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A comparison between The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Poe and The Student by

Anton Chekhov

When the two stories start, there is an eerie feeling that something terrible might happen

with both the authors introducing the stories. The authors create mysterious and gothic images

with the way they introduce their readers into the settings. For Example, in the story of the house

of Usher, the narrator introduces us to his world by saying that he is approaching the House of

Usher, the estate of his childhood friend, on a dark, gloomy, and silent day. He observes that the

house seemed evilly mysterious, noting the diseased environment from the rotting trees and

muddy ponds around it. He also notes that even though the house is rotting in some places,

individual stones are degenerating in that there is a small crack in the front of the building from

the roof to the ground, though the building itself appears equally solid. He also states that he had

gone to the house because his friend had sent him a letter earnestly requesting his company.

On the other hand, in the story of the Student, the setting is such that the narrator, Ivan, is

coming from hunting in the forest, and the sun is setting. This means that darkness is setting in,

and it is getting cold and quiet, which brings an unsettling feeling to the narrator. Ivan says that

he feels the cold wind biting into his flesh, a description that builds anticipation to the readers

that something terrible is about to happen.

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As both the stories continue, the reader of the short story "The Student" is placed out of

his/her wild imagination and starts relaxing because the narrator passes by the widows’ garden

and sits with them, Vasilisa and Lukerya, for a while as he tells them the story of one of Jesus’s

disciples, Peter, after seeing a similar action of warming of hands that was performed by the

Apostle on a similarly cold night. This story affects his listeners, who are the widows as it brings

out a lot of their emotions. Ivan observes them and concludes that if the story brought out such

intense emotional reactions from his listeners then it has a relation to their lives and further

concludes that it affects all the lives of other people too. This makes him even more eager to get

home and be with his family. On the contrary, in the story of the fall of the House of Usher, we

find out more about the history of the Usher and how their descendants have never succeeded as

this darkness follows the family all through its generations. This further creates unsettling

feelings to the readers because more mysterious happenings are expected from the story. The

readers' disconcerting feelings are further cemented that Lady Madeline has this mysterious

ailment called catalepsy. This disease makes one lose control of his/her limbs while her brother

Roderick suffers from nerves, which the narrator still finds odd.

The story that Ivan tells the widows about Peter’s betrayal to Jesus is very similar to how

Roderick betrays his sister by assuming she’s dead just because of her mobility and buries her

alive. The widows relate to the story by reacting very emotionally as it reflects their lives and

how they have suffered betrayal at the hands of their loved ones. For instance, Lukerya is wary

of Ivan and comes out as closed off because of the abuse she faced at her husband's hands. Peter

also felt terrible after he realized that Jesus was right about his prediction regarding his betrayal,

and he goes off, crying after the cock crows. Similarly, that one evening, when Roderick and the

narrator can't sleep, he leads her to a window where he sees brightly visible gas. Afterwards,
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Roderick starts becoming wary of the sounds he hears and concludes that his sister wasn't dead

and is trying to escape, then says that she is behind the door. He realizes his betrayal by burying

his sister alive. After her ghost attacks him, he dies of fear.

The story of "The Student" by Anton reflects hope, and that past happenings relate to the

future. This is proven with how the narrator, Ivan, becomes very happy and hopeful after telling

the widows the story of Peter's betrayal to Jesus and notices their reaction. He becomes more

eager than he was before regarding going home because he says that he seems tired of the

endless cycle of repeating the same thing. He feels that by sharing his story, he brings about the

hope of change in the coming future. On the contrary, the story of the fall of the House of Usher

is full of fear. The story is very horrific such that from the word go, fear is prevalent in every

aspect of the story. First, the narrator fears the house since it appears to be surrounded by evil

and mystery but gathers courage because his friend needs him. Secondly, he does everything to

distract themselves while they are in the house to pass the days away without dwelling on the

looming doom that surrounds the house and its inhabitants. Lastly, all his fears are confirmed

after witnessing Lady Madeline's ghost and how it attacks Roderick, something that makes him

run from the house as it falls with its last inhabitants.

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Work Cited

Chekhov, Anton. “The Student”. 1894

Poe, Edgar Allan. The fall of the house of Usher. Vol. 661. Prabhat Prakashan, 1973.