In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," by Edgar Allen Poe, setting and symbolism are used to effectively convey ideas, effects, and images in order to establish mood, foreshadowing and characterization.

Poe uses the setting to create a macabre atmosphere in the reader's mind. For example, Usher's house, its windows, bricks, and dungeon are all used to make a dismal atmosphere. The "white trunks of decayed trees," the "black and lurid tarn," and the "vacant, eyelike windows" contribute to the collective atmosphere of dispair and anguish. This is done with words such as 'black', 'lurid', 'decayed', and 'vacant'. The narrator states that the Usher mansion had "an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven." Poe's meticulous choice of words creates a very effective atmosphere in the story.

Another way Poe uses setting is to foreshadow events in the story. Roderick Usher's mansion is one example of this. There is a "barely perceptible fissure" in the masonry. It is the small crack in "The House of Usher" which the narrator defines as "both the family and the family mansion." This foreshadows an e

In the "The Masque of Red Death", Poe uses heavy symbolism throughout the story to convey his underlying theme: the inevitability of death and the futility of trying to escape death. This is further evident through Poe's usage of setting and characterization.

The prince's name, Prospero, generally denotes happiness and prosperity. The Prince possesses these characteristics yet is faced with a plague that he desperately attempting to avoid. This oxymoron is used to hint that this man of exuberance will soon be faced with tragedy. The fires in each of the suite rooms serve as a representation of death. Poe depicts them to be "a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that projected its rays through tinted glass..." but in the western or black chamber, the effect of the firelight upon the dark hangings through the blood tinted panes was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances of those who enter it that there are few...bold enough to set foot within it". The description is meant to produce a mysterious atmosphere in the west in contrast to a propitious one in the east. This can relate to the pattern of the sun's movement. The sunrise in the east represents light and new life for the day. However, !

, and music he plays all reveal his personality. He played "long improvised dirges" on the guitar. The narrator describes his paintings as "phantasmagoric", which means they are filled with haphazard streams of imagery. The books he reads are about death, magic, mysticism, the occult, and torture. His favorite is a book of vigils for the dead. All these things show that Usher is perhaps unstable and obsessed with the macabre.

being a term generally referring to death. In addition, the windowpanes are "scarlet--a deep

Poe is highly successful in showing the importance of symbolism to visualize death. His creative meanings behind the aforementioned objects in the story further his reinforce theme of death's inevitability.

In conclusion, through "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Red Masque of Death", Edgar Allen Poe is able to use literary de

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)