TELL ME MORE

TELL ME MORE

  • Submitted By: gpcomp
  • Date Submitted: 11/12/2014 8:33 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 332
  • Page: 2

“The Fall of House of Usher” opens with the narrator receiving a letter from his old school mate, Roderick, who suffered from a serious illness. Worrying about his friend, the narrator hurried to the House of Usher on horseback. Over the course of the story the narrator discovers that house, Roderick, and Madeline are decaying together. Roderick Usher is particularly visible to show the sign of decaying; his physical, mental, and moral states are corrupt as the narrator witnessed. By the end of the story, all three collapses at the same moment, symbolizing the fall of Usher family. In the story, every elements and details are connected and related. The events developed in the story are symbolic of the decay of the Usher family and the house “dies” along with the two Usher siblings, where decay represented Roderick’s physical, mental, and moral corruption. Incest was also the themes of the story; it acted like a curse, gradually destroy the Usher family.
Upon arrival, the narrator described the house as “with first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable, gloom pervaded my spirit” (par.1) The appearance of house already indicated the future of the story. Roderick and Madeline were like the house too, gloomy, dark, and ominous. Roderick looks pale and sick; it looks like that he haven’t been out of the house for months. The sickness was gradually taking him away: “he suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was along unendurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture…” (par.10) The cause of Roderick’s sickness was never revealed in the story, and it can only be reasoned that he suffered from over-sensitivity and hyperesthesia. Madeline is also suffered from physical illness; she looks like a ghost, lack sun light and fresh air. Neither the causes of Madeline’s sickness nor her symptoms are clearly stated, except that she was suffered from catalepsy. The physical decaying of the house, Roderick, and Madeline...

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