Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The House Of Usher And The Tell Tale Heart

1165 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: the theme of the tell-tale heart

“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest of intelligence,” Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is famous in the writing world and has written many amazing stories throughout his gloomy life. At a young age his parents died and he struggled with the abuse of drugs and alcohol. A great amount of work he created involves a character that suffers with a psychological problem or mental illness. Two famous stories that categorize Poe’s psychological perspective would be “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Both of these stories contain many similarities and differences of Poe’s psychological viewpoint. Poe sets the setting as dark and gloomy, most likely to give the reader the death is in the air vibe in the beginning of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. “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?” The narrator, who is nameless throughout the whole story, receives a letter from an old childhood friend. According to the letter Roderick, the narrator’s childhood friend, has invited the narrator …show more content…

The narrator, who is nameless, begins the story by telling us that he is not nervous but rather insane. He explains that he has a disease that sharpens his senses that allows him to hear and see better than a normal person. The narrator begins to tell a story about how he loved an old man that has never did any harm to him. However he couldn’t stand the sight of the old man. Literally sight is the right word to use because the narrator hated the man’s blue

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Fall Of The House Of Usher

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe, The story takes place on the outskirts of Usher’s where the narrator is arriving. In the story we follow the narrator and his experience meeting his childhood friend Roderick Usher for the first time in years.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Dementia

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Several aspects of Edgar Allan Poe’s life are well known because of his popularity in American literature. Commonly known facts include, but are not limited to knowing that Poe greatly influenced the horror genre of writing, published many famous poems, and that he is credited with creating detective-fiction. One aspect of his life, however, is not as common. Poe suffered from a cognitive disorder presently known as dementia, which, in Poe’s case, worsened throughout his life. This had a negative effect on many aspects of Poe’s health, but his condition did help contribute to the stories and poems he created. Edgar Allan Poe’s progressive dementia influenced his gothic mind, which he set and used as a starting point for his many literary works.

    Read More

  • Beauty and Nightmare in Dreamland and a Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allen Poe

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe’s juxtaposition between beauty and nightmare in “Dreamland” and “A Dream Within A Dream” reveals his perpetual struggle between mania and depression. Losing both of his parents at the age of eight, Poe went on to suffer from the ill judgement of a gambling addiction and social isolation during his stay at Virginia University (uncp.edu). After leaving the university, he obtained literary fame through his poetry, fiction, and criticism. However, Poe consistently squandered opportunities for much needed wealth by antagonizing important figures. The rash and antisocial habits of Edgar show a compelling diagnosis of mania. This mania, coupled with his fascination with death, general irritability, and eventual suicide verifies his the depressive part of bipolar disorder (nimh.nih.gov). Poe’s extreme highs and lows as a result of his manic depression enabled him to write the warped and wonderful poetry for which he is famous.

    Read More

  • Poe’s Life… At the Tip of a Pen

    2200 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poe endured more than any individual should endure, and experienced so much negativity it was almost inevitable that the theme of insanity would appear in his works. He suffered from an excessive amount of hardships and tragedies throughout his life that placed him on the brink of insanity. The first sign of Poe’s insanity is found in his short story “The Black Cat” where the narrator claims “mad [he] is not”. Present in the state of denial, Poe’s character will say or do anything to relinquish the claim of ...

    Read More

  • Symbolism and analysis of "The Fall of the House of Usher"

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe is undoubtedly one of American Literature's legendary and prolific writers, and it is normal to say that his works touched on many aspects of the human psyche and personality. While he was no psychologist, he wrote about things that could evoke the reasons behind every person's character, whether flawed or not. Some would say his works are of the horror genre, succeeding in frightening his audience into trying to finish reading the book in one sitting, but making them think beyond the story and analyze it through imagery. The "Fall of the House of Usher" is one such tale that uses such frightening imagery that one can only sigh in relief that it is just a work of fiction. However, based on the biography of Poe, events that surrounded his life while he was working on his tales were enough to show the emotions he undoubtedly was experiencing during that time.

    Read More

  • Poe

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    Confusion, fear, wonderment, shock and horror—just a few words of many to describe the emotions Edgar Allen Poe’s tales are known to elicit. Critics say that Poe was well ahead of his time in his ability to examine the human psyche and create characters that really make the reader think, if not recoil in horror. One particular theme Poe quite often repeats is that of madness and insanity. He is known for his wonderfully twisted tales involving such characters as an unstable brother with a mysterious ailment (The Fall of the House of Usher,) a methodical murderer (The Tell-Tale Heart,) and an enraged, revenge seeking, homicidal maniac (The Cask of Amontillado.) Through analysis and citations of the tales listed above, in conjunction with the opinions of literary critics, the reader will clearly see the oft repeated theme of madness and insanity hard at work.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The House Of Usher And House Taken Over

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” the settings are similar because they can both be described as dark in some passages, and ultimately alluring. However in Poe’s “The Fall of the House,” the setting is revolving around the climax, so it is all very dramatic and highly detailed, almost ominous. In contrast, Cortazar’s setting is slightly more laid back, things take place in time and it is all very dreamlike.

    Read More

  • Insanity In The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    The “Tell-Tale Heart” is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and serves as a testament to Poe’s ability to convey mental disability in an entertaining way. The story revolves around the unnamed narrator and old man, and the narrator’s desire to kill the old man for reasons that seem unexplainable and insane. After taking a more critical approach, it is evident that Poe’s story is a psychological tale of inner turmoil.

    Read More

  • The Fall of the House of Usher

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe’s use of dark, descriptive words allow him to establish an eerie mood. Poe’s unique style of writing along with his foreshadowing vocabulary is significant in creating a suspenseful gothic story. At the beginning of the short story, Poe describes the House of Usher to be “dull”, “oppressive”, and “dreary” (1265). His choice of words strongly emphasizes a mood of darkness and suspense as he builds on the horrific aspects of this daunting tale. At first glimpse, the house itself is surrounded by the feeling of “insufferable gloom”, (1265) “[t]here was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness of thought [...]” (1265). The atmosphere that Poe describes in the statement above establishes a spine-chilling mood. Poe uses words such as “insufferable gloom”

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Pit And The Pendulum And Fall Of The House Of Usher

    303 Words  | 1 Pages

    Poe creates a dark and tense atmosphere in the Pen and the Pendulum by starting the book out with the narrator receiving a death sentence from the court for an unknown crime. Poe uses a lot of suspense in this story. In the Fall of the House of Usher his atmosphere is gloomy and dark. By making the atmosphere like that, this creates imagery so vivid to the reader which helps lead to a sense of emotion while reading this story.

    Read More

  • The Fall Of The House Of Usher Literary Analysis

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe applies a variety of examples of this feel in the short story. An example of the feel of the genre is “the haunted mansion, haunted siblings, bewildering corridors, and eerie chambers,”(Fisher 88). The so-called feel of the Gothic genre is so well represented in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” that it makes a great argument that it positively is a representation of the Gothic genre and not for the Gothic parody. An obvious clue that Poe left behind was the death. In which, most Gothic genre ends with a death or some kind of terrible ending ,yet in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the conclusion of the short story is a basic ending to the story because this type of genre is dark. Therefore, the feel of the genre is heightened when the literary device, Gothic double, is used throughout “The Fall of the House of

    Read More

  • The House Of Usher Response

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.

    Read More

  • The Tell Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story opens with the narrator explaining his sanity after murdering his companion. By immediately presenting the reader with the textbook definition of an unreliable narrator, Poe attempts to distort his audience’s perceptions from the beginning. This point is further emphasized by his focus on the perceived nexus of madness; the eye. Poe, through the narrator, compares the old man’s eye to the eye of a vulture. Because vultures are birds that prey on the weak and depend on their eyesight to hunt, it is easy to deduct that Poe’s intention is to connect the narrator’s guilt and his interpretation of events in his life. By equating the eye to the old man’s ability to see more than what others see, Poe allows the narrator to explore the idea that this eye can see his weakness; the evil that lies in the narrator’s heart and that which makes him unacceptable. Knowing that he is damaged makes the narrato...

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In The Tell Tale Heart

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” the narrator attempts to assert his sanity while describing a murder he carefully planned and executed. Despite his claims that he is not mad, it is very obvious that his actions are a result of his mental disorder. Hollie Pritchard writes in her article, “it has been suggested that it is not the idea but the form of his madness that is of importance to the story” (144). There is evidence in the text to support that the narrator suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was experiencing the active phase of said disease when the murder happened. The narrator’s actions in “The Tell-Tale Heart” are a result of him succumbing to his paranoid schizophrenia.

    Read More

  • Understanding Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart: Insanity or a Stroke of Brilliance

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe’s a genius of innovation. He uses the ideas that were common concerns of the time to revolve around in his short stories. Edgar Allen Poe grew up in a rough time when both his parents died, 1811. At a young age Poe was placed with a foster family in which he was treated without any respect. He took the ideas of mental illness to a sophisticated example in his short story, “The Tell Tale Heart.” “The Tell Tale Heart” is written in the gothic style that helps establish the surreal theme. Poe’s whole purpose in writing short story is to address the idea of mental illness which he portrays in his main character. Through his writing of the short story “A Tell Tale Heart” he addresses the idea that criminals were getting away with the idea pf insanity as there escape.

    Read More

More about Compare And Contrast The Fall Of The House Of Usher And The Tell Tale Heart

Open Document