The summary of The Fall of the House of Usher :: essays research papers

The Narrator had received a letter from a boyhood acquaintance, Roderick Usher, begging that he screw to him "posthaste." Usher had written to explain that he was suffering from a terrible mental and bodily illness, and longed for the companionship of "his only personal friend." The plea seemed so heartfelt that the Narrator immediately set out for the Usher ancestral home. Approaching the ivy-covered, decaying old house, the Narrator was struck b y an overwhelming sense of soberness which seemed to envelop the estate. The very sight of the manor caused within him "an illness, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness." But even though the"eye-like" windows of the mansion seemed to be staring at him, he managed to swallow his fear and continue in his carriage up the path to the door. As he rode, he tried to recall Roderick Usher as he had once known him years had passed since they had last met. He remembered his old friend as an extremely reserved fellow, quite handsome but possessing an eerie, pathological demeanor. Rodericks family was noted for its particular musical genius - and for the fact that no new branch of the family had ever been generated. For centuries, the title of the estate had passed directly from father to son, so that the landmark "House of Usher" had come to refer both to the family and to the mansion. Sadly, though, Roderick was the last surviving male issue of the Usher clan. Finally, the carriage crossed over the creaking fosse bridge to the door, and a servant admitted the Narrator. He was led through intricate passageways and past hung armored trophies to Roderick Ushers inner chamber, a sorrowful room where sunlight had never entered. Usher himself looked equally shut in, almost terrifying pallid skin like that of a corpse, lustrous eyes, and long hair that seemed to float about his head. Moreover, he was plagued by a kind of sullen, intense, nervous agitation, similar to that of a drug-addict experiencing withdrawal. The list of his complaints was dismaying He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses the most insipid food was alone endurable he could wear only garments of a certain texture the odors of all flowers were oppressive his eyes were tortured even by faint light and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.