House Of Usher

Improved Essays
An Inside Look: Short Stories There are many components within a single short story. As with any piece of work, there are many factors at play behind the scenes which often go unnoticed. Although these things are overlooked, they play a crucial role in the story as a whole. When we take a step back and look at the entire picture we are able to gain an inside look at the work and appreciate the author’s intentions. The two short stories I have chosen to evaluate are “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Masque of the Red Death” both written by Edgar Allan Poe. There are many parts of a short story which may be analyzed. I have chosen to evaluate the narrator character type and use of imagery in these two short stories by Poe. LiteraryDevices …show more content…
Contrary to “The Fall of the House of Usher”, this short story does not have the thorough imagery I crave. An instance of this occurs when the narrator depicts a mysterious presence at the masquerade. Poe writes, “The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave” (441). This brief description clearly gives an idea of the unexpected guest’s appearance, however, it is awfully …show more content…
Reed.edu explains the significance of narrator character type, “A crucial element of any work of fiction is the NARRATOR, the person who is telling the story (note that this isn 't the same as the AUTHOR, the person who actually wrote the story)” (Reed). In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the narrator speaks in first person, as he is a character in the story. The narrator character in this short story can be explained as, “a character in the story, who interacts with other characters; we see those interactions through the narrator 's eyes, and we can 't know anything the narrator doesn 't know” (Reed). Although I desire to know what is going on, I also enjoy being surprised by a story. This is why I prefer that the narrator character type be first person interacting with the other

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Usher House Analysis

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Usher house is described in great lengths by Poe; he depicts it as gloomy, depressing, eerie, and gothic. As the narrator approaches the mansion he automatically feels the negative energy radiating into him as he states, “with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit” (Poe) He goes on to describe the walls as “bleak” and the windows as “vacant and eye like” as he moves closer and closer to the spooky mansion. The house reminds the narrator of , “the specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air” (Poe) and this vivid image gives the reader the idea that this house is much like a mind that has been eroding for decades with no disturbance or interference from the outside world. The house is falling apart on the inside without showing barely any defects on the exterior.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Fall of the House of Usher , written by Edgar Allan Poe, digs deep into the mind. Poe is known for his dark, mysterious writing style and this short story is a great example of that. Describing dark and gloomy features all through the story, The Fall of the House of Usher displays a great understanding of isolation through its characters. Loneliness is a destructive force that can cause mental and physical illness or distress. These qualities play a major role throughout, forming a peculiar storyline that unfolds in an unexpected way.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through this point of view on the story, we were able to understand who exactly the characters were. The third person omniscient view helped me understand the mind sets of the characters, their state of being, and their thoughts throughout the…

    • 1029 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fear, horror, death, and gloom are prominent traits of Gothicism, a dark type of Romanticism, a style prominent throughout the 18th and 19th century. Edgar Allan Poe, a well-known gothic writer has written many works, two of his works, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, are perfect examples of gothic literature. In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe introduces the Usher family, an ill and suffering family, both physically and mentally. With only two heirs left, Poe brings the reader through the tale behind the mental paranoidness of Roderick, and the strange physical illness of Madeline. In “The Pit and the Pendulum,” Poe introduces the judging of the narrator before sinister judges.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Real Story of the "Fall of the House of Usher" "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe is a story about the narrator visiting his dear friend, Roderick Usher and Roderick's twin sister, Madeline, who are both very ill. Through the book Madeline passes away and the narrator and Roderick bury her under the house to keep her safe from doctors from stealing her body for an autopsy. Yet, Roderick keeps hearing voices and believes that they have buried her alive and she is trying to escape. At the end the ghostly figure whom they say was Madeline came into the house, scaring Roderick to death and the narrator scared for life. Yet the readers don't know that the narrator is insane, the entire story is a projection of his mind.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a final analysis, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher skillfully incorporates detailed imagery and character traits to to set the tone of fear and suspense. Poe also uses these elements to create a unity of effect where all of the minor details create the big picture at the end. Roderick foreshadowing his death by fear at the end of the story. Poe also gives an exact layout of the vault so when Madeline breaks out, the reader knows exactly what is going on.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Edgar Allen Poe used setting and exposition to paint vivid pictures of exactly what he encountered durng his stay at The House Of Usher. Poe began our journey describing a "dull,dark, and soundless day in autumn". He proceeded on the describe the decaying mansion covered in fungus that laid in wait befor him. Edgar explained that he was on his way to visit his ill friend whom he had not seen in many years; so for that purpose only he shook off his trepidations he had for the place. Claiming that it was all in his head "I was forced to fall back upon an unsatifactory conclusion, that while beyond doubt, there are combinations of very simple natural objects ehich have the power of thus affecting us , still the reason, and the analysis, of the…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Two of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Cask of Amontillado, are told through first-person perspective. Some critics dislike first person point-of-view because it only shows the story through one perspective. The reader is confined in the narrator’s mind, unclear if what other characters think about. Also the story can change depending on what the narrator shows. If the narrator’s mind is altered, then the story is too.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic style of short stories, “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of the Red Death” are two stories with insane protagonists that are motivated by the setting and their selfishness and both of these stories share the same tone and they share the same themes of time, death, sin, guilt, irony, fear, and disease. Both of these stories are very comparable and they have many similarities. The First comparison between the “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Masque of The Red Death“ is the protagonists.…

    • 1249 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Edgar Allen Poe is a writer well-known for his dark and romanticized gothic literature. Poe stimulates the senses through sensory detail in which his words can paint a vivid mental picture in the minds of his audiences. Dark imagery is very prominent in Poe’s works as it relates to gothic literature. Dark imagery is how Poe speaks through his stories to set his mood and tone which commonly consists of a dark and mysterious atmosphere, characteristic of gothic literature. Poe’s use of imagery through his stories is prominent in his works, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Black Cat.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Fall of the House of Usher”, by Edgar Allan Poe incorporates a rhythmic and opulent writing style that swiftly draws the reader into its dark and horror-like atmosphere. The rhythmic style of the story may be seen in the first sentence of the story; as it says, “During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day...when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone...through a singularly dreary tract of country…”. The first alliteration begins with the letter “D”, and it clearly illustrates to the reader what the day is like. By repeating the same letter, it adds a rhythm, which emphasizes the somber day. Furthermore, many words end with the letter “Y”, which drags the sentence, in order to add suspense to the…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe utilizes his famously grim writing to tell the story of an unnamed narrator witnessing the literal fall of the Usher family -- Roderick and Madeline of Usher. While the plotline itself is dark and mysterious, Poe employs various literary devices to fully express the creepiness of the story. One useful literary device used in this story is setting. The setting amplifies the emotions and state of the characters and helps to clearly define themes throughout the tale. Poe uses an ominous and eerie setting to convey the central themes relating to madness, family, and fear while unifying the story under the single effect of terror.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Fall of the House of Usher” takes many of the literary devices that Edgar Allan Poe used in many of his other writings to create a world that shows why Poe is held in such high regard. Poe creates a tone that allows the reader to experience the same emotions as the narrator. The story beings with the narrator journeying to the Usher household to catch up with his childhood friend Roderick Usher. Despite not keeping in touch for several years the narrator goes to his friend’s home and attempts to comfort Roderick after he tells him that his sister has died. For several days, the narrator tries to help Roderick cope with the loss of his sister even helping him bury to temporarily bury her in the home.…

    • 1994 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An interesting gothic story in which a series of thrilling events occur is The Fall of the House of Usher. This story was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1839. In the novel, the personal past returns to haunt the narrator because of his wrongful curiosity regarding the Usher family. The narrator is haunted throughout the story due to his intrigue with this family and what may be occurring under the surface. As the narrator is drawn to the Usher family a terrifying experience accompanies his physical presence in the house.…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Short Story Expansion

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages

    However, to this reader what a good short story can do is to innervate the imagination of the reader so not only to draw them into the story but cause them to wonder what else is not being told. The author of a good short story knows this and writes so that a “back story” can be told within that short story. Perhaps the short story can be likened to a One-Act Play.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics