The Fall of the House of Usher- Summary
In a letter Roderick Usher, the owner of the property, begged an unnamed narrator to visit him for several weeks.
Usher tells the narrator that a visit from him would be therapeutic against a mental disorder afflicting him. Usher
and the narrator have been friends since childhood, although Usher’s reticence in discussing himself and family
mean that they are not as close as they could be.
The narrator arrives on horseback one autumn evening at the House of Usher, the atmosphere surrounding the
manor is one of desolate gloom and dilapidation. As he draws his horse to a stop on the edge of a small lake that
encircles the mansion he notes the reflection of the house within the waters; a forboding image. As he looks back
up at the manor the narrator notes the eerie atmosphere- “a pestilent, mystic vapour”- overhangs the scene. The
house is discoloured, covered in a tangled fungus but the structure appears stable.
After riding across the bridge to the house the narrator hands his horse to a waiting servant and enters the home
through a gothic archway. After winding his was through a series of hallways and stairways (following some sort of
valet) he encounters the family doctor. He enters Roderick’s room- it is a large room with vaulted ceilings and dark
drapes cluttered with books and musical instruments.
Usher seems to have undergone a transformation since the narrator last saw him- he is sickly, pale and his hair has
grown wildly around his face. He seems agitated and nervous one minute sullen the next, speaking rapidly one
moment and then slowly like a drunkard or opium user. He tells the narrator that his illness runs in the family.
“He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses,” the narrator says. “The most insipid food was alone
endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odors of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were
tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did
not inspire him with horror.”
Usher says, “I shudder at the thought of any, even the most trivial, incident, which may operate upon this
intolerable agitation of soul. I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect- in terror. In this
unnerved- on this pitiable condition- I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and
reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR.”
The gloomy mansion is in part responsible for Usher’s depressed state of mind. But what deeply disturbs him is the
condition of his sister, Madeline. Madeline has for many years suffered with declining health, she now seems to be
dying. She is his only relative and has been his only companion for many years. As the narrator and Usher sit
talking Madeline passes through the end of the room. The sight of her causes the narrator to experience a sense of
dread which he cannot explain. The doctor has not been able to diagnose Madeline with any particular ailment but
he notes that her symptoms were: “A settles apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person, and frequent although
transient affections of a partially cataleptical character.” The very night that the narrator arrives she is confined to
bed.
The narrator spends time attempting to cheer his friend up over the next few days. While playing guitar Usher
creates songs which the narrator thinks are remarkable for their organisation and clarity. “The Haunted Palace,” is
one of Usher’s creations and tells of a stately, radiant palace through whose windows passersby could see spirits
moving to the rhythms of a lute around a throne upon which a monarch sat. Echoes of the sweet music passed
through the pearl- and ruby- studded door of the palace, singing of the “wit and wisdom” of the king. But evil
invaded the palace, attacking the monarch and destroying the palace.
When the narrator approaches Usher, asking him about the ballad, Usher speaks of the ability of the natural
aspects which surround the house (the trees and fungus) which have combined over time to create a sinister
atmosphere to shape the destinies of the Usher family line.
The books Usher studies focus on fanciful, mystical, or religious subjects- a subterranean voyage, palmistry, satyrs,
a Dominican directory on the Inquisition, and “the manual of a forgotten church.”
One night, after Madeline’s death, Usher announces that he will preserve her corpse for two weeks in a vault in
one of the walls of the building before its final burial. He notes that he wants to keep Madeline’s body out of reach
of her doctors, who are curious as to the illness that killed her.
Together the narrator and Usher move the body into the coffin and place the coffin in the vault (which happens to
be below the narrator’s bedroom). As the narrator looks down upon Madeline he notes the resemblance between
Usher and his sister and wonders if they are twins. Roderick confirms that they were and notes the connection that
they had. As they close the lid on the coffin the narrator notes the “faint blush” of colour on Madeline’s checks and
chest.
As the days pass Usher paces aimlessly and he becomes noticeably paler. He speaks as if experiencing some horror.
This begins to make the narrator uneasy and he too starts to feel troubled.
Unable to sleep one night the narrator hears “indefinite sounds,” perhaps a result of the storm outside. He gets up
and dressed pacing the room. Usher knocks on the door, he looks like a zombie and the narrator notes the look of
“mad hilarity” in his eyes. Usher seems to be disturbed by the storm outside, throwing open the window the pair
observe a “faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the
mansion.”
To calm Usher the narrator seats his friend and begins to read to him from “The Mad Trist” by Lancelot Canning. As
the tale progresses, Usher listens carefully to the story as the narrator comes to the part when Ethelred, the hero,
breaks into the dwelling of a hermit by driving his spiked war club through the door. The sound of the cracking,
splintering wood reverberates through the forest. At that moment, the narrator hears a similar sound that appears
to be coming from some distant corner of the mansion. Perhaps the storm rattled windows.
The narrator reads on.
Upon entering the hermit’s dwelling, Ethelred encounters a dragon keeping guard over what turns out to be a
palace of gold. On a wall is a shield with the inscription:
Who entereth herein, a conqueror hath bin;
Who slayeth the dragon, the shield he shall win.
Ethelred slays the dragon.
The narrator hears a wild scream in the mansion, not unlike that which he imagines the dragon gave out in his
dying moment. But the narrator maintains calm (so he doesn’t excite Usher). Usher, however, turns his chair
towards the door. His lips tremble as he tries to speak. He lowers his head and begins to rock back and forth.
The narrator reads on.
After slaying the dragon, Ethelred walks up to the shield. Before he can reach for it the shield crashes to the floor.
The narrator hears a similar sound within the mansion. Out of concern for Usher he rises to comfort him but Usher
is unresponsive, rocking, his eyes fixed. He begins to murmur- Usher speaks of hearing something for many
minutes, hours, days. “I now tell you that I heard her first feeble movements in the hollow coffin. I heard themmany, many days ago- yet I dared not- I dared not speak!”
Usher jumps to his feet and says, “Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!”
The wind throws open the door and their stands Madeline Usher with blood on her burial garments. Then, giving
out a low cry, she enters the room and, in the throes of her final death spasms, falls upon Usher. During the fall, he
dies. The narrator flees the mansion. During his escape, he sees a blood red moon shining over the building. The
mansion then collapses, and the dark water of the lake swallow every last fragment of the House of Usher.