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Poes The Fall of the House of Usher A Literary Analysis

The Fall of the House of Usher is one of the short stories authored Edgar Allen

Poe, published in 1839. The short story features a lot of complexity, with some

challenging themes including fear, transcendence, and identity. Poe makes use of various

elements from the Gothic Tradition including the use of supernatural elements and

setting in the creation of mystery in his story (Spitzer 351). He also utilizes language

elements to his advantage by employing descriptions that are adjective-filled to highlight

literal elements which serve as metaphorical cues later in the story. The first five

paragraphs of this short story mainly focus on the creation of a gothic mood; the ancient

castle that is slowly decaying is eerie and covered in mould, with moat surrounding it in

stagnancy.

With this remarkable start, Poe is able to entrap the mind of the reader

immediately; he gives the reader a sense of confinement within The House of Usher.

Outside the castle, there is a storm brewing up, while inside some of the mysterious

rooms, windows are suddenly being whisked open by the gushing wind, blowing up

candles in its wake. There is also evident moaning and creaking sounds presumably from

the living corpse of Lady Madeline. The author drives the reader into the storys Gothic

trappings which bear much similarity with the modern day horror films (Baldick 150). As

the story comes to an end, in the dark and stormy night, Usher and the narrator are unable

to sleep, deciding to pass the night by reading a book. As the sounds from the narrator are

heard resounding from below the mansion, Usher freaks out, spilling the beans that they
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buried Lady Madeline alive, and that is why the castle is haunted. A trembling bloody

Madeline appears from the doorway, and she tosses herself over to Usher, who topples

over to the floor. After a violent agony, Usher dies along with the sister. While the narrator

tries to flee, he watches the castle crack up and crumble into the dark pool in front of it. A

literary analysis of Poes short story The Fall of the House of Usher brings out a major

theme, transcendence, while highlighting Poes writing style and tone.

Literary and Theme Analysis

The Fall of the House of Usher bears the archetypal features of a Gothic tale:

dreary landscapes surrounding a haunted house, double personalities, and mysterious

sicknesses. It therefore easily identifies with a number of Gothic elements. However, the

better part of the tales terror lies in its vagueness. It may not be possible to exactly point

out where in the world or when the story happens. In place of the common narrative time

and place markers, Poe utilizes traditional elements such as a barren landscape and squally

weather. The reader is left alone in the haunted space, and neither of them know why.

Although the narrator happens to be Rodericks childhood friend, he knows so little about

Roderick, even the small fact such as he has a twin sister, Lady Madeline (Poe and Stevan

20). Poe asks the reader to question the decision by Roderick to contact the narrator as

well as the tenacity borne by the narrators response which bears a lot of bizarreness.

While providing the structure of the Gothic tale, Poe contrasts the standard form by

bringing out a sudden and inexplicable plot with a lot of unanticipated disruptions. As the

story commences, we have an unclear explanation of the motives of the narrator in visiting

the House of Usher; this ambiguity is a tone-setter for a continued blur between what is

real and a world of fantasy.

Poe also creates a claustrophobic sensation in the short story. The narrator seems to

be trapped by the lure borne by Rodericks attraction, making him unable to leave until the
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castle collapses; actually upon the Rodericks death. Also, characters are unable to act and

move in a free manner due to the houses structure, which is shown to assume an

individual character that is monstrous: a Gothic mastermind controlling the fate of the

inhabitants (Spitzer 355). Poe the bring in confusion between inanimate objects and the

living things by creating a doubling view of the physicality of the house and Ushers

genetic family line, referring to it as The House of Usher. The use of the word House

is transcendent and metaphorical in nature, while giving a description of the real house.

Not only does this highlight how the narrator gets trapped in the house but it also shows

that this confinement is a description of the fate of Usher and his family. Actually, the

Usher family bears no enduring branches, which means that there has been a lot of

incestuous genetic transmission within the houses domain. This peasantry acts as

confusion between the family and the mansion since the house, as a physical structure,

effectively dictates the familys genetic patterns.

Besides showing his fascination of the spectral and the weird, which embody a

spirit of transcendence, Poe shows a lot of interest in the doubling concept, the ironic,

the schizophrenic, as well as the reverse. Poe investigates this phenomenon in a number of

his short stories, such as William Wilson, which underlines the importance of Lady

Madeline and Roderick Usher being twins. In this story, Poe creates a conception bearing

special affinity between twins of opposite sex, accounting for the fact that Usher has been

hearing his buried sister struggling with her chains while in her coffin for more than three

days before the narrator gets to hear her. The Fall of the House of Usher is a perfect

exemplification of Poes composition principle which states that everything featured in

the story bears a contribution to a singular effect that is unified. Later in the story, Usher

says, I have a feeling that there will come a time when I must leave this life to reason in

togetherness with grim phantasm, or FEAR (Poe and Stevan 40)It is thus clear that Poe
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chooses grim phantasm, or FEAR to bring out his prime effect in this story (Poe and

Stevan 103). Consequently, every description, image, or word has been selected to create a

central idea of generating a sense of abject fear and terror within the narrator and the

reader as well. Bringing out the sense or fear and terror both from living things and

inanimate objects underlines the recognition of the existence beyond normality, which

show a spiritual realm being involved; thus, underlining the theme of transcendence.

Transcendental philosophy is central in Poes story, showing a flow in dark

overtones and rich details, which help in inviting the reader into the nightmare of

transformation and death (Timmerman 162). From the first line, Poe gives a

transformational tone by setting his narration in the years autumn period (Poe 99).

Autumn signifies a transitioning period, marking some changes; normally, it can be

viewed as the in-between for summer (life) and winter (death). The story further highlights

a catatonic decomposition state, signifying a slow conversion from life to death. Poe uses

destructive transcendence to undertake the conventional spiritual or physical

transcendence, while inversing it downwards, which is an intricate definition of a

transformation from the human state to the original unity or an ultimate godhead via

destruction and decay.

Poes destructive or downward transcendence is developed from the notion of

decline and decomposition. In the storys setting, there is an establishment of a tense

atmosphere with the use of surly adjectives. Poe describes the day as dark, dull, and void

of sound and with and overhang of clouds that are oppressively low (Poe 99). When

defining the setting and how it is connected to Ushers family through destructive

transcendence, it is quite clear that Poe has focused on the creation of a mincing and

immersive world. Poes take on fear and horror is derived from the absolute nature of the

Usher Manor: the house stands in disrepair with an unmaintained landscape, and an
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exposed fissure which is a threat to the castles foundation. This brings out the contrast

between a classical description of establishment and wealth, with the once glorious Manor

representing a downgrade into poverty and fate, which works to instill fear into the

narrator and the reader.

Poes Writing Style: Setting, Tone, and First Person Narration

Like most of his stories, Poe sets this story in a closed environment. Starting from

the instance that the narrator makes entry into the house on until the end where he runs

away filled with fear, the tale is cocooned in the confines of oppressive weather, and the

darkness of gloomy rooms (Poe and Stevan 80). This setting is underlined by the use of

sounds and objects to show Ushers over-developed and refined sensitivities. Poe decides

to use a first person narrator to create an attachment with the reader; the reader, by relating

with the actions of the narrator, is able to move step by step with what is happening to the

narrator, often sharing his feelings of fear and terror (Robinson 69). As such, the reader is

able to grasp the concept of the story more intuitively. The narrator is a normal person

(maybe just like the reader) who happens to have childhood friend who sparks admiration

in him, leading to him being trapped in the transcendental happenings of his friend (Usher)

and his family; he finally manages to escape his ordeal but is left in terror. The narrators

personality is highly relevant to the actions in the story as he is able to feel every terrifying

ordeal while with his friend at the house, which helps him to narrate each detail so vividly.

Therefore, the narrator is able to make each event in the story to seem even more credible

and real.

Poe uses an ornate and rhythmic style of writing: he shows a high level of

melodramatic ghoulishness, while utilizing different consonant and vowel sounds to

underline the weight of his sentences, as shown in his first sentence and last sentences

(using the words Deep and Dark and Silently and Sullenly) (Poe and Stevan 1, 120).
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His tone in the story is a deliberate one: he is able to tell the terrifying story (through a

terrified narrator) while progressing it in a calm and careful manner, while keeping safe

distances from inexpressible details but with a robust perspective on the crazy events that

are unfolding (Poe and Stevan 41). The calm approach to such abnormalities brews a

different kind of terror.

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Works Cited

Baldick, Chris. The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. OUP, 2009.

Poe, Edgar Allan, and Stevan Sylvester. The Fall of the House of Usher. Stone Print. and

Manufacturing Company, 1975.

Robinson, E. Arthur. "Order and Sentience in" The Fall of the House of

Usher"." Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (1961): 68-81.

Spitzer, Leo. "A Reinterpretation of" The Fall of the House of Usher"." Comparative

Literature 4.4 (1952): 351-363.

Timmerman, John H. "House of Mirrors: Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of

Usher." Edgar Allan Poes The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories-New

Edition (2014): 159-72.