“The Fall of the House of Usher” - By Edgar Allan Poe

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is, 

 

-          The gothic context of the tale

-          The doubling motif of the tale 

-          The function of setting in the tale

-          The structural unity of the tale

Poe’s “house of Usher” looks more like a medieval castle or English cathedral in Gothic style.  The Fall of the house of Usher is The most famous short story of Edgar Allan Poe. It is the masterpiece of American Gothic Fiction. 

 Point of view:

-          First person .

-          A nameless narrator.

-          He describes the events as he saw them.

Main characters: 

1)      The narrator:  A friend of the master of the House of Usher. He witnesses terrifying events.

2)      Roderick Usher:  The master of the house, he suffers from a depressing malaise.

3)      Madeline Usher:  Twin sister of Roderick. She also suffers from a strange illness in this story.

Short Summary:

The narrator arrives to the Ushers’ house ; an old mansion encircled by a small ltarn (lake). A bridge across the tarn provides access to the house. Roderick Usher, receives the visitor, a boyhood friend. Roderick, who is suffering from a strange mental illness, lives therewith his twin sister Madeline who is near death due to a mysterious disease. The narrator stays with them, he provides company to Roderick while he paints and plays guitar, he spends all his days inside, avoiding  the sunlight.  When Madeline dies, Roderick  decides to bury her  temporarily in one of his house’s large vaults. A few days later, during a stormy night, the Narrator couldn’t sleep, he was terrified. Roderick comes to the Narrator’s bedroom. The narrator attempts to calm Roderick by reading “The Mad Tris”, a story about a Knight , “Ethelred” who slays a dragon and wins a shield of shining brass. As the narrator reads the book, they can listen to the same sounds related in the story. Roderick declares Madeline was alive when they buried her. Then, Madeline emerges from her provisional tomb. She confronts Roderick and begins throttling him to death. The house begins to collapse , the narrator flees for his life. Roderick is dead. He and Madeline are consumed  by the falling house.