“The Fall of the House of Usher”
Edgar Allan Poe
Answer the following questions…
1. From page 313, identify a sentence that helps create the mood or atmosphere of the story.
2. Why does the narrator go to the house of Usher?
3. In the letter, “The writer spoke of acute bodily illness – of a ___________ _____________
which oppressed him” (p. 314).
4. On page 317, Roderick describes his illness to the narrator. What are some of the things he is
bothered by?
5. Roderick says that the house itself has “brought upon the ____________ of his existence” (p.
318).
6. Madeline’s long lasting illness baffled her doctors. She seemed to lose interest in life and
physically she would occasionally experience a cataleptical seizure. What does “cataleptical”
mean? (p. 318)
7. To pass the time, what does Roderick do?
8. When Madeline dies, what does Roderick plan to do with the body? Why? (p. 321).
9. After Madeline’s death, how did Roderick change? (p. 323).
10. On the 7th or 8th night after Madeline’s death, why couldn’t the narrator sleep? (p. 323).
11. Roderick is up roaming the house and goes to the narrator’s room. Roderick talks about the
violent storm. To take their minds off the storm, the narrator begins to read to Roderick. In the
story, Ethelred beats open a wooden door. What does the narrator hear in the house? (p. 325).
12. In the story, the dragon shrieks when Ethelred kills him. What does the narrator hear in the
house? (p. 325).
13. What is Roderick’s behavior? What is he doing as the narrator reads the story? (p. 325).
14. What does Roderick say is causing the sounds in the house? (p. 326).
15. How does Roderick die? (p. 327).
16. The narrator flees from the house out into the storm. A wild light appears behind him so he
turns to see what caused it. What does he witness? (p. 327).
17. An allegory is a story or poem that can be read on one level for its literal meaning and
on a second level for its symbolic meaning.
Poe said that “The Haunted Palace” is meant to suggest a disordered brain. How might the whole
story be read as an allegory of a journey into the human mind? What does the final fall of the
house represent?