“The Fall of the

House of
Usher”
Edgar Allan Poe - 1839
 ABSTRAC
In “The Fall of the House T
of Usher,” the style is very gothic and dark, creating an
ominous mood. This piece of fiction demonstrates Poe's skill for making a moving
tone, impeccable language, and a unique gothic style. Romanticism is best
displayed in the Fall of the House of Usher by nature/human connections, the
characters' imagination, and the supernatural. The scenery at the beginning of the
story is described as dark and mysterious.
 INTRODUCTION
The Fall of the House of Usher, supernatural horror story by Edgar Allan Poe,
published in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in 1839 and issued in Poe’s Tales of
the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840).
“The Fall of the House of Usher” possesses the quintessential features of the
Gothic tale: a haunted house, dreary landscape, mysterious sickness, and doubled
personality. 
 Edgar
Allan Poe
1809-1904
 MAIN
CHARACTER

Roderick The Narrator

Usher

Madeline
Usher
The Fall of the House of Usher Main Characters

Narrator

> a friend of the master of the House of Usher. When he visits his friend, he
witnesses terrifying events.

Roderick Usher

 > the master of the house. He suffers from a depressing malaise characterized
by strange behavior.

Madeline Usher

> twin sister of Roderick. She also suffers from a strange illness. After
apparently dying, she rises from her coffin.
The Summary
 The Fall of the House of Usher 

“The Fall of the House of Usher” begins with the unidentified male narrator riding to the house of Roderick
Usher, a childhood friend whom the narrator has not seen in many years. The narrator explains that he recently
received a letter from Roderick detailing his worsening mental illness and requesting the narrator’s company.
Out of sympathy for his old friend, the narrator agreed to come. Aside from his knowledge of Roderick’s
ancient and distinguished family, the narrator knows very little about his friend. Upon arriving, the narrator
describes the Usher family mansion in detail, focusing on its most fantastic features and its unearthly
atmosphere. Shortly after entering, the narrator is greeted by Roderick, who displays several strange symptoms.
He claims his senses are especially acute: therefore, he cannot wear clothes of certain textures or eat particularly
flavorful foods, and his eyes are bothered by even the faintest lights. Within a few hours of the narrator’s
arrival, Roderick begins to share some of his theories about his family. Much to the narrator’s surprise,
Roderick claims that the Usher mansion is sentient and that it exercises some degree of control over its
inhabitants. He declares that his illness is the product of “a constitutional and a family evil.” (The narrator later
dismisses this as a cognitive symptom of Roderick’s “nervous affection.”) Roderick also reveals that Madeline,
his twin sister and sole companion in the house, is gravely ill. According to Roderick, Madeline suffers from a
cataleptic disease that has gradually limited her mobility. As Roderick talks about his sister’s illness, the
narrator sees her pass through a distant part of the house. The narrator spends the next few days painting,
reading, and listening to Roderick play music. He recalls the eerie lyrics from one of Roderick’s songs,
endearingly titled “The Haunted Palace.”
\

Several days after the narrator’s arrival, Roderick announces the death of his sister. He asks the narrator to help bury her. As
they lay her in a tomb beneath the house, the narrator notes that she is smiling, and her cheeks are rosy. Over the next few
days, the narrator observes a change in his friend’s behavior: Roderick has begun to display symptoms of madness
and hysteria. He neglects his work, wandering aimlessly around the house and staring off into the distance. Increasingly
spooked by his friend and his environment, the narrator begins to suffer from insomnia. Late one night, Roderick visits the
narrator in his bedchamber. After a few moments of silence, he abruptly asks, “And you have not seen it?” He then throws
open the window to reveal that the house and indeed everything outside is enveloped in a glowing gas. The baffled narrator
blames it on electrical phenomena resulting from an ongoing storm. He attempts to soothe Roderick by reading aloud to him
from “Mad Trist,” a medieval romance by Sir Launcelot Canning. (The romance and Canning are Poe’s inventions.) As the
narrator reads, sounds from the book seemingly begin to manifest in the house. After a while, the narrator stops reading and
approaches Roderick, who is slumped over in a chair, rocking and muttering to himself. For the first time, the narrator listens
to what Roderick is saying. He learns that Roderick has been hearing sounds for days. He believes they are coming from
Madeline, whom he thinks they have buried alive. As the horror of his words dawns on the narrator, Roderick suddenly
springs to his feet, yelling “Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!” At Roderick’s words, the door bursts
open, revealing Madeline all in white with blood on her robes. With a moan, she falls on her brother, and, by the time they hit
the floor, both Roderick and Madeline are dead. The narrator thereupon flees in terror. Outside, he looks back just in time to
 PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF
LITERARY APPROACH

The Fall of the House of Usher' falls within the definition of American gothic literature.
American Gothic Literature is characterized by a bleak or remote setting, macabre or
violent incidents, characters being in psychological or physical torment, or a supernatural
or otherworldly involvement. A story containing these attributes can result in a very
frightening or morbid read. Probably, the reason Poe's stories were written in this fashion is
that his personal life was fraught with depression, internal agony, and despair.
 LITERARY MERIT OF “THE FALL OF THE
HOUSE OF USHER”

In The Fall of the house of Usher, Poe explores the most prominent of which is the

theme of identity. Throughout the story, the narrator tells us of his experiences with

what is left of the Usher family at their estate. Poe explores in The Fall of The House of

Usher is fear. It is fear that drives the story, fear that traps the narrator, and eventually

fear that kills Roderick Usher.

 CONCLUSION

In the story Poe tries to explore the nature of humanity wherein in the

story of the Fall of the House of Usher" shows Poe's ability to create an

emotional tone in his work, specifically emphasizing feelings of fear,

impending doom, and guilt. These emotions center on Roderick Usher,

who, like many Poe characters, suffers from an unnamed disease.