A Not-so-Singular View of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings : Poems, Tales, Essays, and Reviews (Penguin Classics)The Fall of the House of Usher is considered by most to be Poe’s greatest work. Although some works are more famous, such as the Cask of Amontillado and The Raven, the Fall of the House of Usher is wrought with interpretive possibilities. However, before discussing these, a brief summary of the story must be given.

Like many Poe stories, the cast of characters is extremely limited. Poe instead spends much of his time developing a smaller cast of characters, often taking up much of the story just in development. Events are often limited as they are in Usher. There are three characters in Usher: the Narrator, whose name is not given, Roderick Usher, and his twin sister, the Lady Madeline.