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He feels that the growth around the House of Usher has this peculiar ability to feel and sense matters within the house itself. This otherworldly atmosphere enhances Poe's already grimly threatening atmosphere. Roderick and Madeline are twins and the two share an incommunicable connection that critics conclude may be either incestuous or metaphysical,[7] as two individuals in an extra-sensory relationship embodying a single entity. To that end, Roderick's deteriorating condition speeds his own torment and eventual death.
Sound
Roderick and Madeline were their illegitimate children, so they considered Fortunato their birthright. The deaths of Roderick’s children can be linked to the woman who was seen at Prospero’s party. The woman is Verna; she is not a human being but a supernatural entity. All the deaths were orchestrated by her, and it turns out that Roderick and Madeline know her. As Roderick finishes his story, an eyeless and bloodied Madeline suddenly bursts out of the basement and attacks Roderick as the house begins to crumble around them. In a final burst of strength, Madeline strangles Roderick to death as Auggie flees collapsing home—a sequence that mirrors the ending of Poe's "House of Usher."
Storyline
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Rather than convey a lesson, Poe's story explores gothic elementsof the supernatural and evil to convey this tale of horror. An unnamed protagonist (the Narrator) is summoned to the remote mansion of his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher. Filled with a sense of dread by the sight of the house itself, the Narrator reunites with his old companion, who is suffering from a strange mental illness and whose sister Madeline is near death due to a mysterious disease. The Narrator provides company to Usher while he paints and plays guitar, spending all his days inside, avoiding the sunlight and obsessing over the sentience of the non-living. When Madeline dies, Usher decides to bury her temporarily in one of his house's large vaults. A few days later, however, she emerges from her provisional tomb, killing her brother while the Narrator flees for his life.
Background of the Story
The claustrophobia of the house of Usher has a deep influence on the relationship among the characters of the story. Due to claustrophobia, the narrator is not able to realize that Roderick and Madeline are twins. Moreover, he is confined, and the cramped setting of the tomb metaphorically characterizes the characters. The twins are so similar, and it is impossible for them to develop separately. Because of Madeline’s similarity to Roderick, she has been buried before she is actually dead, and this similarity is shown by the coffin that holds her identity. The short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” contains a quintessential characteristic of gothic fiction.
Plot summary
Ateach critical moment in the story, the narrator hears noises coming fromoutside the room. Just as the hero kills the dragon, the sound of a shieldfalling—a sound which occurs in the story—disturbs both the narrator andRoderick. Roderick’sfollowing ravings reveal that he fears that he buried Madeline alive. The short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is an account of a madman whose sickness is suggestive because of the sickness in the family line.
Discover more from Interesting Literature
The Usher family has become so identified with its estate that the peasantry confuses the inhabitants with their home. American author Edgar Allan Poe wrote the Gothic short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” in 1839. It first appeared in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine published in 1839 and in Poe’s collection of short stories Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque in 1840. Poe is considered one of the founders of Gothic and Romantic literature in the United States.
Plot
The cat keeps attacking him and drives him insane until he accidentally jumps off the balcony and dies. The next one to die is Camille, a clever woman who has dirt on every family member and knows how to use every situation to the family’s advantage. While trying to find dirt on her sister, she ends up getting killed by one of her sister’s test subjects, a chimpanzee. Roderick’s eldest son’s wife, Morella, was also at the party and was warned to leave by the mysterious woman. Her daughter, Lenore, the only Usher who is considered a good person, takes care of her.
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He witnesses Madeline's reemergence and the subsequent, simultaneous death of the twins. The narrator is the only character to escape the House of Usher, which he views as it cracks and sinks into the mountain lake. From his arrival, the narrator notes the family's isolationist tendencies, as well as the cryptic and special connection between Madeline and Roderick, the final living members of the Usher family.
However, the atmosphere and the mood of the setting are far more important than the time and place of the setting. The first of the many settings of the house, Poe describes the outside of the house as spooky. There is an ominous fissure that runs down the center of the house. She is the twin sister of Roderick; she is suffering from mysterious illness catalepsy.
After looking at the reflection of the mansion in the tarn, or small lake,in front of the estate, the narrator believes he sees a heavy mist and vaporrising from the trees and house. He then takes a closer look at the ancientmansion and sees a crack zigzagging from the roof to the foundation, where itdisappears into the tarn’s shore. The story “The House of Usher is narrated in the first person with the peripheral narrator. The narrator of the story is nameless, suggesting that his only job is to narrate the story. The readers are not provided much information about the narrator. Instead of focusing on the narrator, much of the interest of the readers are drawn towards the strange events that are being narrated.
In this interpretation, Roderick Usher buries his sister so as to protect himself. Vampires had to be dealt with harshly; thus, this accounts for the difficulty Lady Madeline encounters in escaping from her entombment. In this view, the final embrace must be seen in terms of the Lady Madeline, a vampire, falling upon her brother's throat and sucking the last drop of blood from him. One night, while Usher and the narrator are reading, Usher tells him that Madeline has died.
The narrator tells the readers the term “The House of Usher” does not only refer to the house but also the family dwelling in the house and the Usher bloodline. The title of the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” can be interpreted in various ways. The first interpretation can be of the actual fall of the house of Usher. The House of Usher is the place or mansion that the narrator visits and the main action of the story occur. The house of Usher falls at the end of the story into the pool of water situated before the house. The small crack that the narrator sees when he enters the house foreshadows the fall of the house.
Usher exclaims when he hears the sound too, and soon Madeline bursts through the doors in a bloody nightgown. She writhes and throws herself upon Usher “in her now violent and final death-agonies,” killing him (25). No one mentions Madeline, and Roderick spends his time painting, playingmusic, reading, and writing. He paints a dark underground tunnel with beams ofstrange light shining through. Usher writes songs on his guitar, and thenarrator recounts one entitled “The Haunted Palace.” In the song a prosperouspalace falls, and only dancing ghosts remain. Roderick admits he believes theUsher house is sentient and that a foul atmosphere grows from the grounds.
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