First of all, we have the symbolisme of Roderick Ushers mind and the House of Usher coinciding. Both can be seem as one and the same.
...e beginning of the story is revealed and is at his very door. Once Madeline appears in the room, Roderick dies and the Narrator runs out of the house to see the house itself sink into the ground. The mental torment for Roderick has ended with his death and the sinking of the House of Usher represents this symbolically.
The house was a representation of Roderick, as it was dark and its physical features were declining, just as his mental and physical health was; while he perished, the house collapsed to the ground, which represents the deceased Usher family generation. His phobia began to build as the death of his sister neared, making her an allegory of his mental torture and the reason for his foreshadowing of his own collapse. Madeline also, in a way, represents Poe’s wife and cousin, Virginia, since incest was possible at the Usher household. As Roderick becomes more afraid of the house and what it contains, it can be said he is also not content with his family tree, since he would be the last living Usher, after Madeline’s soon demise. The ultimate result of Roderick’s last breath is a symbol of him being forever imprisoned in his fear, more likely the House of Usher, and will unfortunately never live again to know the meaning of true
An unnamed narrator visits his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher. The duality is expressed mainly between Roderick and his sister Madeline. The siblings have a rather bizarre relationship and are as close as twins. After Madeline collapses he starts to mimic her behavior. “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.” Madeline gave another reason not to be buried. It was possible with her condition to be mistaken as dead when really she was alive. “I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.” This quote shows Roderick’s suggestion that the house has its own intelligence. “To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave.” Roderick is now afraid and lost and terror over rules
Poe also uses symbolism to compare the deterioration of the house to the fall of the Usher dynasty. In Roderick’s poem, “The Haunted Palace”, he describes the history of the house as it began as a strong and “radiant palace”, which over time became a decrepit, disease-ridden cage. The radiant palace repres...
Roderick and the fall of the house of usher have a deceiving appearance. Poe introduces “In this was much that reminded me of the specious totality of woodwork which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault with no disturbance from the breath of the external air” (312). After meeting Roderick and going inside the house, which appear to be normal, it is revealed that the interior is deteriorated. This home is void of others existence, excepting Roderick and Lady Madeleine. He has “A cadaverous of complexion, an eye large,liquid and luminous beyond comparison, lips somewhat thin and very pallid.” (363). It appears to the readers that Roderick has lost his soul due to his ghostly appearance. His illness has taken a toll on his outward appearance.”The ‘House Of Usher’ an appellation which seemed to include… both the family and the family mansion” (311). The house of usher reflects what is going on within the family. Craziness and neglection engulf Roderick’s as much the house. Roderick’s mental illness and the house are
Approaching the decaying old house, the narrator was struck by an overwhelming sense of gloom that seemed to envelop the estate. The very sight of the manor caused within him "an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness." He remembers Roderick's family was noted for the fact that no new branch of the family had ever been generated. For centuries, the title of the estate had passed directly from father to son, so that the term "House of Usher" had come to refer both to the family and to the mansion.
Throughout The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe chooses to reveal Lady Madeline’s illness through the perspective of her brother, Roderick, rather than giving readers an unbiased perspective of her illness. Considering that the only description of Madeline’s madness comes from Roderick, who himself had a compromised mental state, one must question the reliability of Roderick’s description of Madeline’s illness. One must closely examine the nature of Roderick’s mental illness in order to fully understand his inability to comprehend the reality of Madeline’s illness. After carefully analyzing Roderick’s hypochondria and Madeline’s escape, one will conclude that the Roderick Usher’s mental state renders his testimony throughout the story an unreliable depiction of reality. Therefore, his discernment of Lady Madeline’s illness cannot be relied upon; putting all of Roderick’s claims throughout the story into question.
“When we look across time and across the world, we find that people can truly become afraid of anything.” This quote by Allegra Ringo explores why and how people get scared. In writing, something used to create fear in the reader is transformation. Transformation in stories is when something changes from itself into something else. Often when something changes from itself into something else, like a werewolf, it is scary. Authors can use transformation to create fear through supernatural events, death and the unknown.
In "The Fall of the house of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe creates suspense and fear in the reader. He also tries to convince the reader not to let fear overcome him. Poe tries to evoke suspence in the reader's mind by using several diffenent scenes. These elements include setting, characters, plot, and theme. Poe uses setting primarily in this work to create atmosphere. The crack in the house and the dead trees imply that the house and its surroundings are not sturdy or promising. These elements indicate that a positive outcome is not expected. The thunder, strange light, and mist create a spooky feeling for the reader. The use of character provides action and suspense in the story through the characters' dialogue and actions. Roderick, who is hypochondriac, is very depressed. He has a fearful apperance and his senses are acute. This adds curiosity and anxiety. The narrator was fairly normal until he began to imagine things and become afraid himself. Because of this, the audience gets a sense that evil is lurking. Madeline is in a cataleptic state. She appears to be very weak and pail. Finally, when she dies, she is buried in a vault inside of the mansion. In this story, the plot consists of rising events, conflict, climax, and resolution. The rising events include the parts in the story when the narrator first arrives at the house, meets Roderick, and hears about Roderick's and Madeline's problems. Madeline's death and burial are part of the conflict. At this point, Roderick and the narrator begin to hear sounds throughout the house. The sounds are an omen that an evil action is about to occur. The climax is reached when Madeline comes back from the dead and she and her twin brother both die. Finally, the resolution comes when the narrator escapes from the house and turns around to watch it fall to the ground. The theme that Edgar Allen Poe is trying to convey is do not let fear take over your life because it could eventually destory you.
“I know not how it was – but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (308). Without even entering the house, the narrator can sense something is wrong just by the looks of the home. The depressingly drab weather along with the unkempt appearance of the old house adds to the ominous vibe the narrator is experiencing. The house’s appearance is not only haunting, but also the house, to the narrator, seems to be sickly. This personification is based upon the run-down appearance of the house. The house has a large crack, ranging from the roof all the way down to the bottom of the home. This crack shows the reader than the foundation of the house is weak and could fall apart any moment. The connection between the house and the characters living within, Roderick and his sister, Madeline, is first shown through Roderick’s letter to the narrator. In his letter, Roderick explains to his old friend that he hasn’t been himself lately. Roderick indeed has been sickly for the past few months. Roderick’s senses are all on edge and he is trapped in his dull, lifeless, and mysterious home. The home in which Roderick lives in represents he and his sister quite well. The home is quiet,
Fear is a scary and creepy thing. I went to Knott’s Scary Farm, and I knew I was going to get scared, but I wasn’t expecting how bad it was going to be. Through the night I was so scared but as I started gaining courage, I wasn’t scared of walking past the monsters anymore. I eventually got used to dealing with the fear. In my experience my fear stayed the same, and I got over it. In our unit we had many stories that went over different transitions of fear. For most stories to be frightening, they must present some form of transformation or change. Three ways transformation is played through our stories are humans, objects, and setting transformations.
In the story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, an unnamed narrator arrives at the House of Usher, a very creepy mansion owned by his old friend Roderick Usher. Roderick has been sick lately and wrote to his friend, the narrator, asking for help. The narrator explains that Roderick and his sister are the last of the Usher bloodline then heads inside to see his friend. Roderick is suffering from an "acuteness of the senses," he feels that he will die of the fear he feels. He attributes part of his illness to the fact that his sister, Madeline, suffers from catalepsy and ends up dead. At least that’s what we think. Of course, because of her catalepsy, she might just look like she’s dead. The narrator helps Rodrick entomb her
As soon as Madeline appears to have died, Roderick buries her securely in a vault, and this perhaps reflects the ill person’s subconscious emotional aversion to the sight of himself. Of course, one would also want to avoid one’s self-reflection being dissected and studied by others and this would be consistent with Roderick’s stated intent in burying her so securely. However, one’s self-reflection cannot but exist, and it comes to pursue Roderick. Emotionally, overcome by the sight of himself, the ill person ceases introspection, but this is a surrender of one’s humanity to destruction. And thus, the House of Usher falls.
In The Fall of the House of Usher, the relationship between the House and Roderick Usher is relative because the interior of the house symbolizes his slow, dilapidating mind. We can clearly see evidence of this by the narrator’s use of words describing the lurid atmosphere of the house. The worn and tattered furniture can describe the wearing down of Usher’s mind due to stress. Later in the story, the narrator realizes that he is unable to help Roderick with his condition because he too finds himself being affected by the house’s atmosphere. He finds that the terrifying appearance of the house is a distraction because it is constantly making him feel nervous.