Edgar Allen Poe

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Edgar Allen Poe
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The Fall of the House of Usher
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• Some Themes to consider in The Fall of the House
  of Usher
• Terrorarises from the complexity and
  multiplicity of forces that shape human destiny.
• Evilit has been at work in the House of User for
  generations.
• Isolation Roderick and Madeline have sealed
  themselves in the tomb of their mansion, and
  their soul-sickness comes, in part, from their
  lack of contact with the outside world.

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Themes

• Failure to adapt to modern traditions.
• Madness Roger and Madeline suffer from mental
  illness characterized by anxiety, depression, and
  other symptoms.
• Mystery from the beginning of the story, the
  narrator realizes that he is in a world of
  mystery in his surroundings.
• Strange Phenomenathe mood, atmosphere, and
  setting mirror the characters and their
  situations.

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The Narrator The The narrator is anonymousa Poe
trademark. The narrator often has no name,
perhaps suggesting an untrustworthy or unreliable
narrator. The audience may call into question
how true the story is.
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What does the narrator discover about the brother
and sister after viewing Madeline in her coffin?
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What does this discovery explain about the
characters of Roderick and Madeline?
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An Allegory is a story or poem that can be read
on one level for its literal meaning and on a
second level for its symbolic meaning
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How might this story be read as an allegory of
the journey into the human mind?
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How convincing is Poes treatment of the
irrational mind? Consider descriptions of
Rodericks state of mind and the workings of the
narrators imagination.
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How does Poe create mood in this short story?