Edgar Allen Poe died on January 30, 1847 at the age of forty of a drinking related sickness. A despondent depressant Poe put his heart into every story he wrote, the result is the horrifying tales of murder, nightmares, and death that are read to this day (Wilson, James 2). .
"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Poe is a short story about an individual named Roderick Usher who invites an old friend who he hasn't seen in many years. The story begins as a normal visit for the old friend but slowly slips into chaos. The old friend, who is the narrator, enters the house of Usher with sanity and collectiveness. The narrator in the beginning of the story notices how disturbed his old friend Usher is and how the house reflects his emotions. The narrator soon learns that Roderick's twin sister, Madeline, is dying of an unmentioned sickness and tries to comfort Usher. Shortly after Madeline dies and the narrator is asked by Roderick to help put her body into an unused vault until the rain stops so she can be properly buried. Several days later on a tumultuous night the narrator noticed a change in Roderick's overall appearance. "And now, some days of bitter grief having elapsed, an observable change came over the mental disorder of [Roderick].He roamed from chamber to chamber.The pallor of his countenance had assumed.a more ghastly hue [and] the luminousness of his eye had utterly gone out. [He gazed] upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, .
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as if listening to some imaginary sound" ("House of Usher" 274). The narrator, now also enveloped by the house, slips slowly into a distressing calm until a sound is heard from .
the chamber Madeline was buried in. "I dared not speak! We have put her living in the tomb! Said I not that my senses were acute? I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard them--many, many days ago--yet I dared not--I dared not speak" ("House of Usher" 278).