Prompts for "House of Usher"

Select one prompt and focus on "meaning making" from the text.


1) In “The House of Usher” how does Poe use the setting (and trivial things like the painting, books, and songs) to mirror the inner turmoil of the R. Usher? Pay attention to the description of the house, the character of which the narrator links with the character of the family (113). How does the House's character mirror the family? Have we seen this before in our readings? We'll see it again . . .

2) How is feminine beauty described in “House of Usher”? Would you call Usher a Byronic hero? How is the relationship between the brother and sister described? Is there significance in their being twins? Is there implied incest? If so, how does it affect the narrative and the reader of the narrative?

3) Is Madeline dead when she is placed in the coffin? Do you think she is murdered? If so, why? Do you detect any irony in the ending? What do you make of her disease? (“affections of a partially cataleptical character”) (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalepsy).

4)What kind of narrator is used in this piece? Is he reliable? Speculate as to why Poe would use this type of narrator for his work.

5) How is Poe’s Gothic different from the other Gothic narratives we’ve read/watched thus far this semester? Also, how is the short story different from the novella (“Lois”) and novels?

See this link for a definitions of difficult words in “House of Usher”: https://secure.layingthefoundation.org/english/vocab/novels/Fall%20of%20the%20House%20of%20Usher.pdf