The Fall Of The House Of Usher

Arthur Conan Doyle the author of Sherlock Holmes once said that Edgar Allan Poe's stories were ¨a model for time.” This sentiment is seen in Poe’s psychological thriller “The Fall of the House of Usher” where the reader watches a man’s descent into madness over time. Poe makes the reader piece together the reasons for Roderick’s downfall on their own which makes the payoff of the reveal that much more rewarding. Poe employs petrifying depictions and multifaceted analogies to assert that fear can drive people to intense madness. One way the Poe makes the story more engaging is by crafting intricate metaphors that work in several different ways. For example, when the narrator is reading “The Haunted Palace,” he learns about “a fair and stately

For instance, when the narrator is trying to determine what is wrong with Usher, he thinks “To an anomalous species of terror I found him a bounden slave” (Poe 314). Poe avails this to describe Usher's feeble appearance, and how fear is harmfully affecting him. He uses this to show that Usher is imprisoned to his fear and can’t get away from it. Moreover, when the narrator is arriving at his house he reigns his “horse to the precipitous brink of black and lurid tarn that lay in unruffled luster by the dwelling” (Poe 310). Poe continues to illustrate the traveler’s journey into the mansion of gloom. This leads the reader into the mansion where Roderick Usher’s mind is deteriorating from his paranoia. Next, when the narrator is learning of Usher’s mental condition, he concludes that Usher “was enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling he tenanted”(Poe 314). Poe’s usage of concise word choice for illustrations of the scene gives the reader a vivid depiction of Usher’s condition and the source of his dismay. The imagery accords the distinct tone of how dank and muggy the house is for Usher therefore immersing the reader into his world. This gives the reader a vivid characterization of the drab nature of the house and what is causing Usher to go