论厄舍屋的倒塌(英文).doc

The Setting，Characters and Plot of The Fall of the House of Usher The Fall of the House of Usher is a typical gothic novel. Gothic novel is one branch of the English literature and the father of horror movies. In this novel, it touches some gothic elements including horror, mystery, death, haunted house and sort of family curse. The author Edgar Allen Poe is a famous American writer, who is considered as one of the three giants of American horror novelists, together with Howard Philip Lovecraft and Ambrose Bierce. He had a miserable family life. His father abandoned the family at his early age and his mother died at the age of 24. He himself was addicted to alcohol and finally died of it. A century and a half after his death, he became the one American author whose name is known to virtually everyone. As a gothic novel, the environmental feature of this novel is very important. Viewing the whole story, we can see that the author tried to establish a rather bleak, haunted and horrible background. Through the opening part of the novel, ---during the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day, in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hang oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher --- by autumn, sunset, black clouds and the wilderness, the author started to create a grave atmosphere. Afterwards he continued to do so in order to make the environment as charnel as it could be. Especially as the story came to the end, when Madeline appeared at the door at night. And this kind of setting certainly is good for the development of the story and could catch the readers’ attention effectively. In this story, there are just 3 characters---the main character Usher, his sister Madeline and the narrator. It requires more skill to develop a attracting story with less characters, because the