Setting can be one of the most significant aspects of nearly any text. Setting is one of many devices that authors use to set up not only the time and place of the story, but also the mood. Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most notorious authors to use setting to give the story its mood, most often with fear. The Fall of the House of Usher is no different. Throughout the short story, Poe uses many literary devices, including setting, to help set the stage for the both fearful and melancholy plot. Edgar Allan Poe’s, The Fall of the House of Usher uses setting as an important literary device for several reasons, including the mood of the story, the communication process, and foreshadowing.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House
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One of the many elements of setting is time. Time plays a dominant role in the types of communication used in this play. While the narrator approaches the mansion, he explains to the readers that the reason he is advancing towards the mansions is due to “-a letter from him-which, in its wildly importunate nature, had admitted of no other than a personal reply.” This is essential to the outcome of the play, for at the time that this story is set, a time in which letters were the only mode of communication, conveyance of one 's situation took a long time to reach the recipient. If this text had been written in a time and place of a mansion today, many of the involved parties would have had cell phones. This may not seem an instrumental part, yet if the narrator had access to a cellular device, he could have used it to contact people to get additional help for Mr. Usher’s sister. Therefore, she could have been cured, alleviating Mr. Usher of many of his …show more content…
One way in which Poe uses setting as a type of foreshadowing is through his early description of the House of Usher. “...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.” In this excerpt of Poe’s short story, the narrator tells of a miniscule crack, running from the top of the mansion, all the way down to its foundation. At first, many readers acknowledge this as nothing more than a result of the immense age of the house. Yet after reading the story, and making inferences from the title of the piece, readers can come back to the conclusion that later on in the story, this crack will leading to the indefinite fall of the House of Usher. In this sense, the mention of the crack can be defined as a type of foreshadowing, or a hint as to what will come about later on in the
In “Fall of the House of Usher”, the setting takes place at the house of Usher, whose friend, the main character, comes to visit because Usher is dying. He travels through the house, visiting the family members and sees the house is in a serious state of disrepair. A theory on the story
The setting is an important part of any story, whether it be a poem or a novel. The setting consists of all the places and/or things surrounding the character at any moment through any literary or visual media. A literary setting is often full of details and vivid imagery due to the lack of visual aids that are present in videos and movies. These details often take paragraphs to describe single settings to give the reader an imaginary vision of what the area would look like. Edgar Allan Poe is no exception to these rules and he clearly writes out the setting for his short stories and poems. Poe does an excellent job of using details to describe the setting of his stories and shows great care in choosing the wording of each description he makes to display his exact intentions for each descriptive setting. In the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Poe, the setting has a direct correlation with the mood in the story. The further into the story you read, the deeper and darker the surroundings of the two main characters get, just like the main plot of the story.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe establishes a new type of literature, he emphasizes sides of Empiricism as well as the idea of Transcendence.
All these critical elements to a short story come together to form the main idea of “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The theme is that an irreconcilable fracture in one’s personality can lead to the derangement and dissolution of the personality. Although this is a major theme, there are others prevalent, such as the mind cannot live or die without its counterpart (mirror image), the senses, and the theme of being a victim, having power, and being powerless.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, the death of Madeline and Roderick Usher represents the ending of something, and in this specific case, the ending of a generation. Throughout the story, it is made very clear that Madeline and Roderick are the last living people of the Usher generation. Roderick Usher explicitly states on page four, “‘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.’” Therefore, when they both die at the end, it is clear that it is the end of a generation. The ending of their generation creates a depressing and serious feeling through this story due to the fact that the Usher’s will be no more.
An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In “The Cask of Amontillado” Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception.
The narrator in "the House of Usher" was actually the friend of the main character of the story, Roderick Usher, who lived with his sister in the house and both had mental sicknesses that had ultimately led to their deaths. While the house was not actually haunted, as horror stories usually are made up of, there was a permeating sense of decay about the building that continued up to the two owners of the house, with their depression and gloom, and the sister's ability to withdraw in a catatonic state that would make anyone unaware of the condition conclude that the person had died. The house, which was the setting of the story, was not bathed in light or warmth; it was either always dark, or gloomy, "melancholy" was the word frequently used; and the reference to the crack in the wall was to show that it was on its way to destruction; all it needed wa...
The setting of a story sets the tone for the entire piece. Without the appropriate setting, what the author is trying to express is lost. In “The Cask of Amontillado”, Edgar Allan Poe uses the setting as a way to set the stage for the events that will come. Poe’s settings make his stories interesting, as well as easy to understand because of his descriptiveness and writing techniques. His use of vivid details and symbols in his settings intrigue the readers and set a particular tone. Each and every setting has a direct meaning and reason attached to that of the story and time.
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher.
The mind is a complicated thing. Not many stories are able to portray this in such an interesting manner as in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher". The haunting story of a man and his sister, living in the old family mansion. But as all should know, much symbolism can be found in most of Poe's works. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is no exception.
In the beginning of the story, with an extensive and vivid description of the house and its vicinity, Poe prepares the scene for a dreadful, bleak, and distempered tale. The setting not only affects Poe’s narration of the story but influences the characters and their actions as well. Both the narrator and his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, question w...
Imagery in "The Fall of the House of Usher" The description of the landscape in any story is important as it creates a vivid imagery of the scene and helps to develop the mood. Edgar Allan Poe is a master at using imagery to improve the effects of his stories. He tends to use the landscapes to symbolize some important aspect of the story. Also, he makes use of the landscape to produce a supernatural effect and to induce horror. In particular, Poe makes great use of these tools in "The Fall of the House of Usher." This story depends on the portrayal of the house itself to create a certain atmosphere and to relate to the Usher family. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Edgar Allan Poe uses the landscape to develop an atmosphere of horror and to create corollary to the Usher family. Poe uses the life-like characteristics of the house as a device for giving the house a supernatural presence. The house is described as having somewhat supernatural characteristics. The windows appear to be "vacant" and "eye-like" (1462). The strange nature of the house is further explained as around the mansion, "…there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate vicinity." (1462). This demonstrates that the house and its surroundings have an unusual and bizarre existence. Upon entering the house, the narrator views some objects, such as the tapestries on the walls and the trophies, fill him with a sense of superstition. He describes the trophies as "phantasmagoric" (1462). He further explains that the house and the contents were the cause of his feelings.
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.
In The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe writes of a sickly brother and sister that live in an old estate, and a narrator’s account of the Ushers’ final days. The story is scary on two different levels. The first and most obvious that is noticed just by reading on the surface is the creepy atmosphere of the house and death of the main characters. Poe makes this level of scariness very accessible by the diction and imagery that he uses. The second level of scariness is the psychological aspect of the story. The themes of isolation, madness, and fear become terrifying because they are able to transcend the story; they are real, and they could quite possibly affect us.
...uses setting in the story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” to set the overall mood of the story, to foreshadow what will happen at the end of the story, and show character traits. Poe creates a gloomy and melancholy mood in the beginning of the story and it is already known that this is no ordinary house, as it is located on the dreary tract of the country. As the narrator gets closer to the house and enters, it is evident that there will be some sort of evil involved. The crack in the wall suggests that there will be some tragic end in the story. The setting also reveals the character traits of the Ushers. The narrator sees that they have created their own world and are obsessed with death. Edgar Allan Poe uses the setting in this story to its greatest extent, creating the gloomy mood, foreshadowing the end of the story, and establish overall character traits.