Theme Of Horror In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

1644 Words4 Pages

Nothing compares to being trapped in a nightmare; it is often associated with being stuck in the darkest corners of an individual’s own mind. In the nightmare, lies many strange images along with shadowy creatures which is usually described as a horrific scene of a reality, that one believes is actually happening. This feeling the individual experiences when faced with what they fear most can be describe as terror. The physical manifestation of the vivid images of gore and violent actions that create the feeling of terror is known as horror. Edgar Allan Poe 's apparent focus on the ghastly and outrageous, the exaggerated and the strange, derives from a dream-like entity. By creating this dream like atmosphere into stories, Poe is able to delve into the human psyche revealing information about the structure of the human mind which allows him to really appeal to the reader. While Poe uses some elements of terror as buildup in his stories, he mainly relies on horror to affect the reader through narration and the psyche of his characters it is apparent in “The Fall of The House of Usher” and “The …show more content…

His constant use of adjectives pull the reader in which truly affects them. The tone which sounds like it is being told by someone mentally deranged sets the mood for the length of the story. For example, “The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead…His eye would trouble me no more.” (Poe 1591) Only an insane person would kill someone over a faulty eye. It may have been terror in the beginning when there was suspense that something bad may happen, but overall the story embodies horror because the narrator took action and killed the man over something so measly. This horror affected the reader’s perspective even more towards the end when there was no sound except for the heartbeat of the man in the

Open Document