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The Fall of House of Usher
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet and editor born in 1809 in Boston. He was orphaned as a child and was raised by John Allan, a wealthy tobacco merchant, in Virginia. Poe attended the University of Virginia but had to drop out due to gambling debts. He later tried to join the military and published several volumes of poetry. He gained fame as a writer of short stories including "The Fall of the House of Usher", which tells the story of a man visiting his childhood friend Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline at their crumbling mansion. Strange events occur, including Madeline being buried alive, which lead to the collapse of the house and the deaths of Roderick
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The Fall of House of Usher
- 1. Topic: Edgar AllanPoe (The Fall of the House of Usher) Presented to: Sir Muzaffar Qadir Bhatti Presented by: Mawra Tariq Malik (BSENL-17-03) Malik Muhammad Ali (BSENL-17-25) Gull Jabeen (BSENL-17-48) BZ University Multan
- 2. Early Life…… American writer,short story writer, poet, an editor, and Inventor of detective fiction. Born on January, 19, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. Second child of actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. May have been named after William Shakespeare’s play “King Lear” in 1809. His Father and Mother died when he was 3 years old. He was taken as a foster child Scottish merchant (John Allan and Frances) in Richmond, Virginia.
- 3. Attended boarding schooland later to University of Virginia. After on year he was forced to leave university due to gambling debts. Poe returned to Richmond in 1820 but his relation with Allan deteriorated. 1824, joined Richmond Youth honor guard as lieutenant. In 1825, Allan’s uncle and Business benefactor William Galt died by leaving money and real estate whose inheritance was estimated $750,000. In 1825, Allan purchased home named Maldovia.
- 4. In 1826 ,he engaged with Sarah Elmira before being registered at university. In 1827, he was expelled from university due to gambling debts. In 1827, got as a clerk and a newspaper writer. Military Career….. In 1827, entitled in US Army by using the name (Edgar A. Perry). First served in Fort Independence in Boston for 5 dollars a month.
- 5. In 1827, hepublished his first collection of poems “Tamerlane and other poems). After serving for 2 years , he attained the rank of “Sergeant Major for Artillery”. In 1829, Frances Allan died. In 1829, he published his second collection of poems “Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems” In US Military Academy he was forced to leave for lack of financial support. He moved into the home of his aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia in Baltimore, Maryland.
- 6. In 1831, hepublished his third collection of poems named “Poems”. Publishing Career…. In 1835, he became editor of the “Southern Literary Messenger” in Richmond. In1836, he returned Baltimore and married his cousin Virginia. He was 26 and she was 16. In 1839, he became editor of “Burton’s Gentleman’s Magzine”. He also worked as assistant at “Graham’s Magzine”.
- 7. He also edited“The Broadway Journal” in New York City. In 3 years he established himself as a poet, short story writer and an editor. He published “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Raven”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “ The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. In 1842, Virginia, first showed signs of consumption (known as Tuberculosis). In 1847, his wife died of Tuberculosis. He then addicted to alcoholism due to depression.
- 8. In 1849, returnedto Richmond and then set up for editing job in Philadelphia. For Unknown Reasons stayed in Baltimore. October,3,1849, he was found in state of semi- consciousness. Four days later , died of “acute congestion of brain”. Medical evidences says that he was suffering from Rabies. And by this way his story came to an end.
- 9. Poems… Tamerlane and otherPoems (1827) Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems.(1829) Poems(1831) The Raven and other poems (1845) Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848). Fiction… Berenice (1835)
- 10. Ligeia (1838) The Fallof the House of Usher (1839) Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) The Black Cat (1843) The Tell-Tale Heart (1843) The Oval Portrait(1850).
- 11. Claustrophobic nature. Fictitious gravityof the medieval romance. Ambiguity that blurs the real and the fantastic. Mysteriously trapped by the lure of Roderick’s attraction. Gothic mastermind that controls the fate of its inhabitants. Wrote letter to his boyhood friend Rpderick’s Usher (feeling physically and emotionally ill). Spooky edifice of the mansion.
- 12. Roderick is palerand energetically weak. Suffering from nerves (senses). Afraid of his own house . Madeline ( Roderick’s sister suffering from Catalepsy). Try to uplifts Roderick’s spirit but fails. Roderick’s posits his theory that the house is unhealthy itself. Madeline dies , he decides to preserve her into a coffin. Madeline rosy cheeks. A stormy night.
- 13. An illuminating gassurrounds the house. “ Mad Trist” by “ Sir Launcelot Canning”. As he reads, he hears the noises. He ignores at first as the vagaries of imagination. Later Roderick slumped from his chair and muttering to himself. He thinks that they had buried Madeline alive and now she is trying to escape from the coffin. He becomes afraid of that.
- 14. As the doorcracks , she attacks Roderick , and fell into Roderick, he dies of fear. Narrator flees from the house. The house cracks and crumbles to the ground.
- 15. Quintessential – featuresof the Gothic tale (a haunted house, dreary landscape, mysterious sickness and doubled personality). Inclement weather and barren landscape. The narrator doesn't know the fact that Roderick has a twin sister.). Poe urges us to indentify / question the reason behind to contact the reason his boyhood friend. The house is gloomy and mysterious )seems to have a absorbed evil and diseased atmosphere from the decaying trees and murky pounds around it).
- 16. Small cracks fromroof to the ground. Roderick sent his letter to his assistance. He arrives at his house. Poe employs the word “house” metaphorically not the narrator get trapped inside the mansion but also we learns that this confinement describe the biological fate of the Usher family. Claustrophobia of the mansion affects the relation among characters(Mandeline and Roderick are twin).
- 17. As they weretwin so they do not develop individually. Madeline is buries and his similarity to Roderick is coffin that holds her identity. Catalepsy – nineteenth century literature. Madeline possesses the power ( super - human) as she breaks out of coffin. She thus counter act Roderick , weak , nervous , and immobile disposits. She attacks Roderick because of her biological nature / condition.
- 18. Some narrators arguesthat Madeline doesn’t even exist, reducing her to a shared figment Roderick and narrator imagination. But she proves the symmetrical and claustrophobic nature of the tale. Doubling spread throughout the story (the doppelganger or character double, and portrays doubling inanimate structures and literary forms. Narrator witness house as a tarn, shallow pool that abusts the front of the house.
- 19. Numerous allusion andother literary works. “The Haunted Palace” and “Mad Trist”. Poe composed himself and the narrator into his own domain and bring it to9 his life. “Usher” refers not only to the mansion and the family, but also to the act of crossing a – threshold that brings the narrator into the preserve world of Roderick and Madeline. Characters cannot move and act freely in the house because of its structure , so it assumes the monstrous character of it own.
- 20. And at theend the Madeline fall onto Roderick and he dies of fear… e narrator is mysteriously trapped by the lure of Roderick attraction, and he cannot escape the house of Usher collapses Completely….