The Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher by Poe Essay Example

In his stories, Edgar A. Poe uses his main character as a first-person narrator to heighten  suspense and draw readers into the character’s situation. It also gives readers a clear deep view of the character’s thoughts and provides an additional layer of depth to his stories, making the readers feel more connected to the main character. He began his career as a poet but began to seriously write in a gothic style. He is well known for “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Poe’s major element of gothic literature is the user of abnormal physiological behavior.

First, In “The Tell-Tale Heart” Poe creates a frightening atmosphere traditional to gothic  literature. He chooses dark and depressing words which creates a dreary mood for the reader. In this story, Poe uses supernatural elements and creates a murky and chilling atmosphere that corresponds to the characters behavior and thinking. This story symbolizes the narrator’s guilt over what he did.

Second, In “The Fall of the House of Usher” taking place in an old house, he includes a man’s psychological terror to show the process of decay and annihilation of the human mind.  This relates to the man’s guilt and remorse after burying his twin sister while she is still alive. In this story, the narrator begins claiming that he can hear spirits which relates to the sounds of mortal terror. This symbolizes family isolation, and the feeling of impending doom. Going into another work of his “The Raven” It is set on a dreamy December night with a sorrowful narrator. He begins going mad due to a raven and it’s repeating phrase “Nevermore.” This brings him to an extreme guilt about his late wife Lenore who he won’t see again. He calls the raven “evil” and a “prophet” showing he thinks of this raven as some kind of devil and claims it will haunt him for the rest of eternity. Really it is his continuous grief over the loss of Lenore.

Taking an outlook onto all the works Poe has made, what makes him special throughout all his stories is his insisting theme of death and decay of either the mind or the body. Sure, he  includes all of the basic gothic literature elements like the settings, weather, plots, but by  focusing on the importance of the character’s mindset, he is able to create an alluring fear and dark mood for the reader.