Usherrrr Flashcards
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories depict
depict the inner life of their characters and complex forces that motivate human behavior.
Some themes of his short stories are
Obsession
Madness
Untimely death
Live burial
He was a master of gothic fiction and invented the ghost story. He established along Hawthorne the short story.
Edgar Allen Por
Gothic fiction is characterized by
medieval setting, a musky atmosphere of horror and gloom, and grotesque, mysterious, or violent crimes.
The gothic hero is haunted by some
secret, sin, or crime, is self-destructing, a bit diabolical, would exile himself, has incredible strength and rebels against social norms.
Themes in TFOTHOU
death in life
decay
illness
insanity
The narrator in the TFOTHOU
is nameless and is a childhood friend of Usher.
Roderick Usher is unaware he is
Going insane
The setting time is
is autumn (fall) on a dark and soundless day.
- The setting place is
is the House of Usher in a dreary track of country.
The house of usher is described as
It is described as a mansion of gloom. The mere house has bleak walls, eye-like windows, rotting plants, black and lurid tarn (mountain lake), gray sedge and ghastly tree stems.
Usher’s family had
had incestuous relationships with each other, so the house and the family name became one.
The symbols in this story is
House and characters
Exposition
-The narrator arrives at the Ushers’ house.
-The narrator’s spirit was pervaded by a sense of insufferable gloom.
- The narrator sees a barely perceptible fissure in a zigzag shape on the roof of the house.
-The narrator encounters the family physician.
-Roderick Usher tells the narrator that his disease is mainly a constitutional family evil which he wanted to find remedy to
-The narrator sees Madeline Usher for the first time walking through a remote portion of the apartment. He learns about her malady.
-The narrator sees a painting of a long and rectangular vault or tunnel.
Rising action
-Lady Madeline is found diseased.
-The narrator and Roderick place Lady Madeline in a tomb under the house.
- The narrator learns that Madeline and Roderick were twins.
- Roderick Usher’s demeanor and attitude changed.
- The narrator felt agitation as if he was being infected by the house.
-A storm intensifies as the narrator tries to calm Roderick down.
-There is a violent wind, thunder and lightning and noises are heard inside and outside the house.
Climax
The narrator begins reading ‘The Mad Trist’ to Roderick.
- As the narrator continued reading, the were noises around the house coming from different directions.
- After the narrator concluded reading, Roderick confesses he has been hearing noises for many days.
Roderick stands in front of the door as if he was waiting for something.
- Madeline stands in front of the door covered in blood.
Falling action
Madeline Usher falls on her brother and they both die, resulting in the end of the Usher family.
Resolution
The narrator escapes and the house collapses into the tarn.
Description of the house
is described as a mansion of gloom. The mere house has bleak walls, vacant eye-Like windows, rotting plants, black and lurid tarn (mountain lake), gray sedge and ghastly tree stems. As the narrator got there, he felt a sense of insufferable gloom, iciness, a sickening of the heart and nervousness.
Roderick’s letter to the narrator
sounded agitated in the letter. Usher spoke of his acute bodily illness and mental disorder. He stated that he wanted to see his best friend, the narrator, in hopes of alleviating his disorder. The narrator went to see him without hesitation.
Atmosphere
The narrator felt himself getting superstitious as he explained the atmosphere of the house. He said that it was peculiar to itself and its vicinity. The atmosphere had no affinity with the air of heaven, but with decay.
External view of the house
discoloration and minute fungi over the exterior, dilapidation, spiderwebs, no fallen masonry, little token of instability and a barely perceptible fissure that extends from the roof to the wall in a zigzag direction until it got lost in the tarn.
large and lofty. Long, narrow, pointed windows. Black oaken floors. Proteus, comfortless, antique, and tattered furniture. Encrimsoned (red) light. Dark draperied hung upon the wall. No vitality and the narrator felt an atmosphere of sorrow.
Ushers room
Rodrick’s ushers description
very different from when the narrator last saw him. He had a wan, cadaverous complexion. He had a large eye, liquid and luminous. Pale and thin lips. Delicate Hebrew nose with an unusual nostril. Finely molded chin. Weblike, silken, soft and tenue hair, which grew unheeded. He had ghastly pale skin. He had a tremulous voice.