Symbolism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

“The Fall of the House of Usher,” is a short story by Edgar Allen Poe that contains horror elements. The story begins in the 1800s when an unnamed narrator arrives at a house. The house belongs to his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, who has a mental disorder. Similarly, Madeline Usher, Roderick twin sister, has a physical illness. Even though Madeline Usher died, the unnamed narrator never realizes how the house and the twins are connected simultaneously. In Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” symbolism, imagery, and allusion are used to show how hereditary can cause appalling madness and isolation. Symbolisms are used to show the relationship between the house and the house owner, Roderick Usher. After the death of his beloved twin sister, he had a “mad hilarity in his eyes” (Poe 1194). Taking care of the house and the loss of his sister made him go senseless. He felt confined that he could not be sane and “utterly destroy itself” (Able 381). Without his sister, he was the only heir of
“And laugh-but smile no more” (Poe 1191), show us that being an heir will make unhappy lives. The palace is similar to “the features and vitality of both Usher and his house” (Abel 381). Just like the poem, Usher went mad when he is isolated and had to inherit the house. Similarly, the king in the poem had inherit the palace yet, he never smiled. Poe also added a story to make a dark atmosphere. As the narrator reads the story to Roderick, “…I became aware of distinct, hollow, metallic, and dangerous, yet apparently muffled reverberation” (Poe 1196). The narrator knew something bad would happen but he ignored it. But, as the narrator reads on, “…sounds continues more noticeably, Roderick suddenly informs the narrator that he has been listening to noises…” (Carpenter). The sounds were Madeline coming out of her coffin and going toward their