Edgar Allan Poe "The House of Ushers"

Introduction

Edgar Allan Poe's stories are often associated with the theme of death, and "The Fall of the House of Usher" is no exception. The theme of death, however, goes further than just the physical state of life's inevitable end. The story uses death to examine the protagonist's confrontation with mortality and immortality. The story's main character, Roderick Usher, must face not only his mortality but that of his family as well (Poe pp. 31-49). From the initial details of the decaying Usher mansion in the story's exposition to the conflict of Roderick's sanity to the destruction of the Usher mansion at the story's conclusion, Roderick's mortality is continually examined and challenged.

Discussion and Analysis

The short story "The Fall of House of Usher" was first published in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine in 1839. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) revised it for his collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, published the following year. In the story, Roderick Usher, one of the final remaining descendants of the ancient Usher family, is now suffering from physical and emotional illness, and he sends a letter to his boyhood friend requesting his company during the days of his ill health (Poe pp. 31-49). The boyhood friend, who narrates this disturbing tale of identity and struggling lineage, responds at once, only to find the Usher home to be in a state of decay and disrepair. Much like the home, the narrator finds that Roderick Usher, too, is not the person he once knew. Time and disease have taken a toll on him, as it has the entire Usher lineage, leaving Roderick and his sister as the sole survivors of the Ushers (Poe pp. 14-77).

Once inside the home, the narrator observes the rooms and long passages as he approaches the room where Roderick is found. ...