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1、The Setting，Characters and Plot of The Fall of the House of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher is a typical gothic novel. Gothic novel is one branch of the English literature and the father of horror movies. In this novel, it touches some gothic elements including horror, mystery, death, haunted h
2、ouse and sort of family curse. The author Edgar Allen Poe is a famous American writer, who is considered as one of the three giants of American horror novelists, together with Howard Philip Lovecraft and Ambrose Bierce. He had a miserable family life. His father abandoned the family at his early age
3、 and his mother died at the age of 24. He himself was addicted to alcohol and finally died of it. A century and a half after his death, he became the one American author whose name is known to virtually everyone. As a gothic novel, the environmental feature of this novel is very important. Viewing t
4、he whole story, we can see that the author tried to establish a rather bleak, haunted and horrible background. Through the opening part of the novel, -during the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day, in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hang oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passi
5、ng alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher - by autumn, sunset, black clouds and the wilderness, the author started to create a grave atmosphere. Afterwards he co
6、ntinued to do so in order to make the environment as charnel as it could be. Especially as the story came to the end, when Madeline appeared at the door at night. And this kind of setting certainly is good for the development of the story and could catch the readers attention effectively.In this sto
7、ry, there are just 3 characters-the main character Usher, his sister Madeline and the narrator. It requires more skill to develop a attracting story with less characters, because the author needs to be more careful in the psychology and action of the characters. Sometimes less characters may make th
8、e story seems too flat and uninteresting, so the author must control the whole story very delicately. Among the three characters, the protagonist Roderick is a psychologically ill person. He buried his little sister and had been captured by some mysterious thoughts. He was afraid of stepping out of
9、the house and almost everything could arouse the horror in his mind. He was a man lived in great fear. The little sister of Roderick seems to be the source of the horror in the house and the fear in Roderick. In the whole story, she didnt appeared many times and never said a word. But just the exist
10、ence of her could make the whole story terrible. It is obvious that both Roderick and his sister Madeline are psychologically sick. But how about the narrator, he seems to be just a normal man paying a visit to an abnormal friend. He is more likely to be an observer who took the readers into the Hou
11、se of Usher and showed us the illness of not only the brother and sister but the whole house. He saw everything that happened in the house, and gradually became a part of the House of Usher, but he can not face or accept what happened and what was happening. He couldnt tell what was real and what wa
12、s dream. He constrained his fear and denied what happened although he saw it happened. In the end of the story, he ran away from the house in great horror as the house falling down. Actually, the three characters in the story all have some stage of insanity, and thats a main clue of the story.About
13、the plot of the novel, there were no complicated matters about story; the authors concentration is on the psychology of the characters. The main plotline is what the narrator saw in the house and something he heard that had happened in the house. He went to visit his friend Roderick and narrated som
14、e relating hearsay about the house and the Usher family. Madeline was supposed to be in her tomb, but the narrator saw her in the house. At that time, he couldnt tell whether she was real. But at the end of the story, she appeared at the door, and fell down on her brothers body, then both of them di
15、ed. On seeing this, the narrator ran away with great horror as the house of Usher falling down. This kind of plot is really scary; the author successfully caught the readers attention by it.The Fall of the House of Usher is a representative of Gothic novel. In the whole story, the author kept creati
16、ng a horrible and grave atmosphere and the ending of the story certainly reached the goal. It one of the scriptures of gothic novels.Reference:1、 Kevin J Hayes, Allan Poe, Cambridge University Press, 20022、 Lawrence David H., Edgar Allen Poe, Studies in Classic American Literature, 1923. Reprinted by the Viking Press, 19643、 Perkins Gorge, Perkins Barbara, The American tradition in Literature, 9th ed. Boston McGraw-Hill, 19994、 刘象愚编著，爱伦坡选集， 山东文艺出版社，19995、 申丹、韩佳明、王丽亚，英美小说叙事理论研究，北京大学出版社，2005
