Richard Usher Analysis

In this passage, after Richard Usher speaks his fears aloud, they are realized. “As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell” implies that rather than the next event being what happens after, it is the direct aftermath, a result of cause and effect. This is a call back to the recurring theme of the supernatural being related to speech, like when the narrator read to Usher and each piece of imagery in the story manifested in the real world. The age of the “...antique panels to which the speaker pointed” resonates in the repeated emphasis of the House’s history and how neither the human components, nor the physical building has aged well. . The doors seem to respond to his claims, implying Usher aeffects the …show more content…
The house is once again personified, having widening jaws, as if it might consume them.The diction used in this vivid imagery implies things are happening both very slowly and very fast, is if this were a long time coming. This implication creates a mood of dread. Once again, “the work of the rushing gust” shows personification, but in this case it isn’t the house, but the weather taking on the humanlike qualities. It returns to the contrast between things happening very fast and very slowly at the same time. The literal house is replaced by the figurative house, lady Madeline, a member and a symbol of the family, the House of Usher, when “...without those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the lady Madeline of Usher.” The words “lofty” and “enshrouded” describe her, evoke a mood of fear and dread of a tall and imposing figure that is hidden from full view. This gives her a supernatural quality, much like that of the physical house. The “blood upon her white robes” emphasizes the contrast between the colors, evoking strong imagery and furthering the mood of fear and