The House Says It All
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” a powerful atmosphere is created. Although set on a simple, “dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year” (Poe 420), there is a sense of deterioration, insanity, and even murder portrayed in this short story. The Usher mansion is carefully crafted to heighten the mood and atmosphere of the story. A great deal of time is spent specifically embodying the setting. Poe brilliantly illustrates, sculpts, and paints every word of this Gothic venue. The setting of the Usher house conveys the biggest symbolism. With the ceasing of the Usher bloodline, the actual house ultimately crumbles and is destroyed as well. Poe is able to create an elaborate …show more content…
Upon arrival at the Usher estate, the narrator observes a crack in the mansion. “… a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn” (Poe 422). This one simple detail craftily illustrated, uncovers a buried secret of the Usher family. A physical disruption in the setting lays forth a foundation for the disorder in the unity of Madeline and her brother. This critical component is the disruption that ultimately tears the family, the mansion, and their lives into absolute …show more content…
Roderick falls to his insanity, the bloodline falls with the death of the Usher twins, and the house falls sinking down into the tarn. The pieces of the puzzle have finally come to an end with a great symbolic message conveyed. With the literal fall of the physical house, there is the metaphorical fall of the Usher family. “...the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain” (Poe 421). The Usher family was self-isolating and thus so was the location of the setting. Both the mansion and the Usher twins lay in solitude. There is strong tie between the Usher family and the Usher mansion. With this connection, they stand together when united and alas when they
In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” a powerful atmosphere is created. Although set on a simple, “dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year” (Poe 420), there is a sense of deterioration, insanity, and even murder portrayed in this short story. The Usher mansion is carefully crafted to heighten the mood and atmosphere of the story. A great deal of time is spent specifically embodying the setting. Poe brilliantly illustrates, sculpts, and paints every word of this Gothic venue. The setting of the Usher house conveys the biggest symbolism. With the ceasing of the Usher bloodline, the actual house ultimately crumbles and is destroyed as well. Poe is able to create an elaborate …show more content…
Upon arrival at the Usher estate, the narrator observes a crack in the mansion. “… a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn” (Poe 422). This one simple detail craftily illustrated, uncovers a buried secret of the Usher family. A physical disruption in the setting lays forth a foundation for the disorder in the unity of Madeline and her brother. This critical component is the disruption that ultimately tears the family, the mansion, and their lives into absolute …show more content…
Roderick falls to his insanity, the bloodline falls with the death of the Usher twins, and the house falls sinking down into the tarn. The pieces of the puzzle have finally come to an end with a great symbolic message conveyed. With the literal fall of the physical house, there is the metaphorical fall of the Usher family. “...the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very trifling and very temporary variation, so lain” (Poe 421). The Usher family was self-isolating and thus so was the location of the setting. Both the mansion and the Usher twins lay in solitude. There is strong tie between the Usher family and the Usher mansion. With this connection, they stand together when united and alas when they