Examines Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Usher, focusing on how exterior factors influenced the story.
The writer shows how many external and exterior factors help set the eerie mood in Poe’s short story. These factors include the very creepy and spooky introduction describing the setting of the story. It also looks at the role the narrator plays and his careful choice of words. The writer shows how even before the characters are introduced, the story setting is in full motion.
“The “vacant and eye-like windows” of the House of Usher spook the nameless narrator and his sickly childhood friend and title heir, Roderick Usher. Decaying trees and a “black and lurid tarn” dot the sullen landscape that greets the narrator on his approach to the Usher estate. This classic Gothic setting influences the narrator as soon as his horse trots towards the crumbling mansion. Probably familiar with depression, the narrator notices immediately what a profound effect the House of Usher has upon his frightened and weakened spirit. The eerie landscape of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Fall of the House of Ushercontributes to characterization.”