"The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Scarlet Letter"

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the literary techniques used in "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The paper describes the deterioration of the human mind in Hawthorne's character, Dimmesdale, and in Poe's narrator and shows how they share the same lack of knowledge that they are victims of their own mental deterioration.

From the Paper:

"Authors often use metaphors and symbols as techniques to make statements about characters. Character often lives parallel lives in novels and short stories and it is with great pleasure that we learn from them. Writers employ several different techniques to engage readers. Two stories that illustrate powerful symbolism are "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Each of these stories bring us into characters by allowing us see them change in a radical way. In "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe uses the house as a metaphor for the narrator and Roderick's condition. The readers' attention is initially drawn to Roderick, whom we suspect might be mentally unstable. Through careful techniques Poe manages to illustrate how the fall of the house represents the fall of both the narrator and Roderick. In the same way, The Scarlet Letter demonstrates how one person can fall through another type of symbol and that is hidden but, nevertheless, powerful. Both stories demonstrate how the human mind can break down over time, given the right circumstances. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Beniot, Raymond. "Poe's Fall of the House of Usher." JSTOR Resource Database. Site Accessed March 16, 2008.
• Bieganowski, Ronald. "The Self- Consuming Narrator in Poe 's 'Ligeia' and 'Usher.'" JSTOR Resource Database.http://www.jstor.org> Site Accessed March 16, 2008.
• Boyd, Molly. "The Fall of the House of Usher, Simm's Castle Dismal, and the Scarlet Letter: Literary Interconnections." JSTOR Resource Database. <http://www.jstor.org> Site Accessed March 16, 2008.
• Edward H. Davidson. Dimmesdale's Fall. JSTOR Resource Database. <http://www.jstor.org> Site Accessed March 16, 2008.
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter." University of Virginia EText Database. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ Site Accessed March 18, 2008.

More papers on "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Scarlet Letter":

• Book Review # 101833 : "Symbolism and American Literature"
• Comparison Essay # 111246 : "Mind Over Matter in Poe and Hawthorne"
• Analytical Essay # 120733 : "Adultery in "The Scarlet Letter"

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