The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe - Short Story Summary, Analysis, Review 

I think that Krypto is on to something with the incest angle. Poe's life somewhat mirrors The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe's wife about whom he wrote so many poems was his 1st cousin, so he's not a stranger to incest. His mother and father died during Poe's childhood making Poe the last of his family line because he died childless just like Roderick Usher. Roderick, like Poe, wrote poetic verses, and both went off the deep end at the death of the only woman in their life. Unlike Krypto, I don't feel that Poe is the narrator. I think Poe is Roderick. Both Poe and Roderick died under questionable circumstances.

This is one of my absolute favorites from Poe. In my opinion, the main theme of The Fall of the House of Usher is about the sins of the past coming back to haunt those in the present. The implications of incest is more of a physical represenation of said theme. We know that, historically, incest among nobility and the aristocrisy has been very prevelant and even before modern medicine shined a light on the consequences of it, the common people would use that knowledge to explain the flaws and outright atrocities they witnessed in aristocrats and nobles. I feel that Roderick was trying to distance himself from those sins, but Madeline was there as a specter of temptation. I even suspect that Madeline had long ago accepted her fate that her and her brother were destined to be the last of their line as lovers. Roderick chose to rail against this, hence why he put such a distance between himself and Madeline when she was buried. Though he doesn't say it outright, it's implied he blames his ancestors partaking in incest as the cause of his affliction(s). There could also be an element of guilt and regret for Roderick possibly having given into the temptation at some point in time, leading to him to deny and not account for his own actions; only cementing the doom of the Usher family line. This could also explain the almost supernatural fury Madeline possesses when she escaped from the crypt, that not only was her brother fighting against their destiny, but when he finally gave in he decided to, literally and metaphorically, lock it away. That's my two cents. Hope it at least sounds convincing. lol

So many ambiguities! 🤯 He scared me away as a youngling and I've never gone back to try him again 😂 Great job guys!!!

This is a year after the fact so it may not even be seen, but There is a key aspect I feel neither of you touched on that answers a lot of what is happening. For generations the house of usher has been a house without branching. Only son to an only son etc. Neither Roderick or Madeline can live because the other is alive. Roderick in his haste to claim to the heir to the family prematurely buries his sister, but instead of relief he is plunged into guilt. His sister returns and filled with rage attacks him. And a house divided against itself cannot stand. What could have been a new beginning was the fall due to surrendering to a generational curse.

This is probably my favorite Poe. I simply cannot wait to see how the show goes. The tension and building and climax are so amazing!

Thank you for helping clarify the story for me :)

Great job on an all-time classic! 👏 👏

I love Poe! This story is super haunting. I love the themes

Thank you for your excellent insights! 😊

I’m a simple man. I see Poe, I click like.

Wow that was a creepo story. The atmosphere he builds is amazing. The climax was ginormous and there was no irritating post climax rambling. With my 2022 brain I was trying to figure out if Usher had anxiety disorder or migraines. Or both of those and more.

❤❤❤I felt the same when I first read the first page I can stay on the first paragraph for a 60-minute discussion

Wow I searched up to see if u had done the Fall of the House of Usher yesterday for help with my essay and here we are today… thank you 🤝❤️

Always a good day when Codex puts out a Poe analysis! "foreshadowing the foreshadowing" That sounds exactly like something Poe would do haha😅

I LOVE YOUR CHANNEL THANK YOU SO MUCH

This is a great story and I enjoyed hearing both of your thoughts and interpretations.

thank you so much for the video ^^

Love this video as I love the book 📖 by Poe love your amazing channel please stay safe and enjoy your reading love your Australia fan John xxx

This story has creeped me out for decades and still does. The true definition of gothic - a decaying old house and a feeling of dread.

Just got my grandads collection of Edgar Allen Poe short stories from my attic yesterday, can’t wait to start reading. Would you guys ever consider doing some Hunter S. Thompson short stories?

Thank you for this, just finished reading it yesterday and it was really a good story.

I'd like to suggest a story. Albert Camus has only one short story collection(total 6 stories) titled Exile and Kingdom. Please do any one of the stories. In my opinion, Camus' short stories are quite under appreciated

no matter how many sub you have, it is best channel ever. Im from iran we have plenty of amazing book, try them.

Hello hello! I have been gone for a while 🙃 life is like a wave sometimes 😂 speaking on isolation, especially if it’s a voluntary isolation that can be a different kind of fear from one where someone is just put into fear. It seems this character is taking us into this fear. I’ve read this a long time ago but it’s time to go back! 😊

Interesting analysis. My view is that the house and family are metaphors for his mind. His heightened senses are suggestive of bipolar disorder as is the depression. His catastrophic fears are based on someone he’s codependent with. He knows that will end badly when she dies. Or it could be about how he hated West Point. Hard to say.

Nice to revisit the original. The Netflex version by Mike Flanagan is more an homage to Poe using Usher as a vehicle.

Now that the show came out are you guys gonna do a video on that?

Curious as to why Roderick would send a letter to his friend to come visit at the very beginning, Have they not seen each other in a long time? A house can be both described as something physical and something spiritual. As the apostle Paul states your body is the temple of the Lord. I would go with the latter in this case. Using this Temple of the Lord scripture there is another passage which speaks of the heart of man being evil continually and the more one doesn't repent from his or her actions the more that sin begins to make us feel that we are dragged down. In a sense wanted to die from this wretched state from something that we have done and cannot escape from.

Could it be to stop living in thd past and isolated? Like aristocraty as some people here mentioned was supposed to be reclused in a rich mansion with books amd musical instruments and only socialize at home with certain people of their class? And judging from the result(= illness,death,loneliness,desperation)people should go out in the world and interact?? Otherwise you lose sense of reality and start imagining things as those mentalities above are not healthy?

De dechets et du sang... ...brulant... ...tus.... Of offal and of the blood... ...burning... ...still.... it is free with kindle unlimited it is a collection of English/French poems and short stories hope you like something if you read Here is one of the poems it is a poetic interpretation of head of a dead young man painting by theodore gericault Head of a dead young man Beneath a canvas coarse and crass, the head of a young man upon a cushion soft and of care; feminine chin; upon the lower lip the blood of God; fine nose; hair of an infant here...and...down there; upon his front, the sublime illumination, that descends, intimately as though of ivory flame.... ...when, of lavender and of rose, ascending vaguely towards the exegetic darkness, the offal; disclosed thus, profound and grave, an immense lesion, as though of a dolourous ulcer...from where all comes...where all returns....

Next time use Poe's original text, please.