123 School Work

Use of Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe s The Fall of the House of Usher

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       In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe uses symbolism not only to describe the gloom and apparent evil of the "House of Usher", but also to depict the evident unraveling of the mind of Roderick Usher. The house itself is a symbol of the end of anything rational or sane. Poe does an excellent job of connecting everything about the "House of Usher" to its occupant's psychological and physical beings. It seems that everything happening to Roderick and Madeline is symbolized by the ever-deteriorating condition of the "House of Usher." As the narrator states in the opening of the story, "With the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit" (Poe, 1534), it's as if the insanity of the house and everything in it is apparent even in the first moment he lays eyes on it.
       As the narrator states, "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime"(Poe,1535). These words could easily be used to describe the master of the "House of Usher," though they are used to describe the house itself. This happens through out the story. Many of the descriptions of Roderick Usher and the house can be interchangeable. According to Edward H...