-
Step 1
Think about why the boyhood friend is the narrator. This is Roderick Usher's story, but it's not told from his point of view. Consider why Poe delivers information to the reader from the perceptions of an outsider.
-
Step 2
Analyze the information given about Roderick and Madeline Usher's illnesses. Pay close attention to how these diseases affect them mentally and emotionally, as well as physically.
-
Step 3
Decide whether Roderick intentionally buries Madeline alive or not and why he would do so. Ask if Poe is suggesting that Roderick Usher is trying to destroy a part of himself by destroying his sister.
-
Step 4
Read the ballad "The Haunted Palace" carefully and see how it relates to the story as a whole. Think about why Roderick Usher is the one to perform it.
-
Step 5
Consider why the house is physically destroyed. Poe is using this as a symbol to make a statement about the Usher family itself.
-
Step 6
Think about the role the story's title has on both a literal and symbolic level.
-
Step 1
See the house itself as a character. It has a very prominent role in the story. Poe uses it to characterize both Roderick and Madeline Usher. Pay attention to the way Poe describes the house, the human characteristics he gives it and how the characters respond to it.
-
Step 2
Think about why Poe chose the family name "Usher" and the literal meaning of "usher." Ask what Madeline and Roderick might be "ushering" in.
-
Step 3
Consider why Poe chose to make the Usher siblings male and female twins. Keep in mind the concept of the doppelganger and how a character can represent certain aspects of another character's personality.
-
Step 4
Make notes on how Roderick and Madeline are described physically and mentally in the story. Pay attention to their similarities and differences.
-
Step 5
Look for clues that the Usher family has become depraved and decayed and why this depravity has entered the family.
-
Step 6
Analyze how the narrator's perceptions about the Ushers and his own outlook change throughout the story. Poe's narrators usually give personal accounts of their criminal activities, but this unnamed narrator is a witness to the major events of the story. Determine how he has processed what he's seen and how it's changed him--if he has changed.
-
Step 1
Review the ideas promoted by transcendentalism and empiricism. Poe is influenced by empiricism and opposes transcendentalism.
-
Step 2
Find examples of how Madeline and Roderick are used to criticize transcendentalism. Look at how each twin is disconnected from the world.
-
Step 3
See what Poe is saying about not being connected "to the real world." In the lives of the Usher twins, fantasy is suppressing reality, and it's leading to madness. Look again at the twins' illnesses and how the symptoms affect their bodies, minds and emotions.
-
Step 4
Figure out what Poe is saying about what happens when we deny that parts of ourselves exist. Again, look at how the twins close themselves off from the world. Review what part of Roderick is mirrored in Madeline, and how Roderick denies that this part of himself exists.
Comments
gatunibi said
on 1/16/2009 I love The Fall of the House of Usher!!! Thanks for reminding me of it! Great job!Really helpful for those who have to study it!5*