Analysis on “The Fall of the House of Usher” Free Essays

â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† Analysis ?Symbolism is â€Å"the practice of representing things by symbols, or of investing things with a symbolic meaning or character† according to dictionary. com. This literary device is employed frequently by authors, and Edgar Allan Poe is no exception. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis on â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† or any similar topic only for you Order Now Considered the father of American Gothic literature, Poe is best known for his poem â€Å"The Raven. † â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† is perhaps his best-known short story; it set the standard by which Gothic literature, setting and even the term itself are measured. The Title Symbolism in â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† begins with the title. At the end of the story, the house itself does indeed fall; in the beginning, however, Roderick Usher tells the narrator that once his chronically ill twin sister Madeleine dies, it â€Å"would leave him (him the hopeless and the frail) the last of the ancient race of the Ushers. † The House There is much symbolism associated with the house itself; the narrator describes the house at length in the beginning of the story. From the outside in, everything about it seems to be in a state of decline, disrepair or neglect, paralleling the steadily declining health of the occupants. Perhaps the most telling image is the upside-down reflection of the house on the lake, indicating that everything about the place is all wrong. The Painting and Poem In the middle of the story, Roderick paints a picture of the inside view of a vault. Later, he and the narrator place the supposedly dead Madeleine in an almost identical real vault. In the same passage, there is a poem or ballad called â€Å"The Haunted Palace. It describes a once-beautiful palace in a once-green setting in which â€Å"evil things, in robes of sorrow / Assailed the monarch’s high estate. † The Usher mansion immediately comes to mind, while the â€Å"robes of sorrow† are reminiscent of Madeleine’s burial robes. The Weather and Moon In the final scene a storm comes up, building along with the narrative; storms in literatu re have long been used to underscore climactic action. Finally, as the house crumbles into the lake, there is a full, blood-red moon overhead, symbolic of bloodshed and death How to cite Analysis on â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†, Essay examples