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"The Fall of the House of Usher" was one of Edgar Allan Poe's first contributions toBurton's

Gentleman's Magazine, of which he was an associate editor. The story was printed in !#, a

little o$er a year after "%igeia," which Poe always considered his best tale. &oth "Usher" and"%igeia" belong suarely in the (othic tradition, but both feature language of such lyrical beauty

that they ha$e beco)e ti)eless. *t should also be noted that both in$ol$e deceased lo$ed ones,

)uch li+e the wor+ which ulti)ately )ade Poe a literary star, "The a$en." Ha$ing inspired twoinarguably great #-! fil) adaptationsone by /a)es 0ibley 1atson and 2el$ille 1ebber, the

other by French surrealist /ean Epsteinand a host of other )o$ies, co)ic boo+s, and ripoffs,

"The Fallof the House of Usher," with its star+ yet )ysterious chronicling of )ental collapse, itsstartling i)agery, and its horrific finale, is today probably Poe's best +nown and )ost cherished

story.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" begins with one of Poe's )ost fa)ous descriptions3 "4uring thewhole of a dull, dar+, and soundless day in the autu)n of the year . . . " The 5arrator is

describing his arri$al on horsebac+ at oderic+ Usher's isolated abode one dreary e$ening.

*))ediately he feels an irrational fear upon $iewing the huge, decrepit house. A)ong the

)ansion's singular features are windows which rese)ble eyes and a fissure in the stone 6ig6agging its way through the facade.

1e learn that the 5arrator and Usher were childhood friends. ecently, the 5arrator recei$ed aletter fro) Usher. *n the letter, oderic+ described a certain ")ental disorder" that was plaguing

hi), and he co))unicated a desperate desire to see his old co)panion. 4ue to the urgent tone of

the letter, the 5arrator ne$er thought twice7 without hesitation he obeyed this "$ery singularsu))ons."

Usher, the 5arrator infor)s us, was always e8cessi$ely reser$ed and was so)ewhat )ysterious.

He belongs to an ancient fa)ily that has ne$er put forth "an enduring branch." There are hints of

incest o$er the years, but )ore i)portant is the fact that Usher is now the only )ale descendantof the line. Tellingly, he li$es not with a wife but with his sister,2adeline.

2using on the Ushers' "peculiar sensibility of te)pera)ent"this is, after all, a fa)ily which haso$er the ages ser$ed as patron to the arts, charity to the poor, and lo$er of )usicthe 5arratorsur$eys the house. He notes how old it appears. He sees that indi$idual stones see) on the $erge

of cru)bling while the edifice as a whole appears re)ar+ably stable 9despite the fissure:. He

rides down a causeway to the entrance, o$er a "tarn" 9a s)all )ountain la+e: that borders theconstruction. A ser$ant ta+es his horse, and a $alet escorts hi) into the house.

He goes through a (othic archway, then up a staircase, where he )eets the sinisterloo+ing

fa)ily doctor. Finally, he enters his old friend's studio, a dar+ and ca$ernous roo). Usher arises

fro) a sofa on which he has been lying and welco)es the 5arrator with "o$erdone cordiality."2eanwhile, the 5arrator notes that all of Usher's usual facial featurespale s+in, thin lips, large

and liuid eyes, webli+e hairha$e beco)e e8aggerated. The s+in is now "ghastly" in hue, and

the hair floats wildly o$er his forehead. 2oreo$er, Usher see)s incoherent and e8cessi$elyner$ous, bouncing bac+ and forth between $i$acity and depression.

He tells the 5arrator of his illness, a "ner$ous affection" which has resulted in a few bi6arre

sy)pto)s. For one, Usher's senses see) now incredibly acute. He cannot bear )ost food. Hecan only wear certain types of fabric. The s)ell of flowers )a+es hi) sic+. His eyes cannot

stand light. And al)ost all sounds sa$e those of certain stringed instru)entsli+e the guitar he

so)eti)es plays"inspire hi) with horror." All in all, the )an see)s o$erwhel)ed by his

)alady, obsessed with the idea of fear. He calls the source of his fear a "gri) phantas)."

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The causes for this affliction are )ysterious. ;ne possible factor Usher )entions is the failing

health of his belo$ed sister. The 5arrator hi)self catches a gli)pse of 2adeline passing through

a hall. 0he is bound to die, we learn, and the notion of being "the last of the ancient race of theUshers" fills oderic+ with dread and sorrow.

0till, the two boyhood friends do try to )a+e the days pass decently. The pri)ary reason the

5arrator is e$en at the House is to pro$ide so)e co)pany if not also so)e cheer. He watcheswhile oderic+ paints. ;ne of the paintings depicts the interior of a long $ault or tunnel, clearly

well below the earth, with no source of artificial light, yet bathed in "a flood of intense rays."

Another pasti)e of Usher's is playing guitar. 4ue to his e8cite)ent and ner$ousness, he see)s toe8cel at playing it. He re$els in strange i)pro$isations, and he often sings along.

;ne of these sets of $erses, called "The Haunted Palace," tells of a beautiful castle in a green

$alley, inhabited by "the )onarch Thought." 0pirits )o$e, and troops of "Echoes" sing the

wisdo) of their +ing. *t is a +ind of paradise. &ut "e$il things" in$ade, reducing the palace to aplace of "discordant )elody."

oderic+ also spends ti)e in intellectual pursuit. He has beco)e fi8ated on the idea of the

sentience of all "$egetable," as well as e$en inani)ate, things. He pores o$er boo+s in his $ast

library, spea+s of a li$ing "at)osphere" about the waters and walls of the house.1hen 2adeline finally dies, he decides to preser$e her corpse for a fortnight in one of the

building's $aults. *t see)s a reasonable precaution, gi$en how far away the fa)ily burial groundsare, so the 5arrator accepts the idea.

*n the process of this "te)porary ento)b)ent," the 5arrator gets his first good loo+ at the face of

the deceased. He is struc+ by how si)ilar in appearance she and oderic+ are. He learns thatthey were twins and that there had always e8isted so)e +ind of intangible bond between the).

*n the days that follow, the 5arrator notes the increasing )adness of Usher3 his s+in grows

whiter, his ordinary occupations are forgotten, and he roa)s through the house or stares into

space for hours and hours. 1hat frightens the 5arrator e$en )ore is that he too is beginning tofeel "infected" by Usher's condition. The 5arrator fears that he too )ay be going )ad.

;ne night, when a stor) rages outside and the 5arrator is too terrified to sleep, he and Usher sit

together in a bedroo) and read fro) the "2ad Trist" by 0ir %auncelot

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+illing hi), while the 5arrator flees into the stor).

The last i)age the 5arrator describes seeing is that of the House of Usher splitting apart along

the pre$iously noted 6ig6ag fissure. The walls are bursting and the frag)ents are swiftlydisappearing into the "deep and dan+ tarn."

AnalysisAs he does with so )any of his short stories, Poe prefaces "The Fallof the House of Usher" with

a rele$ant uoted passage3 "0on coeur est un luth suspendu7 0itot u'on le touche il resonne."

Fro) a poe) by French lyric poet Pierre /ean de &eranger, the $erse translates roughly as3 "Hisheart is a hanging lute @an ancient stringed instru)ent7 1hene$er one touches it, it resounds."

Aside fro) the i)portance of stringed instru)ents in the taleoderic+ Usher can stand the

sound of no other noisesthe passage touches on one of the story's )ost i)portant the)es,

)ortality.That the heart in the poe) is related to a )usical instru)ent, which reuires the touch of a hand

to function, underlines its $ery fragility. 0uspended in air, it cannot operate on its own, but it

instead de)ands to be "played." The $ery definition of ani)ate ob=ects is that they )o$e on their

own initiati$e7 indeed, )o$e)ent is one of the features )ost co))only associated with ani)allife. The ability to produce sound is a feature of )ore ad$anced ani)als.

>et, oderic+ Usher is con$inced that the inani)ate uni$erse is full of "sentience," thatsee)ingly dead ob=ects or )atter, such as the "at)osphere" he describes encircling his ho)e, are

endowed with senses and perhaps e$en life of their own. 1hen Poe introduces this concept, it

see)s al)ost a digression. The principal arc of the narrati$e has been Usher's )adness, his fearof what he regards as his own ine$itable doo). ather than a window into his tortured psyche, as

pro$ided by the bi6arre painting of the $ault or the i)pro$ised song of the "Haunted Palace," the

intellectual pursuit of "sentience" see)s a pro=ection into the outer world, as though Usher is

trying to occupy his )ind with so)ething other than hi)self.Then 2adeline dies, and e$erything changes. E$en when the 5arrator and Usher bury her in the

$ault, the 5arrator notes "the )oc+ery of a faint blush upon the boso) and the face, and that

suspiciously lingering s)ile upon the lip which is so terrible in death." *t is al)ost as if 2adelinewere already )oc+ing death 9or is in so)e way still ali$e:, and as though she is already )oc+ing

her brother and his friend. *t would be possible to say that she does ha$e the last laugh, brea+ing

free fro) the $ault and +illing the ra$ing oderic+if this irony were not so harrowing andtragic.

1hat is particularly intriguing about this grotesue resurrection is that Poe finally attributes

lifeli+e characteristics to 2adeline3 "There was blood upon her white robes, and the e$idence of

so)e bitter struggle upon e$ery portion of her e)aciated fra)e."

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reading of the "2ad Trist" are essentially the first sounds 2adeline e$er )a+es in the narrati$e

suggesting that she has had to struggle )ightily to get out of the $ault. *t is as if, i)bued with the

force of )otion and the ability to produce sound, 2adeline beco)es "ali$e" only after she wasburied in the $ault.

This curious de$elop)ent )ay help e8plain oderic+'s strange decision to te)porarily bury his

sister in the $ault. Throughout the story, Usher is o$erwhel)ed with a sense of his owni)pending de)ise3 "* feel that the period will sooner or later arri$e," he tells the 5arrator, "when

* )ust abandon life and reason together, in so)e struggle with the gri) phantas), FEA." &y

ento)bing 2adeline, he creates that $ery "gri) phantas)" with which he will struggle to thedeathhis prophecy beco)es selffulfilling. Thus, =ust as the 5arrator's reading of the "2ad

Trist" see)s to su))on or con=ure the strange noises fro) below, so does Usher essentially craft

his own death. The $ault in which he buries 2adeline echoes the one he paints, another instance

of otherworldly foresight7 but if one considers the $ault as less a gra$e than a place of birth, lessa to)b than a wo)b, then oderic+ puts 2adeline inside in order to finally gi$e her a new life.

*f he understood what he was doing, it would be a gesture of filial lo$e. 2adeline has beco)e

one of the "$egetable things" that Usher is con$inced possess sentience. ;r, perhaps, he

unwittingly grants the power of sentience to her, li+e a wouldbe Fran+enstein resurrecting hislost lo$ed one.

eturning to the painting of the $ault, it is i)portant to note the strange light the 5arratordescribes3 "5o outlet was obser$ed in any portion of @the $ault's $ast e8tent, and no torch, or

other artificial source of light was discernible7 yet a flood of intense rays rolled throughout."

Fro) where does this light originateB 1hile death is associated with dar+ness, life is lin+ed tolight, and thus this painted $ault )ay hold hints of lifegi$ing conceptiona new beginning

rather than )erely an end.

The concepts of the $ault and of pre)ature burial are crucial to Poe's oeu$re. "The

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The loudest of noises to the deepest of silences, a $ast construction collapsing as if it were )ade

of stic+s, the whole enterprise sin+ing to what )ight be interpreted as hell3 this i)agery is o$er

the top, to say the least. &ut it is deliberate language which does )ore than e8press the 5arrator'se8perience and possibly his )ental state. *t also recalls the 5arrator's descriptions of Usher's

paintings earlier in the story, in which he notes "an intensity of intolerable awe, no shadow of

which felt * e$er yet in the conte)plation of the certainly glowing yet too concrete re$eries ofFuseli." *n a certain sense, the 5arrator has beco)e an Usher by the story's close, adopting

oderic+'s eye and seeing his world. This is a friendship that has =oined the 5arrator to the

)ad)an rather than pro$ided )uch sanity for hi). Poe's tale )ay thus be read as an allegory ofidentification3 the two hal$es of a split consciousness reuniting, the rational and the irrational

beco)ing one and the sa)ewith the irrational o$erta+ing the rational.

5e$ertheless, there is always a naturalistic e8planation for the possibly supernatural e$ents.

Perhaps 2adeline is a dangerous ghost, or )aybe she really did fight her way out of the $ault.The house falls apart, after all, in the )ost li+ely way, following the e8isting fissure. The

coincidences of the loud sounds )ay )erely be coincidences.

0i)ilarly, and =ust as Poe dwells on the blurred boundary between the li$ing and the dead, the

line between sanity and )adness figures pro)inently. 0hortly after 2adeline's ento)b)ent, the5arrator writes of the "contagious nature" 9&urduc+, D: of fear and )adness3 "*t was no wonder

that his condition terrifiedthat it infected )e. * felt creeping upon )e, by slow yet certaindegrees, the wild influences of his own fantastic yet i)pressi$e superstitions." "*nfected" and

"i)pressi$e" present a so)ewhat rhy)ed pair that )a+es of this passage a sort of poe). 1hile

Usher's )alady )ay be a contagious disease, the 5arrator see)s al)ost willfully to succu)b toit, i)pressed as he is by its nature. /ust as the house's scale and stability inspire hi) with awe as

well as fear, so does Usher's )adness inspire as well as terrify hi).

That gi$eandta+e, the dialectic between the beautiful and the horrifying, between a)a6e)ent

and dread, infor)s not =ust "The Fall of the House of Usher" but Poe's wor+ in general. There isindeed a poetic uality to his writing, whether it be the use of the "Haunted Palace" as a

)etaphor for the )indin$aded by "e$il things, in robes of sorrow"or the description of the

House of Usher as if it were a hu)an face, with its "$acant eyeli+e windows." The 5arratordescribes, early in the story, "an unredee)ed dreariness of thought which no goading of the

i)agination could torture into aught of the subli)e." >et, that is precisely what Poe's i)agination

did3 it too+ the dreary, the dar+, the dreadfuland found within it the subli)e.