The Fall Of The House Of Usher Essay

Gothic Elements in "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the utmost interesting writers in America. He stands out with his use of morbid gothic themes of nightmare, death, crime, evil, lingering on violence, murder, mystery, and insanity. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a great example piece of the use about gothic elements. It presents a terrifying atmosphere, a dark plot, and man’s psychological terror to reveal the process of destruction of the human mind. In the story “The Fall of the House of Usher” the central gothic elements that are used are the setting and metonymy of gloom and horror, including supernatural beings, and the atmosphere of mystery and suspense.
Undoubtedly, the first five paragraphs of the story create a gothic mood of gloom and horror and describe the setting. He specifically calls this place the “mansion of gloom” and frequently states its antiquity. Edgar puts into his story great descriptions of the eerie feeling and gloomy mood by adding statements made by the narrator like “There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart—an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the
imagination could torture into aught of the sublime.” The setting ancient decaying mansion that is eerie and gloomy. Outside the mansion, the narrator says “I know not how it was—but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.” In the short story the narrator describes bleak walls, vacant eye-like windows white trunks of decayed trees, ghastly tree-stems, and utter depression of the soul. Leal 2
Furthermore, now getting deeper into the story more gothic elements like the use of supernatural beings are now being used. The narrator starts to describe the Usher using the statements bodily illness, mental disorder, and ghastly pallor of the skin. He also describes his actions as vivacious and sullen and his voice varying from a tremulous indecision to species of energetic concision. The narrator states that the Usher suffered from a “morbid acuteness of the senses”, saying he could only wear clothes with a certain texture; the odors of all flowers were overbearing; even the smallest bit of light hurt his eyes; and there were peculiar sounds from stringed instruments, that did not inspire him with horror. Never before has the narrator seen a person who looks so much like a corpse. The narrator is describing the Usher with the similarities of a vampire.
Therefore over everything, Poe uses a great atmosphere of mystery, suspense and unpromising gloom to overtake the gothic theme.
The setting in this story is in a closed environment. From the moment the narrator enters the House of Usher until the end of the story when he leaves with fear, the entire story is boxed within the confines of the gloomy rooms. Never knowing what it at the end of a hall way or behind a new door, the atmosphere of mystery and suspense gets the best of the readers. Since entering through the gothic archway of the deteriorating mansion, the narrator is led through many dark and intricate passages" filled with "sombre tapestries," "ebon blackness," and "armorial trophies.” The details in the short story all combine together to create the anxiety accompanying the threatening image of fear and
horror.
Given these points, the prime gothic elements used are the gloomy setting, incorporating supernatural beings, and acquiring the atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The gothic mood of gloom and horror while describing the setting is the biggest element used. The narrator gives you a complex image of every setting he is in using descriptive words like bleak, vacant, decayed, and insufferable gloom. The Usher is a terrifying character himself, consequently looking like a corpse. He is portrayed as a person suffering from an illness and disorder, although being described as a vampire. Poe uses a atmosphere of mystery and suspense. The entire story is boxed within the confines of the gloomy rooms and the narrator is led through many dark mysterious passages. Overall, the story functions as a bulky gothic horror story, in which the element of fear is evoked in its highest form.