House Of Usher Symbolism

stories , in their own way are somehow parallel to the story in "The Fall of the

First of all Poe uses the decaying setting to give a sense of dread. The narrator describes the atmosphere as similar “to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium”. It is dreary unearthly. The narrator also says that it is a dreary autumn day. Poe chose to set the story in autumn because it is a season commonly corresponding with death and fear. The actual house is decaying and covered in fungi with a large fissure going down the front of it.. This represents Usher’s state of mind during the visit. Moreover the shape of the house is said to be skull-like which could symbolize the presence of death throughout the story. The interior of the house is no different form its exterior. Once the narrator is led inside the house he finds

The theme of illness is detectable even in the first few sentences of the story, before any character is truly presented. Poe presents the setting of the story and the physical house of Usher in a tone that necessarily gives the reader a distinct sense of discomfort and misery that is readily tied to the rest of the story and the few characters in it. In the first paragraph alone, he uses phrases like “a dull, dark and soundless day”, “insufferable gloom”,

The Usher mansion is slowly deteriorating, just like Roderick Usher himself. The “sombre tapestries,” “ebon blackness,” and “phantasmagoric armorial trophies” did not just start showing in the house; these elements have had time to develop and is now represented as a never ending darkness, which is just like Roderick Usher’s mental illness. Not only does Poe create an image of the house, he also uses lucid details describing the Usher’s mansion and the rooms inside the home to show that Roderick’s mental illness has physically and mentally trapped him. Roderick is a gloomy and mysterious character who looks as if he is dead. Poe describes Roderick’s appearance as one to not easily be forgotten (Poe 152). In Roderick’s mind, he feels as if he has no escape from this illness, which terrifies him. His biggest fear is fear himself. The evil that has overcame his body will take a toll on his life and he is aware of it because he says “I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed no abhorrence of danger, except in it absolute effect-in terror” (Poe 153). As described in the story, the Usher house has rooms that create a somber life and with this creation, Poe is able to portray the kind of life that Roderick Usher is living and will live. Not only is this technique used in “The Fall of the House of

Through loneliness, one is often forced into sadness and in extensive cases delirium due to lack of contact with other human beings. This seems to be the case with Roderick Usher, as through the curse of his house, he is forced into a dismal loneliness, forcing him to create some sort of comfort, which he finds in the characters of his supposed sister Madeline and the potential childhood friend who narrates the story. Due to the nature of the writing of Edgar Allen Poe, readers cannot say whether or not theses character exist, however, it is plausible to consider both Madeline and the narrator as extensions of Roderick Usher, which he was forced to create out of a lack of true love and connection in his existence. When Roderick and the narrator supposedly burying Madeline, Roderick, “divining, perhaps, [the narrator’s] thoughts, murmured out some few words from which [he] learned that

Poe uses the house metaphorically to show how the usher family's mind is unstable and how they isolate themselves from the outside world. The narrator himself deals with the insanity of Roderick Usher, who was one of the two survivors living in the house along with his twin Madeline. Poe's story starts with a really long sentence recording the

He describes the depressing effect the walls have on him as if his brain is suffocated looking upon the confines of its skull. Clearly, having never left the house seems to be the source of his ailment. Alternately, he highlights the tarn as another source of his troubles, for he understands his dilemma as framed by the nature that will destroy him from within, and without. In this sense, Roderick is quite aware of the dangers that nature present to him in his solitude, however, we have yet to broach the most disturbing pervasion of nature in this tale— Roderick’s twin

Authors in the late 1800's used suspense, symbolism and gothic elements to better interest the reader. In, "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Where is Here", showed suspense, symbolism of death, and the gloominess gothic element. The use of foreshadowing portrays what the story will be in the future. In "The Fall of the House of Usher" the narrator explains the day in the "autumn of the year as dull, dark, and soundless. "

In the “Fall of the House of Usher” the unknown narrator goes to his friend’s house. His friend’s name is Roderick and he has a sister named Madeline. When he sees the house he realizes the atmosphere of the house is kinda depressing and dark; he notices one crack on the house. Roderick and Madeline are the only two Usher’s left; they seem to be the only hope for the “Usher’s” family name to continue. The narrator describes the house as “An atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn — a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued.

Roderick and his sister both lay dead, but since the house was a being of Roderick’s unconscious it dies along with them as well. He was right, his disease was a part of his head all along, “…Water is a favorite symbol for the unconscious” (Jung,

The story uses different forms of symbolism to convey themes and development of characters and the plot. But the main symbol of the story is the Usher house, itself. The main symbolism behind the home is to be the setting because through the house Poe wants to show the fear of the narrator and Roderick’s mental illness. The looming crisis can be felt in the air throughout the story because of Poe’s black tones that are used in all of his stories. The fine line between death and reality that Poe twists is purposely done to showcase Roderick’s mental illness. This showcases that the narrator and readers know something is wrong with the House of Usher. This is found out later that through generations of

In the short story, ¨The Fall of the House of the Usher¨ by Edgar Allan Poe, the unnamed narrator arrives at his childhood friends, Roderick Usher’s house. Immediately the house can be pictured as a modern haunted house with “inverted images of the grey sedge, and the ghastly tree-stems and the vacant and eye like windows.” Lately, Roderick has been sick, stricken with a mental illness and wrote to the narrator asking for help. After living with Roderick for some time, the narrator learns some details about Roderick’s life, including his battle with his fears and the close relationship he shares with his sister, Madeline. All through the story, fear and isolation are prevalent themes; from the appearance of the house to the death of Roderick.

The Fall of The House of Usher” is one of Poe's longest pieces and is filled with literary elements. One literary element among these is the double meaning which the house itself is. The house represents the narrator’s mind, and when the house falls it represents the fall in reason. Which throughout the entirety of the story the narrator is slowly going insane to the point of complete corruption. The narrator sees a crack in the house as he approaches it, the crack is small and thin, but despite its width being subpar the fracture runs all the way from the top of the house to it’s foundation.

The “House of Usher” that is described so morbidly in the short story mirrors the destructive path that tuberculosis led in the lives of people closest to Poe. In the short story, the house symbolizes

In “Fall of the House of Usher”, Madeline and Roderick Usher have lived their entire lives in their family mansion. As he looks upon the Usher house for the first time, even the narrator is intimidated by its appearance. Making the use of personification, the narrator describes the eerie and ominous features of the house in front of him. Therefore, making the house seem solitary, as if it is different from reality which is seen when stated “upon the bleak walls—upon the vacant, eye- like 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” (Poe, 412). Nothing on earth can be compared to the eerie features of the house, such as its personified window eyes or a sense of an insufferable gloom that pervaded his spirit has he looked upon the house (Poe, 412). Roderick is suffering from madness, “acute body illness-of a mental disorder which oppressed him” (Poe, 416) which is