Abstract In this paper, the author examines the use of symbolism in "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the themes that run throughout the story. The paper takes a look at the the duality of the house which comes to represent family and home.
From the Paper "The genre of Romanticism is essential to cultural and literary history; its popularity can be attributed to humanity's fascination with the dark and unknown and also its profound interest in the pain and downfall of others. Edgar Allan Poe was instrumental in establishing the foundation of Romanticism that is best known today; his works concern themselves primarily with the occult and the enigmas prevalent within the human psyche. His story "The Fall of the House of Usher" details the psychological and physical demise of the family Usher; Poe translates atmosphere and setting into the characters in the story, and also transfers human qualities into the actual house, which comes to function as a symbol of the Usher family. The title of the story also represents a duality; ultimately, the house is physically destroyed, as is the family. The house of Usher is clearly the personification of the Usher family; the house symbolizes the Usher family's decline into madness and the eventual demise of the family."
Abstract This paper looks at Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and in particular, Poe's narrative strategy and pattern of the narrative. It also examines the literary technique he employs for this horror suspense tale.
From the Paper "In "The Fall of the House of Usher" the narrative achieves a powerful impact because Poe uses a narrative strategy that reveals plot information only when all devices of suspense have been exhausted by unfolding in parallel the real-time experience of the..."
Abstract This paper compares the secular fall in the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and the divine fall within the epic theological poem "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. The paper reports that the theme of falling from grace is common to both, but in the first it is a secular fall whereas in the second it is a divine, spiritual fall.
From the Paper "However, Poe, while rendering the Biblical figures into a mortal, temporal context, seems to suggest that there is an inherently fallen quality that is irredeemable in some person's souls, like Roderick and Fanny Usher. "Poe mocks the transcendental beliefs, by allowing the characters Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, the house and the atmosphere to travel in a downward motion into decay and death, rather than the upward transcendence into life and rebirth that the transcendentalists depict. The transcendence of the mind begins with Roderick Usher and is reflected in the characters and environment around him." (Nadeau, 2000) Thus view of the Ushers may be overly harsh--Poe's tone is often not mocking, but elegiac, sympathizing with the downward sinking of the home, and his inversion of the Adam and Eve creation myth, whereby the Usher's failure to procreate and look beyond their union results in the death of their home and line, is not necessarily paraodic, but a warning against self-absorption and narcissism. The fact that tragedy of fallen nature of the Ushers, and the darkness of the house also do not present a perfect parallel either with Milton's Adam and Eve or with the transcendentalist's sunny view of the soul aspiring upwards suggests that the Usher's narcissism deliberately recalls another Miltonic figure, one of arrogance rather than temptation. "
Tags: transcendence, usher, satan, eve, apple, adam
Abstract A literary review of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", focusing on the use of setting. The writer believes that Poe makes special use of setting, to enhance his story. In this particular novel, his use of setting reveals early in the story that both the Usher family and the Usher mansion are decaying from the inside out. The reader can immediately identify with the setting, as it sits on the verge of collapse.
From the Paper "When the narrator first approaches the House of Usher, where he is visiting to comfort his old friend, Roderick Usher, he sees a rotten pool of water. He hesitates, reflecting on his reasons for coming to the dark, gloomy house. The narrator reveals that Roderick is suffering from mental depression and asked his old friend to visit him to cheer him up.
The narrator, at this point, looks into the pool of water, seeing the reversed image of the house. The contours of his own image are superimposed upon the house, giving it the appearance of face. In this clever passage, Poe makes the reader feel as though the house is alive."
This paper analyzes the close relationship between environment and character as clearly portrayed in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher."
Abstract This paper focuses on the main characters of Roderick Usher and his sister Lady Madeline as well as the eventual demise of the Usher family in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." The writer of this paper describes why the actual Usher home is itself a physical entity and thus becomes a pseudo-character in the plot which Poe uses to both mirror and amplify the story of the principal characters. This paper also discusses Poe's unique writing style by defining the close relationship between environment and character which becomes clearly evident through the narration.
From the Paper "While the character of the estate takes a toll on the narrator, this same character actually seems to be an extension of the Ushers themselves. By the time we are introduced to Roderick and Madeline Usher, we cannot help but notice the parallels between the estate and the characters. The dull, discolored fa?ade of the House seems to closely resemble the complexions of both characters. The otherworldliness of the environment surrounding the household seems to closely parallel the otherworldliness of the Ushers themselves. The phantom like ethereal impression we get of Madeline is the same as the impression we get from the narrator's description of the atmosphere surrounding the estate."
Abstract The paper asserts that gothic refers to the encounter with the mysterious and the unknown. The paper explains that the unknown in gothic fiction refers to something that is beyond the normal and rational. The paper illustrates how "The Fall of the House of Usher" presents the conventional themes and motifs of the gothic romance genre. There is the haunted house, the depressing location, the horrors, madness and disease and development of a monstrous bizarre union in destruction and decay. However, the paper concludes that at the heart of the gothic genre, lay the movement towards an expression of the unknown and the mysterious, which lies beyond our comprehension.
Outline:
Introduction and Thesis Statement
The House of Usher and the Unknown
Conclusion
From the Paper "The works of Edgar Allan Poe were not the first literature to be described as gothic. Poe has as his antecedents many other works that contain the gothic style and content. His work is often described as "A descent from such British milestones in literary Gothicism as Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), William Beckford's Vathek (1786), W. H. Ireland's The Abbess (1798), or Sir Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) is evident in Poe's writings." (Fisher 72)"
"The gothic in art and literature is defined and described in numerous ways and with a great degree of controversy and disagreement. There are many critics who suggest that there can be no one definitive view of this genre."
Abstract This paper examines the mid-Victorian novellas, "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Purloined Letter", written by Edgar Allen Poe, that the author finds are both written with sensational through thriller and chiller styles of writing that remain within the psyche a long time after reading the novel.
From the Paper "The Fall of the House of Usher is one novel that can be seen to be a forerunner of psychological chillers, it is about the final members of the family Usher, Roderick and Madeline, both are suffering from illnesses that can only be traced back to a long series on inter- family marriages :
"I had learned"that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honoured as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch;?that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, ? so lain. It was this deficiency? undeviating transmission, from sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the original title of the estate in the quaint and equivocal appellation of the "House of Usher" (Poe 295)."
Abstract This seven-page-paper provides a discussion about Edgar Allen Poe his classic works. The discussion focuses on Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" as well as the author's life and accomplishments. It details a critical analysis of the work itself as well as a discussion about the possible mindset of the author at the time he wrote it. There were nine sources used to complete this paper.
Abstract 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. "
Abstract This paper explains that the psychoanalysis view of literature held by Freudian and Lacanian therapists focus entirely on the minds of the characters and how they are affected by their experiences. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", the author perceives that the use of mirror images plays an important role in the development of the characters and the plot. The paper concludes that the tale is driven almost entirely on the principles of idealized selves.
From the Paper "The tortured mind of a man going slowly insane from the complete lack of any genetic variability in his gene pool struggles to even exist in Poe's "Usher". The story itself begs to be seen from the point of view of insanity. The narrator himself even admits to being sucked into the gloomy atmosphere that Usher as man and house create, serving to push the idea of idealized selves and mirror images even further. The family in past and Usher in present are nothing but a large series of mirror images of one another who are constantly striving to stay ideally unified."
Abstract This paper endeavors to explore the connection between the short story's tragic heroine, Madeline Usher, and her malady and Poe's tragic wife, Virginia and the illness that claimed her life. Only in identifying the correlation that exists between these two characters can we properly discern the meaning and portent of "The Fall of the House of Usher" and well appreciate the love Poe felt for his young bride.
From the Paper "Prior to examining Poe's literary piece, it is necessary to define the illness that killed Virginia Poe. She died in January 1847 (http://www.watershedonline.ca/literature/Poe/pochronology.html) of tuberculosis. She was only 25 years old. Poe was no stranger to the disease. It had claimed the many people in his life. (Collins, 1994, 2) Aside from Virginia, Poe's mother, Elizabeth, died of it in 1811 (at 24 years of age). Jane Stith Stanard, sister of a Poe's classmate and the inspiration for the first "To Helen" poem, succumbed to the disease in 1824. Poe's adoptive mother, Frances Allen, died of it in 1829. (http://www.watershedonline.ca/literature/Poe/pochronology.html) Poe lost his older brother, William, to the illness that was made worse by William's alcoholism."
Abstract This paper examines how Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", "Annabel Lee", and "The Fall of the House of Usher? all depict the tragic loss of young and beautiful women. Poe describes Lenore, Annabel Lee and Madeline as young and achingly beautiful and all three women die premature and tragic deaths. In "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee", Poe mourns their tragic loss, while in "The Fall of the House of Usher?, Poe is clearly simply horrified at the gruesome and tragic death and he is not so deeply wrought with grief over the loss of someone he loves. It considers how Poe's depictions of women in his literary work reflect his personal experiences with the premature deaths of his young and attractive wife and mother. Poe's depictions remain relevant to readers of all ages and nationalities, as they speak to the universal misery of tragic loss and mourning.
From the Paper "Poe's poem "Annabel Lee" recounts the perfect love of the narrator and his child bride Annabel Lee. As in the Raven, Poe delves into the tragic loss of a beautiful woman within the lines of "Annabel Lee". Annabel Lee's similarity in age to Poe's young real-life bride is striking, and the poem can be seen as a reflection of Poe's grief over the loss of his young wife. As in "The Raven", Poe focuses on the beauty of the young woman who dies tragically. The stars and the moon even remind the narrator of the young woman's beauty after her tragic death. "Annabel Lee" focuses primarily on the depth of the feelings of between the two young lovers, while "The Raven" focuses more clearly on the grief at the loss of the young woman. In "Annabel Lee", the narrator tells a tale of a kingdom by the sea, where both he and Annabel Lee lived, and that they "loved with a love that was more than love"."
Tags: death, youth, beauty, wife, mother, saint, angel, love
Abstract The central thesis of this paper is the meaning of the Platonic concepts of the forms and particulars as they relate to an understanding of the occult. The difference between the forms and particulars, it is argued, is equivalent to the difference between the unknown and the known, or the strange and the familiar. The occult is viewed as the knowledge of the unknown. This view of the forms and particulars is applied using Freudian and Jungian theoretical perspectives and is applied to an analysis of "Christabel" by Coleridge, the "Blair Witch Project", and "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Platonic Forms and Particulars
2.1. The Occult
3. Critical Perspective
4. Analysis of "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Christabel"
5. Conclusion
From the Paper "In his philosophy Plato distinguishes between the world of reality and the world of illusion. The world of reality and timeless truth is that of the forms. The word of illusion refers to the world of particulars and everyday experience. We exist during our lifetimes in this world of the senses or the world of particulars. For Plato and Socrates, death is the escape from the imprisonment of the world of particulars which is the reason why Socrates in the Phaedo states that he welcomes death. He believes that the soul will continue after death and the knowledge that he seeks as a philosopher will be encountered in the death state."
Abstract The paper posits that while apparently dissimilar in many respects, both Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and Laurence's "The Loons" make use of settings to convey a fatalistic theme. The paper demonstrates how Poe's association of gothic imagery of doom with the Usher family is thematically and structurally very similar to Laurence's employment of natural imagery, as linked to the Metis/Indians in her story.
From the Paper "Upon initial review the setting of "The Fall of the House of Usher" would appear to be radically distinct from "The Loons". In the former story the setting is predominantly man-made in the form of the gothic Usher mansion while in the latter story the setting is predominantly the natural geography of Diamond Lake. Upon reflection, however, the setting of both works are similar in that they convey a sense of age that is associated with the alienation of the human characters from the setting. In Poe's story this aspect of the setting is evident from the opening where the narrator describes "the utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation" that afflicts him upon first sight of the "mansion of gloom" that is the Usher house (Poe 38)."
An in-depth analysis and comparison of the mind over matter in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter" and Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher".
Abstract The paper explores the similarities between the characters Roderick Usher in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter." The paper analyzes how the concern of mind over matter is realized in different ways by both Poe and Hawthorne and shows how for Poe, decay incorporates the idea of madness as the inevitable condition of the human mind, while for Hawthorne, decay represents the sinfulness of the people in general. The paper illustrates how both stories follow the connections between physical and mental or spiritual decay and the way in which matter itself hints at a higher, transcendental reality.
From the Paper "Nineteenth century American literature is pervaded by a late Romantic current promoted by a few very original writers. Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two of the most representative writers of the first half of the nineteenth century. The authors' names often appear together in criticism, since their works share primarily in the laden atmosphere and grotesque style of the period. Their novels and short stories are imbued with a grim mood and their heroes are tragic personages who undergo transcendental and all-together transforming experiences. While Poe is more concerned with what he calls the psyche and the intellect however, Hawthorne investigates the realms of spirituality and religious experience."
