House Of Usher

Adrianna Helms EN031 Mid term
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher written by Edgar Allen Poe was a gothic horror story. It tells the tale of sickness,madness,incest and danger of the family with unrestrained creativity which was Poe's most popular and critically examined horror stories. While Poe provides the recognizable building blocks of the Gothic tale, he contrasts this standard form with a plot that is inexplicable, sudden, and full of unexpected disruptions. The story begins without complete explanation of the narrator’s motives are for arriving at the house of Usher, and this ambiguity sets the

The narrator is mysteriously trapped by the lure of Roderick’s attraction, and he cannot escape until the house of Usher collapses completely. Characters cannot move and act freely in the house because of its structure, so it assumes a monstrous character of its own—the Gothic mastermind that controls the fate of its inhabitants. Poe creates confusion between the living things and inanimate objects by doubling the physical house of Usher with the genetic family line of the Usher family, which he refers to as the house of Usher. Poe employs the word “house” metaphorically, but he also describes a real house. As you read on the house's windows take on the form of eyes and the house itself becomes like a monster that is alive. Poe evokes fear within fear itself by using figurative symbols and having the mind take on the horror he (Poe) is evoking in the story. The Gothic style is apparent from the beginning of this tale; the weather and atmosphere mirror the narrator’s dismal mood as if the physical world is connected to him or somehow aware of his presence. This is typical of Gothic literature. The bleak horror of this scene is bound to correspond to greater horrors within and like the house that shares his name, the character of Usher carries with him an inherent peculiar quality. This quality is exaggerated by the narrator’s memory and the fact that he only knew Usher as a child—all he knows of this man is through the lens of childhood memories and rumors of his nervous disorders. Poe’s story is a success for its overall effect, the problem that exists in his credo extends into the story—that is, and reason and probability are treated as unimportant. How, a reader must ask, does Madeline escape her coffin, the lid of which was screwed on, survive in the airless vault for seven or eight days without nourishment, and then escape the vault by forcing open the immensely heavy iron door? What causes the House of