The Fall of the House of Usher

Chelsey Wilkins


The Fall of the house of Usher

Generally speaking, most are familiar with the works of Edgar Allen Poe, on account of his passion, for suspenseful short narratives. “The Fall of the House of Usher” was a creepy story about a somewhat cursed family. In this short story, Poe didn’t give any references to setting simply, wrote in a type of gothic-tale. The rhetorical devices that were used mainly surrounded the idea of ethos.


Imagery was dominant in this short story. Not only did everything have a Goth –like tone to it but Poe describes the house and the people in full detail. Poe used descriptive words such as dull, dark, and soundless that gave his audience an image of the creepy mansion on top of the suspense of a Gothic story.

The analytical rhetorical device, ethos was appealed to throughout the entire short story. The story would not appeal to suspicion as much if Poe did not write in first person telling his audience that this event has happen and it’s true because I witnessed it. I think that the background on Poe’s relations with Roderick also adds an extra advantage to the credibility of the story.

Lastly, I belive that this story, like others, has shown irony. The suspense of the story makes it the better, on top of the disadvantage of knowing a deep understanding of the history between Poe and Roderick. Why Poe was contained in the house is still question that haunts me about the story. Poe entering the house immediately left me believing he would die in that house but ironically he didn’t. Nevertheless, did I think to realize that the crack represented the collapse of the house at the end of the story?


To conclude, Edgar Allen Poe writes short creepy stories. He was part of the American Romantic movement, but best known for his stories of mystery. He wrote a mysterious story about the falling of a house and the death of those inside,” The fall of the House of the Usher. ”