Transcript world lit lap 1 fall of the house of usher

“The Fall of the House of Usher”
Edgar Allan Poe
Think about it…
• In “The Fall of the House of Usher” how do
atmosphere and environment influence the
narrator’s behavior?
• In “The Fall of the House of Usher” how do
atmosphere and environment influence
Roderick Usher’s behavior?
• How would you behave in the House of Usher?
Would you react similarly to either the
narrator or Usher?
Poe’s Diction
• You may not understand every single word, so use
context clues. We know Poe is continually
addressing gothic and romantic tendencies.
“Unknown words” are probably not going to
reference rainbows and ponies.
• Realize that all of the words are going to have dark,
dreary, negative connotations. You do not
necessarily have to know the meaning of every
word to understand the story.
• Poe uses every word to instill horror, accompanied
by oppressing morbidity and anxious anticipation.
Poe’s Diction (continued)
• Every word has a negative connotation
somehow.
• Look at the opening words:
– During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless
day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds
hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been
passing alone, on horseback, through a
singularly dreary tract of country; and at
length found myself, as the shades of the
evening drew on, within view of the melancholy
House of Usher.
Alliteration
• Besides painting a gloomy picture, the words
in the paragraph also beat out a rhythm–at
first through the alliteration of during, dull,
dark, and day, and then through the
rhyming suffixes of oppressively,
singularly, and melancholy.
Setting
The story begins at
dusk on an autumn
day in an earlier time,
probably the 19th
Century. The place is a forbidding mansion
in a forlorn countryside. The mansion,
covered by a fungus, is encircled by a small
lake, called a tarn, that resembles a moat. A
bridge across the tarn provides access to the
mansion.
Main Characters
• Narrator, a friend of the master of the
House of Usher. When he visits his
friend, he witnesses terrifying
events.
Roderick Usher, the master of the house.
He suffers from a depressing condition
characterized by strange behavior.
Madeline Usher, twin sister of Roderick.
She also suffers from a strange illness.
After apparently dying, she rises from
her coffin.
Themes
• Isolation—Roderick and Madeline Usher seal themselves
inside their mansion, cutting themselves off from
friends, ideas, progress. They have become musty and
mildewed, sick unto their souls for lack of contact with
the outside world.
• Madness—Roderick and Madeline suffer from mental
illness characterized by anxiety, depression, and other
symptoms.
• Mystery—From the very beginning, the narrator realizes
that he is entering a world of mystery when he crosses the
tarn bridge.
• Complexity—You may not understand every single word,
so use context clues. We know Poe is continually
addressing gothic and romantic tendencies.
Symbolism
• Autumn
• The Fungus-Ridden
Mansion
• The Collapsing
Mansion
• The “Vacant eye-like”
Windows of the
Mansion
• The Tarn, a Small
Lake Encircling the
Mansion and
Reflecting Its Image
• The Bridge Over the
Tarn
• The name Usher
• The Storm
• The poem, "The
Haunted Palace”
• Others??
Let’s Make Sure We Understand
What is Going On…PLOT
• 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.
• 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.
Plot (continued)
• 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.
• 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.
Plot (continued)
• Consider why the house is physically
destroyed. Poe is using this as a symbol to
make a statement about the Usher family
itself.
• Think about the role the story’s title has on
both a literal and symbolic level.
Poe’s Intent
– Melancholy—a gloomy state of mind, esp. when
habitual or prolonged; depression
• Did Poe’s poem have a melancholy effect on you?
– Poe once wrote that all worldly things contain "the
germ of their inevitable annihilation."
• Long before Freud suggested that humans might
be driven by more than self-preservative instincts,
Poe discovered the implacable, unreasonable drive
towards self-destruction. He discovered it in
himself, and he dramatized it in each of his
characters.
“The Cask of Amontillado”
Background Information
• Cask—a large barrel-like container
made of wood, metal, or plastic, used for
storing liquids, typically alcoholic
drinks.
• Amontillado— a medium-dry sherry
(wine).
Characters
• Montressor—the narrator and a wealthy
man intent on receiving revenge
on Fortunato who is both a friend sworn
enemy of Montresor's. Evil and
unbalanced character.
• Fortunado— A wine expert. Dressed as a
court jester, He falls prey to Montresor’s
scheme at a particularly carefree moment
during a carnival.
“The Cask of Amontillado”
• The story is narrated by Montresor, who
carries a grudge against Fortunato for
an offense that is never explained
• Montresor leads a drunken Fortunato
through a series of chambers beneath his
palazzo
“The Cask of Amontillado”
• Although Fortunato has a horrible cough the
promise of a taste of Amontillado spurs him
deeper and deeper into the underground.
• When the two men reach the last
underground chamber, Montresor chains
Fortunato to the wall, builds a new wall to
seal him in, and leaves him to die.
Literary Elements
• What literary device is used in the following
line?
• Fortunado says: “Enough, the cough is a
mere nothing; it will not kill me, I shall not
die of a cough.”