The Story Archive

The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe · 1839 CE · Short Story · Modern / American · Victorian

Summoned by a boyhood friend whose letter speaks of nervous illness, a visitor rides to a bleak mansion doubled in the tarn before it and finds a crack running from roof to foundation. Roderick Usher cannot bear light or sound, paints and plays to keep himself steady, and his twin sister drifts through the rooms in a wasting trance. House, family and mind decay together in the tale that fixed the American gothic interior.

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Attributes

Genre
GothicHorrorPsychological
Theme
MadnessDeath & MortalityIsolation & AlienationFreedom vs Fate
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
The DoubleShadowEveryman
Plot structure
Tragic Reversal
Symbol / motif
The HouseThe TombThe Mirror
Conflict
vs Supernaturalvs Self
Mode / tone
GothicTragic
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues