I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them—many, many days ago—yet I dared not— I dared not speak! And now—to-night—Ethelred—ha! ha!—the breaking of the hermit's door, and the death-cry of the dragon, and the clangour of the shield!—say, rather, the rending of her coffin, and the grating of the iron hinges of her prison, and her struggles within the coppered archway of the vault! Oh whither shall I fly? Will she not be here anon? Is she not hurrying to upbraid me for my haste? Have I not heard her footstep on the stair? Do I not distinguish that heavy and horrible beating of her heart? Madman!” here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul— “Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!”

As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell—the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed, threw slowly back, upon the instant, ponderous and ebony jaws. It was the work of the rushing gust—but then without those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher. There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame. 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.

From that chamber, and from that mansion, I fled aghast. 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 unusual could we have issued; for the vast house and its shadows were alone behind me. The radiance was that of the full, setting, and blood-red moon which now shone vividly through that once barely-discernible fissure of which I have before spoken as extending from the roof of the building, in a zigzag direction, to the base. While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened—there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind—the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight—my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder—there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters—and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the “HOUSE OF USHER.”

The presence of the powder hoard directly invokes a dramatic principle known as Chekhov’s gun . Anton Chekhov, the Russian playwright and story writer, wrote in an 1889 letter to a colleague that “One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going to go off. It's wrong to make promises you don't mean to keep.” The implication is that, when handled correctly, such a detail—be it a rifle or a basement full of gunpowder—ought to reappear in a meaningful way later on in the plot.

The analogy of house as both home and lineage—a clever double entendre—is made once again explicit in the final sentence. Because the mansion, as well as both Usher siblings, have been destroyed in the collapse, “the fragments of the ‘HOUSE OF USHER’ ” refer to the remains of the building as well as Madeline and Roderick.

The noun “satellite” as used here refers to a small celestial body which orbits a larger one. Here the satellite in question is the moon. The image of the moon, crimson, low, and winking through the mansion’s fissure from behind, explodes. It is the image that bursts, not the moon itself. The source of the bursting is likely the powder hoard in the mansion’s basement, pointed to earlier in the story. Thus, as the mansion is sundered in a flaming explosion from its foundation, the fissure widens and the red moon in the center of the scene participates in the widening conflagration, at least from an imaginal perspective.

The phrase “bore him to the floor a corpse” is distinctly musical, namely for its rhyme. “Bore,” “floor,” and “corpse” all contain the same core -or sound. That these words land on sequential stressed beats hammers home the effect, adding an auditory weight to the image of Madeline’s collapse. Poe, a skilled poet, uses such musical effects throughout his writings, verse and prose alike.

In a chilling, twisted image, the language in this passage figures Madeline’s death as a birth. The word “bore” suggests the bearing of an infant, such that her deathly collapse to the floor is a kind of delivery. On a thematic level, this metaphorical birth may signal that there is something redemptive in the fall of the House of Usher, as if it were a necessary fate for such a plagued family.

In her return from death, Madeline turns out to be the character engaging in the hero myth intimated in the “Mad Trist,” albeit in a warped manner. Each stage of Ethelred’s journey is refigured as a stage in Madeline’s undead escape from the tomb. Each correspondence has been marked, as the narrator chillingly describes, by an ongoing confluence between fictive and real soundscapes: cracks , shrieks , and clangs! In an intriguing inversion of the hero myth, the figure who is usually the prize—the cave-trapped maiden—is flipped into the hero, whose journey is an autonomous self-liberation from the bonds of death and entombment.

The verb “enshrouded” metaphorically figures the clouds as a shroud—or funeral pall—over the house. The image thus presages the house’s death. The image also draws on Madeline’s corpse, which, too, is wrapped in a shroud. As a result there is a subtle analogy created between Madeline and the house, a connection that has so far been more explicitly drawn between Roderick and the house.

The house-as-person metaphor that has run as a thread throughout the story is here inverted into that of person-as-house. This inversion blurs the normal tenor-and-vehicle relationship, in which one object serves as a tool to describe the other. It is now clear that both Ushers, the mansion and Roderick, are engaged in a symbolic symbiosis.

The “Mad Trist” of the fictional Sir Launcelot Canning represents a permutation of the archetypal hero myth , whose pattern has been explained and analyzed by scholars such as Carl Jung and Karl Kerényi. The pattern involves a fight with a dragon—the dragon being a symbol or metaphor for a great challenge—followed by the claiming of the dragon’s “hoard,” the reward, in this case “the shield.” The reward is often gold or, in many cases, a maiden.

In the fictitious “Mad Trist,” Poe draws on two English heroes—Sir Lancelot, a knight of the Arthurian legends who dates back to the 12th century, and Æthelred I, a 9th-century king of Wessex. Poe veils these names with slight alterations in spelling, as Launcelot Canning and Ethelred, respectively.

Echoes are a central motif of the story. The echo here is a physical echo within the reality of the story; it is also an echo of the echo in the “Mad Trist” story and also an echo of the echoes in “The Haunted Palace,” the poem within the story. These echoes signify the powerful echoes of history and lineage, as can be seen in the role of the stories and poems within the story which serve to foreshadow the plot. The echoes also represent the atmosphere of the Usher mansion itself, with its eerie, echo-filled hollowness.

In this evocative and bizarre passage, the narrator metaphorically drinks in Roderick’s utterances. Poe hinges the metaphor on the word “import,” which carries a double meaning. At the surface, “import” refers to the meaning or significance of a statement. “Import” also refers to a commodity that has been imported from another country. Thus we encounter the image of the narrator drinking Roderick’s words as if they were wine of some French vintage.

In a classic example of the pathetic fallacy—a device in which an environment is described so as to reflect the subjectivity of the beholder—, the narrator can be found painting his emotions onto his surroundings. The breeze-ruffled curtains become tortured and fitful because the narrator’s inner reality is tortured and fitful.

The story-within-the-story structure, with its repeated breaking down of the walls between real and fictional worlds, implicates us as readers. When we witness the clamorous events of the “Mad Trist” tumbling out of the book and into the Usher mansion, we are invited to envision these same clamorous echoes ringing out of Poe’s story and into our respective realities.

The word “alarum,” a synonym of “alarm,” derives from an Old French word that means “all arm!”—a literal call to arms. In this case, the verb “alarum” refers to the way a sound rapidly spreads through an environment. With its connotations of military alertness, however, the word conveys a distinctly startling tone.

As the narrator and Roderick look out the window at the strange scene—a misty, thickly overcast landscape eerily illuminated by an unseen source—, the narrator personifies the weather. The mist and vapors are an “exhalation.” On some level, this is a tonal effect, creating a creepy atmosphere. Yet, because the mansion is so richly and purposefully personified, one wonders “who” is exhaling and why.

Roderick’s sudden question creates a moment of suspense for several reasons. His use of “And” at the beginning of his question suggests that he had been mid-conversation, perhaps with himself in his own head. The pronoun “it” is so broad that it encompasses an endless array of objects of interest, allowing the readers’—and the narrator’s—imagination to sprint full tilt into the most degenerate and frightening realms of the human psyche. Finally, the abruptness of Roderick’s question following a lapse of silence contributes to an atmosphere which is, for lack of a better word, creepy.

The description of the hours that “waned and waned away” evokes the phases of the lunar cycle. When the moon spins around the earth from full to new , it is said to wane , a two week process during which it disappears from view. The waning hours thus carry a strong metaphorical undertone.

The poem “The Haunted Palace” is a centered around a conceit of the palace as a human head, as introduced in these lines. Subsequent stanzas fill out the details of the palatial head: the roof’s golden banners as the hair; the two great windows as the eyes; the door set with pearl and ruby as the mouth, teeth, and tongue. The monarch within is “Thought” himself. As the poem comes to an end, the joyful inhabitants of the palace are replaced by evil, sorrowful ones. This story can be seen as a parable of diminishing mental health, which is apt considering the despairing denizens of the Usher mansion.

At several points throughout the story, the narrator refers to Roderick Usher as a “hypochondriac.” In modern usage, the word is associated with hypochondriasis , a neurological condition in which the patient is gripped by an anxiety that they are in a state of disease and decay. In its original usage, hypochondriacs are those with a gloomy, melancholy, and depressive disposition. Roderick—and Madeline, too, for that matter—are hypochondriacs in every sense of the word.

This passage offers another instance in which the metaphor of the mansion as human is underscored. Rather than arising through an explicit simile, however, the metaphor emerges through the word “physique.” The word works literally here, to be sure: "physique” refers to the physicality of an object. But the connotation of human anatomy is inescapable. The house is figured as a body.

The words in this passage employ the auditory and visual senses, creating an image of a drunken, mad hero tearing down a door. Ethelred’s drunken fury, and the imagery the story conveys, parallels the violence of the storm as it batters the House of Usher.

The adjective “doughty” describes someone as brave, capable, and virtuous, and it regularly pairs with nouns like “heart,” “knight,” and “resolution”—words that are often associated with heroes from stories, such as the one the narrator is sharing with Roderick Usher.

The connection between terror and beauty is well established in Gothic literature. The storm is beautiful in the terror that it inspires in the onlookers. The mixture of emotions creates an apprehensive tone in the text as readers continue on to the climax of the tale.

One of the meanings of the verb “to rap” is to strike or hit something. In this example, “he rapped” is synonymous with “he knocked.” Rapping conveys a sense of urgency, and Poe was certainly fond of the word as it features prominently in the first stanza of his poem “The Raven.”

“As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”

The verb “to hearken” is an older word that serves as a synonym for “to listen” but conveys a little deeper meaning: to listen and comprehend what is heard. This means that the narrator expectantly listens to the sounds around him, seeking meaning. When he says “I know not why,” he means to say that he doesn’t know why he thinks he’ll hear something that will explain his fear. That he cannot identify the source of his horror adds to the fearful tone conveyed in the passage.

An “incubus” is an evil spirit or demon that originated as a personification of a nightmare. This demon supposedly descends on sleepers, sitting on their chests and bringing them nightmares. Here, the narrator states that this demon has created a waking nightmare for him. This line also serves as a visual callback to his earlier mention of Fuseli, the painter whose work “The Nightmare” depicts just such an incubus sitting on a sleeping woman’s chest.

The narrator attempts to rationalize the feelings that are coming over him, but he states that they “were fruitless,” meaning that his attempts did not work. The lack of sleep and the terror that has “infected” him have affected his ability to deal with his nervousness and the events around him in reliable ways, increasing the terror of the story by emphasizing the narrator’s helplessness.

Sleep is depicted here as having a kind of agency, or an ability to act. It keeps away from the narrator, not daring to come near him. This increases the sense of isolation that the narrator is experiencing, and the lack of sleep likely contributes to his inability to properly reason.

An em dash (—) has several purposes, one of which is to signal an abrupt, emphatic shift in thought. In this line, the narrator begins to state that Roderick’s behavior terrified him, but then he quickly recasts it to say that “it infected” him. The abrupt shift shows a kind of self-correction: the narrator admits that the terror, madness, and paranoia of Roderick and the House have become a part of him as well. If he has become infected by these things, then the truth of his story should be questioned: his mental condition is not stable, and so he likely cannot accurately relate events.

The narrator claims that the mysterious malady has left Madeline’s body with a “mockery of faint blush.” The “faint blush” refers to a kind of red or pink coloring on the skin—which is usually associated with health and life. However, he calls it a “mockery,” suggesting that it is not a real effect and that the corpse simply looks more beautiful and life-like in death.

The word “sympathies” refers to an affinity or connection between particular things, and the noun phrase “scarcely intelligible nature” suggests that the “sympathies” are not well understood or comprehensible to outsiders like the narrator. Basically, Roderick is telling the narrator that he and his sister share a special kind of connection.

The noun “donjon” is an archaic spelling of the word “dungeon,” a dark prison or vault usually located underground. The narrator is saying that they are placing Madeline’s body in a vault located within the lower dungeons of the House of Usher—an action and location that are quintessentially Gothic.

Earlier in the text, the narrator said that this person “wore a mingled expression of low cunning and perplexity” and that the man “accosted [him] with trepidation.” This earlier description, while not very positive, is far from the “sinister countenance” that the narrator now ascribes to the man. Given his time in the House of Usher, it’s possible that the narrator’s perception of people and events either has been altered or that he’s not accurately portraying things as they are.

The title of this text can been translated as Vigils for the dead according to the use of the church at Mainz . While few details exist about the actual text, its subject matter fits thematically with the other texts in Roderick Usher’s collection: its focus is on burial rights for the dead.

Satyrs and Aegipans are both goat-like, mythological creatures typically associated with drinking, dancing, and wild parties. Such creatures became symbols of sin and temptation for the Catholic church, representing devils who come to tempt humanity.

Pomponius Mela was a Roman geographer writing around the year 45 CE and is most known for his work De Situ Orbis , from which Poe’s narrator takes this information on satyrs and “Ægipans.”

Nicholas Eymeric (1316–1399) wrote his Directorium Inquisitorum in the year 1376 and it remained his most prominent work. This text served as a large compilation of previous works on witchcraft and sorcery, and Eymeric uses these works to create a type of guide or manual for inquisitors to use when looking for and interrogating heretics and other “unholy” figures.

Tommaso Campanella, an Italian Dominican philosopher, published a Latin version of The City of the Sun in 1623. This text espoused the ideas of a theocratic utopia ruled by benevolent religious leaders.

Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853) was a German author, critic, editor, and translator who also helped found the Romantic movement in Germany during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The word “chiromancy” refers to the telling of fate and fortunes by reading the creases on one’s hands and palms. These three figures that Poe’s narrator cites were all physicians and philosophers who also studied the occult, and so their “chiromancy” likely refers to their work on predicting future outcomes and fates.

Known as Niels Klim's Underground Travels in more recent translations of the original Latin, Ludvig Holberg’s satirical novel depicts a utopian society from the view of an outsider, poking fun at the systems of morality, science, and philosophy found within. The satire is enhanced by the science-fiction and fantasy elements within the novel, and it conveys the idea that the earth is hollow—an idea seen in later texts like Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.

Emanuel Swedenborg wrote this book in Latin and had it published in 1758. The book’s appeal lies in its concern with the possibility of life after the death of one’s physical body. Its presence among Roderick Usher’s books suggests that he too has considered life or meaning beyond death.

Niccolò Machiavelli’s novella Belfagor arcidiavolo was published with his collected works in 1549 and tells a tale of the demon Belphegor’s marriage to a human woman and the consequences from that union. The demon Belphegor has also featured in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and is associated with Sloth, one of the seven deadly sins.

The French poet Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (1709–1777) is best known for his poem Vert-Vert , which tells the story of a parrot’s learning to speak. Poe’s narrator also refers to another poem of Gressett’s, La Chartreuse .

This passage serves several purposes. First, it emphasizes Roderick Usher’s deteriorating mental state. He stubbornly believes his own theory that “vegetable things” are sentient—that is, they have consciousness. He then extends this belief to the land and vegetable matter around and within the house, claiming that it has infiltrated the walls of the House of Usher. Finally, he makes the claim that this sentience has influenced “the destinies of his family.” The narrator’s startled reaction is justified, because Roderick is essentially claiming that the House is alive and has a will of its own.

The noun “pertinacity” refers to a perversely persistent and stubbornly tenacious adherence to an opinion, view, or belief, and is synonymous with words like obstinacy and resoluteness.

The adjective “porphyrogene” refers to someone born into royalty, such as the child of a ruling king, queen, or monarch.

Short for “seraphim,” the word “seraph” refers to a particular class of angel in the Christian tradition. The seraphim are typically associated with love and the color red.

This is a poem by Poe, which is often printed separately from this story. It was first published in April of 1839 but did not find initial success, possibly leading to Poe’s including it in “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The poem relates the events of a king from long ago who fears the evil forces that plague him and his palace. The poem serves as an allegory for the House of Usher, foreshadowing the impending doom Roderick faces.

The narrator attributes the verses that follow to Roderick Usher (in reality, the poem was written by Poe years earlier). What’s notable about this attribution is that the narrator cites these verses as an indication that Roderick’s “reason” is “tottering”—which is to say that the narrator perceives Roderick’s sanity to be slipping.

Since the noun “splendor” refers to something brilliant, magnificent, or splendid, pairing it with the adjective “inappropriate” is an odd combination. This pairing of words is somewhat contradictory: because splendor is such a positive quality, it’s incongruous to call it “inappropriate.” The resulting meaning conveyed is more nuanced and horrible as a result of this word choice.

This is an allusion to German composer Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber's (1786–1826) Invitation to the Dance , written in 1819. The narrator alludes to this beautiful and romantic piece of music to illustrate how solemn and dark his time with Roderick Usher has become: the way Usher performs casts a dark, perverse shadow upon music, such as Invitation , the narrator once thought beautiful.

This is a reference to Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), a Romantic painter born in Switzerland who created terrifying and grotesque paintings. His best known painting is entitled “The Nightmare” (1781), which shows a sleeping woman with a demonic figure sitting on her chest. The vivid reaction the narrator has to Roderick’s art calls to mind the grotesque images of Fuseli.

This adjective refers to a state in which consciousness and feeling are lost. Such a state usually results in the body’s assuming a death-like rigidity or a kind of lifelessness.

Roderick possesses great artistic powers that have the power to cause physical reactions of awe in the narrator. The power of Roderick’s craft and his ability to put ideas and abstractions on paper are so intense that the narrator can only compare them to the nightmare-like works of the Swiss painter Henry Fuseli.

Earlier, the narrator mentioned that Roderick plays the guitar. Here, he uses the word “dirges” instead of “songs” for a particular reason: “dirges” are songs of grief and lamentation, such as those played at a funeral. This word adds to the dark, brooding atmosphere that has taken hold of the narrator and Roderick as they anxiously await Madeline’s fate.

The noun “lustre” (in American English, “luster”) refers to a glow of light or the glow of a reflection. It can also be used metaphorically to refer to the presence of something more abstract, such as radiant beauty. Here it is paired with the adjective “sulphureous,” which generally refers to the presence of sulfur but can also refer to the presence of demons or hell. The combination of words then conveys a particular notion: the temperament of the narrator and Roderick casts a dark, sinister shadow over all events happening in the house.

Careful readers may note the inclusion of the word “alone” in this statement. While the narrator and Roderick Usher are together, this word emphasizes the isolation and loneliness present within the house. The pervasive loneliness of the narrator’s time in the House of Usher compounds with the demeanor of his friend Roderick and the mysterious malady of Madeline to add to the fearful atmosphere.

Despite becoming closer with Roderick, the narrator realizes that his desire to “alleviate the melancholy of [his] friend” is futile. As Madeline’s health fades, Roderick’s pervasive gloom deepens, darkening the environment in an “unceasing radiation of gloom.” The tone conveyed in this passage is one of hopelessness, and the strong connection between Madeline’s physical health and Roderick’s mental condition is emphasized.

Poe compounds the elements of fear and mystery by making Madeline’s disease undiagnosable. It’s possible that she suffers from an ennui similar to that of her brother, which means that these symptoms could be rooted in a profound unhappiness or depression. Her physical symptoms of “wasting away” may also suggest consumption, or tuberculosis, a disease that results in the body’s wasting away from a lack of resources.

Madeline’s entrance into the story takes the narrator by surprise. Her presence causes a “stupor” to oppress the narrator, and the fact that she doesn’t notice him and that she disappears rather quickly all suggest supernatural elements. Since Gothic literature is known for such things, Madeline’s presence is akin to that of a ghost’s haunting the apartment, creating a sense of dread in the narrator and conveying a fearful tone.

In his “Philosophy of Composition,” Poe stated that the purpose of art and story is to create a singular emotion. Here, the full-caps emphasis on “FEAR” emphasizes that it’s the primary feeling Poe is attempting to evoke in this story. Notice how the narrator crafts his struggle around abandoning life and reason. Isolation and madness are consistent themes in Gothic literature, and “The Fall of the House of Usher” is no exception.

The noun “abeyance” refers to a state of temporary suspension or inactivity. The narrator suggests that Roderick’s voice and mannerisms are most tame and timid when the “animal spirits” have paused their raging. Animal spirits here likely refers to basic, primal impulses.

Poe’s narrator provides a gloss for this word (“an excessive nervous agitation”). Furthermore, the noun “trepidancy” can refer to anyone’s trembling with fear, agitation, or anxiety.

The adjective “arabesque” can refer to an intricate ornamentation and patterned design. Poe’s narrator uses it here to suggest that Roderick Usher’s face, body, and expression all represent an elaborate combination of different features that it make it very difficult not only to determine what he is thinking but also to find “any idea of simple humanity.” So, the initial characterization of Roderick is one of incongruity, of cadaverousness, and of exaggeration, suggesting that he is an inscrutable and unstable person.

The amount of description the narrator uses to describe Roderick Usher is similar to that which he used to describe the House. Like the House, Roderick has traits that are distinctly Gothic in that they represent both death and beauty: while his skin is pale, his body corpse-like, and his hair like cobwebs, he has bright eyes, beautifully curved lips, and a delicate nose.

The word “ennui” means a feeling of weariness, dissatisfaction, or a general boredom with life and events. The narrator states that Roderick makes an effort that is overly cordial—that is, too warm and welcoming—which suggests that Roderick’s seclusion has made him inept at proper greetings and affections.

A fissure, or crack, along the entirety of the house suggests that the foundation and supports have been compromised, meaning that the house is unstable. Since much has already been said about the House and the Usher family being essentially one and the same, the presence of this fissure serves as a symbol for the fate of the family.

Readers ought to notice the narrator’s refusing to acknowledge the reality of his situation by claiming that feelings of apprehension and ill will are simply “a dream.” The narrator’s refusal should give readers pause about how accurately he is portraying the events in the house. If the narrator cannot trust his own senses, then readers should not fully trust the narrator’s point of view in the story.

The noun “appellation” simply means an identifying name or title. In this line, “appellation” is preceded by the adjective “equivocal,” making the meaning clear: the “House of Usher” is the same name and title for both the family and the physical house. As Poe’s narrator continues to say, the peasantry (and readers) see the family and the house as inextricably intertwined—as if they share the same fate.

By “branch,” the narrator refers to the different families and marriages that constitute a family “tree.” That the Usher’s have no “enduring” branch and that the family has a “direct line of descent” means that the family likely only married siblings and first cousins, a practice known as incest. Moral and ethical taboos aside, a family that intermarries does not acquire different genetic material, which can lead to birth defects and other forms of genetic diseases. This practice is illegal nearly everywhere today, but many European monarchs over the last several hundred years were very closely related, giving the impression that certain blood lines were more “pure” than others.

The abbreviation “MS.” here refers to a “manuscript.” However, a rarer meaning, which Poe employs here, is that MS. stands for someone’s handwriting. The narrator says that the “MS. gave evidence of nervous agitation.” This means that the writing is likely neither uniform nor clean, possibly with wavering lines and other elements that would make it a little difficult to read.

A "tarn" is a small mountain lake that generally has no significant rivers or tributaries connected to it. Since tarns have no contributing waterways, they are often still and dark, or as Poe states “black and lurid.” This geographical feature adds to the unsettling environment surrounding the House of Usher.

Generally speaking, a veil is something that conceals something else. In this case, the narrator’s mention of a removal of the veil suggests that he is seeing something more clearly, as if he sees the hideous truth of this house and land. This notion is common in Gothic literature, in which characters witness the “reality” of the situation as one that is ambivalent, dark, and horrible.

In this famous quote, the narrator looks upon the House of Usher and immediately feels “a sense of insufferable gloom.” The house itself serves as a symbol for the family that lives within it, nearly becoming a character itself—a popular aspect of Gothic literature. The house fills the narrator with horror, its presence elevating events in the story towards their frightful climax.

Two adjectives in this line characterize the tone and the nature of the House of Usher: “dreary” and “melancholy.” The adjective dreary refers to something which has listlessness and discouragement, and which lacks anything to give cheer or comfort. The adjective “melancholy” refers to something which has an inclination to sadness, gloominess, or mournfulness. That the road to the House of Usher and the house itself are introduced as dreary and melancholy, respectively, firmly establishes the tone of this Gothic tale by emphasizing the lonely, sad environment in which the Ushers live.

Gothic literature has several core features that have defined the style since the 19th century: settings like castles, vaults, mansions; hauntings, ghosts, and the supernatural; blood, suspense, and death. This opening paragraph is an excellent example of Poe's Gothic style, which heavily drew on previous Gothic literature until his own work came to practically define the genre. From the “dreary tract of country” to “the melancholy House of Usher,” Poe establishes the atmosphere of this Gothic tale, leading us, along with the narrator, into an intimidating house full of memories, mystery, and horror.

“Son cœur…il rèsonne.” – [French] “His/her heart is a suspended lute; as soon as one touches it, it resonates.” This epigraph is attributed to Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857), a French lyric poet, and it appears to come from his song Le Refus . Since epigraphs give readers insight into how to read stories, here we see a lonely heart that will resound if it is touched. Loneliness pervades the story, and the idea here that something is waiting to be touched creates a sense of anxiety or expectancy as readers begin the tale.

This detail is quite spooky. That she passes by and doesn't notice the narrator gives the impression that she's so ill that she's already become a kind of ghost in the house.

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Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” Essay

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The literary catalogue of Edgar Poe features bizarre, ghastly, and morbid works. Poe’s short stories are synonymous with gloomy themes and dark storylines. “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Cask of Amontillado” are some of Poe’s darkest stories.

Even when highlighting the bright aspects of life such as family and love, Poe does not abandon this dark-themed literary style. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe tells the story of a man who is visiting an old friend. The story is about the remaining two members of the Usher family.

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 a story that investigates the situations that surround a bizarre family. The Usher family is isolated from the rest of the population and it does not exhibit any signs of normalcy. In addition, the family’s existence has almost become a supernatural phenomenon.

Poe portrays the family as one that is surrounded by an eerie atmosphere that scares the narrator from the start. At the start of the story, the narrator is able to paint a vivid picture of the Usher’s family setting.

The narrator notes that during “the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens… (he came) within view of the melancholy House of Usher” (Poe 2).

Poe’s story tells about the bond between Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline Usher. The unidentified narrator who has been called by Roderick to help diffuse the tension ends up being embroiled in the Ushers’ family affairs. The narrator is only able to survive the fall of the Usher family by running away.

To gain insight into Poe’s perspectives about family, one has to consider his family background. As a child, Poe witnessed several tragedies including losing both his parents before he was three years old. In addition to being orphaned at an early age, Poe’s brother died when he was young.

Rosalie, Poe’s younger sister suffered from a mental illness and subsequently became insane. Poe’s familial misfortunes continued when he was formally adopted by John Allan’s family. It is alleged that Poe was mistreated by his foster father when he was young.

As a young adult, Poe had to drop out from university due to his drinking and gambling. After his foster father managed to get Poe admitted to West Point University, Poe was consequently expelled. It is at this point when John Allan disowned Poe as his son. When Poe was 27, he married his first cousin who was thirteen years old at the time.

Roderick tells the narrator that he and his sister share a special kind of connection. Although this ‘special connection’ is not verified in the story, it alludes to some form of kinship. One assumption that can be made from Roderick’s claims is that he and his sister are involved in an incestuous relationship.

According to the narrator, the Usher family has been locked out from the outside world for generations. Moreover, the family did not welcome any outsiders to their house. Previously, Poe had been married to his first cousin and he was therefore privy to the dynamics of incestuous relationships.

However, instead of defending incestuous relationships the author is against these relationships. According to Poe, the doom that befalls the Usher family is closely tied to the destructive nature of incestuous relationships. When the members of the Usher family declined to allow outsiders into their house, they spelt their own doom.

The incestuous portrayal of the Usher family is Poe’s way of condemning the place of incestuous relationships in the society. The narrator does not feel at ease whenever he is at the confines of the Usher family home. Moreover, he is not able to decipher the nature of the relationship between Roderick and Madeline.

The dilapidated condition of the Usher household echoes the conditions of both Roderick and Madeline, the two surviving members of the Usher family. The family’s building exhibits visible cracks and fundamental weaknesses just like Roderick and Madeline.

In one instance, Roderick tells the narrator that the “mansion exhibits some sought of power over him” (Poe 2). The mansion symbolizes the integrity and legacy of the Usher family. Therefore, Roderick is claiming that the power of his family’s legacy has a great impact on his life.

This can be interpreted to mean that Roderick’s current state is as a result of factors that are beyond his control. The same logic can be used to understand Madeline’s state of health. At one point Roderick tells the narrator that even doctors cannot figure out Madeline’s ailment.

The mystery of Madeline’s disease prompts Roderick to bury her inside the house. By so doing, Roderick denies doctors the chance of investigating what killed her sister. However, it later emerges that Roderick’s actions were in bad faith.

The only family in this story is the Usher family. Consequently, the only family bond in the story is that of Roderick and Madeline. In a characteristic manner, Poe leaves the nature of Madeline and Roderick’s relationship as a mystery. Nevertheless, the actual nature of this relationship is the key to Poe’s portrayal of family.

While some speculate that Roderick and Madeline are in an incestuous relationship, others claim that the two are one person split into two. This latter proposition is supported by the fact that Roderick’s chances of survival wane after he buries her sister. Eventually, the two siblings’ existence comes to an end at the same time.

The relationship between Roderick and his sister can also be interpreted to be supernatural. Poe portrays the Usher family as having a relationship that is hard to define and one that borders on the supernatural. This portrayal might be the key to Poe’s core understanding of family. According to Poe, family is a complex unit that borders on the supernatural.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is an eerie account of an isolated family. The house of Usher’s account resonates with Poe’s dark writing style. Poe portrays a family that is isolated from the rest of the world at its own peril. Even the strong bonds between the family members of the Usher family are not enough to save the family from doom.

Works Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher , New York, NY: Langworthy & Swift, 1903. Print.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Fall of The House of Usher — Comparing “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “House Taken Over”

Comparing "The Fall of The House of Usher" and "House Taken Over"

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Table of contents

Atmosphere and mood, themes of isolation and decay, narrative techniques: first-person vs. third-person, symbolism and allegory, exploration of the unseen and supernatural, cultural and historical contexts, conclusion: reflecting on dual dimensions of fear and mystery.

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'The Fall of the House of Usher' Episode 1 Recap: A Family in Crisis

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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for the first episode of Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher

The Big Picture

• Mike Flanagan's The Fall of the House of Usher draws inspiration from HBO's Succession , focusing on a wealthy family unraveling amidst declining health and government interference.
• The central mystery revolves around the deaths of Roderick Usher's children, with connections to mysterious women in plague doctor masks and a strange jester-like figure.
• The story is told through three interconnected tales, including the revelation of Roderick and Madeline's true parentage and their efforts to uncover an informant threatening the Usher family.

It is no stretch, nor a detriment to the final product, to say that Mike Flanagan has taken a page from HBO’s Succession to craft his new Netflix miniseries, The Fall of the House of Usher , which hits the streamer today. Based on the eponymous short story as well as other works by the master of horror Edgar Allan Poe , the show features a wealthy, prominent family eating itself from the inside out as the health of its patriarch begins to decline and the government starts to take interest in their business less' than ethical machinations.

While the HBO show's whole premise focuses on which of the Roy children will take control of Waystar Royco after the demise of its founder and ruler, Logan Roy ( Brian Cox ), The Fall of the House of Usher 's mystery revolves around the succession process getting halted and who is behind it all. This story, as told by Fortunato Pharmaceuticals CEO, Roderick Usher ( Bruce Greenwood ), is a complex one; a tale that involves mysterious women in plague doctor masks, a dead mother who still roams the world of the living, and a strange jester-like figure. In the realm of the mundane, it also involves an informant, a bounty, a shifty non-disclosure agreement, and a lot of bickering over an eye-watering inheritance.

The central mystery of The Fall of the House of Usher is a relatively simple one: who is behind the deaths of all the children, legitimate and illegitimate, of Roderick Usher? In the first few minutes of the show’s first episode, “A Midnight Dreary," we learn that Frederick ( Henry Thomas ), Tamerlane ( Samantha Sloyan ), Victorine ( T'Nia Miller ), Napoleon ( Rahul Kohli ), Camille ( Kate Siegel ), and Prospero ( Sauriyan Sapkota ) have all died in apparently unrelated circumstances, ranging from murder-suicides to animal attacks. However, speaking to Assistant US Attorney Auguste Dupin ( Carl Lumbly ), Roderick Usher claims that his children’s deaths are all connected. Sitting on a chair in his derelict childhood home, he blames himself for the fate of his heirs, as well as a strange presence whom he sees at the funeral for three of his kids: a woman wearing a bird mask similar to the one worn by doctors in the Middle Ages. But who is this woman, exactly, and what is her role in the Ushers' deaths? Like many other questions, this one isn’t answered by “A Midnight Dreary.” It is simply a riddle that we will have to decipher over the course of the series.

There Are Three Main Stories in 'The Fall of the House of Usher'

Following in the footsteps of Flanagan’s own The Haunting of Bly Manor , The Fall of the House of Usher frames its actual plot with a conversation in which one of the characters is telling their story. Finally agreeing to speak to the man who has been prosecuting him and his family for their company’s astoundingly large role in the opioid crisis, Roderick tries to explain what happened to cause the downfall of his once powerful family. And, so, he offers three stories about his life — stories that are, at first, apparently unrelated, but that, much like the Usher children’s death, will eventually form a cohesive whole.

The first event recalled by Roderick is the death of his mother, which serves as an explanation as to how he and his sister, Madeline ( Mary McDonnell ), are connected to Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. When they were both children, their mother, Eliza ( Annabeth Gish ), used to work for the pharmaceutical owner, Mr. Longfellow ( Robert Longstreet ), as his secretary. It is not explained whether there was a consensual affair going on or if it was a more serious kind of sexual misconduct, but the show makes it clear that Madeline and Roderick are actually Mr. Longfellow’s children. Owing to this and to the almost God-like devotion that Eliza showed to her boss, Madeline and Roderick ask for his help when their mother falls ill. However, being the cruel man that he is, Mr. Longfellow refuses to come to Eliza’s aid, and she dies at home in the company of her children.

RELATED: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: Everything We Know About Mike Flanagan’s Adaptation

Knowing that their mother’s religious sensibilities forbid her from being embalmed and wishing to avoid questioning by the police, Roderick and Madeline bury Eliza in their backyard. At night, however, in the middle of a storm, her uneasy body leaves her casket and makes its way to Mr. Longfellow’s house. Her children follow her and witness as she chokes her former employer with her own two hands, finally dropping to her actual death by his side. (Though she still seems to roam around Roderick’s childhood home.)

Sometime after this chilling event, in a way that will become clearer in the following episodes, Fortunato Pharmaceuticals passes on to Roderick and Madeline. Longfellow's death is disguised in the media as a heart attack to preserve the family. The Usher family, that is. And, upon taking over Fortunato, Roderick vows never to be like his father, keeping his doors open to all of his children, legitimate and illegitimate alike, and giving them money to start their own businesses. But this doesn’t stop his family from betraying his trust.

The Powerful Usher Family Are in a Crisis

The second story that Roderick tells Dupin follows what happened to the Usher family after one of their days in court. On said day, Dupin reveals that he has a witness who could bring down the house of Usher for good: an insider with deep knowledge of the family and their businesses. Such a revelation causes the Ushers to start doubting one another, questioning the loyalty of some of the family members. The youngest son, reckless Prospero, and Roderick’s new, much younger wife, Juno ( Ruth Codd ), are two popular targets among the Usher siblings.

Roderick and Madeline, on the other hand, suspect no one and everyone at the same time. Seeking to unmask the informant, they call a family dinner in which they present all the Usher children and spouses with an NDA. The agreement basically states that whoever is siding with the government against the Usher household shall be neutralized, and Madeline makes it clear that said neutralization is not of the legal kind: it very much means death. Despite succeeding in making everyone uncomfortable, the threats do nothing to draw the informant out of hiding. So, Roderick decides to try a new approach: he offers a $50 million bounty to whoever uncovers the traitor.

Who Are the Creepy Figures That Roderick Keeps Seeing?

On the day of the dinner, Roderick also receives a visit from his personal physician, who tells him something that leaves him utterly shaken. We don’t know what it is, but the news brings to memory the image of a woman who is a central character in the third story Roderick tells Dupin, a story about a New Year’s Night decades ago that he and Madeline spent in a bar in order to, once again, avoid questioning by the police. We don’t know what crime they may have committed or witnessed, just that they need to lie low somewhere that also granted them an alibi. We also know that, on that very night, they met a bartender named Verna ( Carla Gugino ) who would change their lives forever. She’s the one that Roderick sees after talking to Dr. Donaldson, and there’s good reason for us to believe that she’s also the one behind the plague doctor mask, the same woman that he sees at his children’s funeral.

The first episode of The Fall of the House of Usher ends in an incredibly cryptic manner. In a flashback, Verna tells Madeline and Roderick that this is a turning point in their lives and that nothing will be the same from now on. Meanwhile, in the present day, after leaving the church where his children are being mourned, Roderick sees a strange figure dressed as a jester inside his car and passes out, bleeding profusely from his nose. Above him, a raven watches with knowing eyes, reminding us that this is an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation after all. What does it all mean? Well, we still have seven more episodes to find out.

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• 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

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Paul Krugman

Why presidents should keep their hands off the fed.

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist

On Saturday, Kamala Harris was asked to respond to Donald Trump’s suggestion that the president should have a say in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decisions. She was vehemently opposed , saying, “The Fed is an independent entity, and as president, I would never interfere in the decisions that the Fed makes.”

Fed independence isn’t an issue that resonates with voters; most people probably don’t even understand the distinction between monetary and fiscal policy. But the likelihood that Trump, if he wins, will politicize the Fed looms large in the minds of those who analyze such things. It’s one reason economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal in July said that inflation would be higher under a second Trump term than under Biden, a conclusion that presumably would carry over to Harris.

But why should the Fed be independent? The Federal Reserve’s legal status is complicated, but there’s no fundamental constitutional principle saying that elected officials must keep their hands off the money supply. Historically, central banks like the Fed have often been treated like ordinary government agencies, and not only under autocratic regimes. For example, the Bank of England was effectively just part of Britain’s Treasury Department until 1997, when it was given operational independence .

At this point, however, most wealthy nations and many with emerging economies have independent central banks and make a point of appointing relatively nonpartisan experts to run them. But why? Why take this particular piece of policy out of the hands of elected officials?

One answer is that you don’t want a Venezuela scenario, in which an irresponsible government relies on the printing press to pay its bills, which can lead to hyperinflation. And don’t say that it can’t happen here; many things we used to consider unthinkable in America are quite thinkable these days.

But even if you leave such extreme scenarios aside, the crucial thing about monetary policy is that of all the levers governments have to affect the economy, it’s the easiest to use — and hence to abuse. And political leaders have found that, as a pragmatic matter, tying their own hands by placing control of the money supply in the hands of quasi-independent technocrats is the best way to protect themselves from temptation.

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