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How Does Poe Create Suspense In The House Of Usher

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In "The House of Usher", Edgar Allan Poe uses suspense, symbolism, and horrifying revelations. With all of these devices, Poe creates a cynical and sorrowful story full of twists and despair for the Usher family. Poe uses suspense in way to describe the madness and mystery that is going on in the Usher household. This is shown when the narrator states "The writer spoke of acute, bad illness of a mental disorder which oppressed him." (Poe. 294). When the narrator says this, it gives an intro into the state of Usher's mind in which he is going mad. Another way he uses suspense is foreshadowing when he writes "The entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variations, so lain." (295). …show more content…

The first example of symbolism in the story is how the house has a big crack throughout it and seems to be falling apart. This symbolizes the Usher bloodline and how it is coming to the end because there are only two members of the family left but they are doomed. Another use of symbolism in the story is the never-ending storm over the house. This storm symbolizes the curse that the whole Usher line is under and how they are doomed to an entire lifetime of gloom despair. Another recurring device in the story is the use of horrifying revelations in which the narrator and Usher go …show more content…

The first example of a horrifying revelation is when the narrator says "For a moment she remained trembling and reeling to and fro upon the threshold,-- then, with a low moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated." (Poe 304). What the text means is that Usher had realized that he had accidentally buried his sister alive and had killed her; and from learning this, his body went into so much shock that he died. Another use of a horrifying revelation is when the narrator says "While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened--there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind--the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight--my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder--there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters--and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the 'House of Usher'." (304). What this means is that once the remaining members of the Usher bloodline had died, the house collapsed and the narrator realized that the house represented the life of the Usher's and once the whole bloodline died, so did the

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Edgar Allan Poe used fear to attract his readers into his gothic world. Poe realized that fear intrigues as well as frightens his readers. In The Fall of the House of Usher, The story begins with Roderick Usher already suffering from a severe mental illness, which steadily grows worse as the tale progresses. Roderick dreads the unknowable; he fears precisely what cannot be rationally feared. He fears for no apparent reason.

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Edgar Allen Poe is considered to be one of the leading writers of the Gothic Romantic period of literature. One of Poe’s famous short stories, The Fall of the House of Usher, creates a dark and sorrowful atmosphere, with a deep story of connection between brother and sister intertwined within. Poe conveys this atmosphere through powerful and elaborate use of diction, to tie into the overarching theme of tradition. Poe is renowned throughout history for his beautiful and elaborate use of diction and symbolism. He uses copious amounts of description to conjure up vivid scenes in the reader’s mind.

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Many authors use suspense in order to keep their audiences interested in the story. Edgar Allan Poe in The Masque of the Red Death created suspense by using literary devices. In The Masque of the Red Death Poe, established suspense throughout the story using a clock which symbolizes the passing of time. The first hint the readers are given is that the clock freezes people when it strikes half an hour. Understanding the foreshadowing of the clock allows the readers to comprehend the suspense in the story.

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Stendhal is recreating this house in the story, bringing the idea of these dark stories to life. “ ‘During the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length I found myself, as the shades of evening drew on within the view of the melancholy House of Usher.’ ” .

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The author increases the feeling of anxiety in the story by using foreshadowing. For example, after the narrator obtains the second black cat, he notices that the white patch on the second cat’s chest is forming into something. When the narrator realizes what the shape of the patch on the beast chest is, he states, “It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to have—and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared—it was how, I say, the image of a hideous—of a ghastly thing—of the GALLOWS!” (Poe 4)

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In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,”

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Poe tries to evoke suspense in the reader's mind by using several different

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Words like “dull” and “oppressive” along with phrases like “soundless day in the autumn of year,...” (Poe, line 1) help prevail the darkness lingering outside the house of Usher as if all the evils of the world would be spent on one final blow on the Usher family. As the story progresses however, both Usher and the narrator end up going crazy as the gloomy weather and the reawakening of Usher’s twin sister both contribute to the evils destroying the Usher family.

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“ I know not how it was, but, with my first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom prevaded my spirit”. (Para. 1) As the narrator makes his way to the House of Usher, he acknowledges feeling confused as “a sense of insufferable gloom prevaded [his] spirit”. He feels this way because the House no longer looks the same as in his childhood; it is now rundown and the grounds seem to be decaying. “I looked upon the scene before me, upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain—- upon the bleak walls—- upon the vacant eyelike windows— upon a few rank sedges— and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—with an utter depression of soul, which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium— the bitter lapse into everyday life– the hideous dropping off the veil” (para 1).

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Slightly have the same similarities with “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Raven” also starts with a creepy and dreary midnight in the “bleak of December.” A man, also an unnamed narrator is sitting and reading weird old books and feeling “weak and weary.” (). The nameless narrator finds himself dozing off and all of a sudden hears a “tapping at my chamber door,” he is a bit nervous but try’s calming himself down, telling himself that “tis some visitor” who has come unexpectedly. He gets up to answer the down but finds nothing and no one.

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Deep within every person there is a sense of fear that terrifies them for life. In Edgar Allen Poe’s story “The Fall of the house of Usher”, the narrator enters the home of a lifelong friend, Usher, who has fallen to the fear he has held within him. Usher’s twin sister, Madeline, has Usher on edge thinking that she is dead. When they bury her, she comes back to life and takes him away to die with him. They are the last two of the family of Ushers.

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“ The Fall of the House of Usher “ by Edgar Allan Poe is a short story about a man named Roderick Usher who initiates some events such as evoking his friend The Narrator as a protagonist to the dreadful mansion. The images such as the house and gothic ambience are used to reinforce the idea of giving the mystery to the reader. Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic elements to show how they affect the atmosphere and the characters. In the beginning , the gothic atmosphere of the house is indicated with terrifying images such as “ dull, dark and soundless ” that the feeling of horror vaccinated into reader by the thoughts of the narrator.

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Throughout “The Fall of the House of Usher,” metaphor and symbolism are heavily relied upon to express the extent of the madness that resides within the Usher House. In the short story, Poe creates a symbolic parallel between the art and stories that are seen and told. It can be implied, from a painting, in the Usher house, that Lady Madeline Usher is still alive. The reader can also imply that there is a hidden tunnel or room under the entirety of the house. “The Mad Trist” indirectly tells the reader of Lady Madeline’s escape from the tomb she had been placed in.

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Poe uses imagery to explain the atmosphere of fear and the continuous breaking of Usher. Poe portrays the surroundings of the narrator as dark, giving an image of the setting “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year” (Poe 310). The image of a dark day is installed in the reader by this line. This line also gives the reader the image of being alone on a dark day in the autumn. Poe also uses imagery to make his readers a sense of fear “I know not how it was--but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (Poe 310).

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In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the tone gives off an eerie and bizarre feeling. This is similar to many of Poe’s other short stories but this piece the most. The tone is gloomy compared to “The Black Cat” that Poe has also written. The author starts off the story with immense details of the setting. The readers get a dark vibe from these details.

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