1、The Fall of the House of UsherEdgar Allan Poe Born in 1809 in Boston,Massachusetts.Attended University of Virginia,but quit it to join the army.Wrote poems and stories for newspapers since college.Died in 1849.Famous as an poet and short story writer.Best known works include poems“The Raven,”“To Hel
2、en,”and short stories“The Fall of the House of Usher,”“The Tell-Tale Heart.”Interested in violence,death,and especially the death of beautiful women.The storyteller“I”approaches Ushers house and sees the site,which fills him with some kind of dread.He remembers his friend User,Ushers temperament and
3、 Ushers family.He examines the house once more and reveals something more uncomfortable.He enters the house,passing bewildering passages and is greeted by Usher.Usher seems a nervous man and has a theory about his family problem,his own condition and his sick sister.The storyteller and Usher read an
4、d paint as a diversion,but the paintings and the songs like“The Haunted Palace”are of a wild,fantastic nature.Ushers sister Madeline dies and is carried to an underground vault with a massive,heavy door.Usher grows worse and one stormy night he comes to the storytellers room.As they read a ghostly s
5、tory together,the rooms door bursts open by Madeline,covered in blood.Usher and Madeline die,the storyteller flees,and the house is engulfed by water.Setting:Time:autumn Place:an old house in an unknown country area No specific geographical location,no historical frame Question for quick pair discus
6、sion:What is the effect of the lack of a larger geographical and historical frame?The atmosphere created by the setting:insufferable depression.“dull,dark,andsoundlessday in theautumn”“clouds hungoppressivelylow in theheavens”“theshadesof the evening melancholyHouse of Usher.”1.Surrounding of the ho
7、use “bleak walls”“vacant eyelike windows”“rank sedges”“white trunks of decayed trees”“black and lurid tarn”Effect on storyteller:“shudder”2.Exterior of the house:“excessive antiquity”“discoloration”“Minute fungihanging in a fine tangled web-work”“barely perceptible fissureextendinguntil it lost in t
8、he sullen waters of the tarn”Effect on storyteller:aware of“a wild inconsistency”discoloration 3.Interior of the house:“Gothic archwaydark and intricate passages”“sombre tapestries”“phantasmagoric armorial trophies”“windowslong,narrow,and pointedinaccessible from within”“Feeble gleams of encrimsoned
9、 light”Effect on storyteller:“breathed an atmosphere of sorrow”Ushers theory on the house:influence on his mind “some peculiarities in the mere form and substance of his family mansion,had,by dint of long sufferanceobtained over his spirit.”Usher suffers from the influence of the family mansion,from
10、 its Gothic,crumbling shape,from the depressive air of the house.Function of Setting in the story:1)the stage for the story:bleak autumn,dreary country,Gothic house.2)as a character:bears a resemblance to Usher in physical existence.Ushers appearance:not looking like a human eyes:“large,liquid,and l
11、uminous”chin:“want of moral energy”lips:“thin and very pallid”skin:“ghastly”hair:“of a more than web-like softness and tenuity”Usher suffers from“a nervous affection”which he contributes to:1)“a constitutional and a family evil”2)“influence of family mansion”3)“long-continued illness of beloved sist
12、er”Ushers reaction to his“tenderly beloved”sisters illness:puzzling to the storyteller 1)not mentioning his sisters name 2)painted and read painting:an underground tunnel flooded by ghastly light song:“The Haunted Palace”Keys to the Questions Exterior and interior:make up a better view of the house
13、in which Usher lives.Exterior:depicting the potentially deteriorating condition.Interior:on bewildering,comfortless passages and room furnishings.Exterior and interior create a frightening,sorrowful mood.Ushers appearance is related to the house:eye vs.windows;hair vs.fungi.The house reflects Ushers
14、 mental condition:crumbing,unstable parts vs.Ushers heightened sensitivity and nervous breakdown.Ushers theory:1)His nervous affection comes from illness passed down in family.2)This family“evil”will soon pass away,which somehow foreshadows the end of the story when both Usher and his sister die,end
15、ing the Usher family line.Poem“The Haunted Palace”is symbolic.It describes setting and characters similar to the main story.Both are set in unknown country:palace in poem similar to Ushers ancient mansion.Poem demonstrates similar character contrast and foreshadows fate for the story:in poem ruler a
16、ssailed by evil vs.Usher the master of the house losing his sanity;death in poem parallels death in the main story.The storyteller does have a role to play.The storytellers role:1)a witness to report the story.Otherwise the story cannot be reported so vividly.2)a substitute of the reader,making the reader feel as he feels.The End
