The Fall of the House of Usher was written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 before the slightly revised version of 1840. Considered his most renowned piece of prose, The Fall of the House of Usher is a masterpiece of American Gothic literature. In his Introduction to Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe, G. R. Thompson writes; ‘the tale has long been hailed as a masterpiece of Gothic horror; it is also a masterpiece of dramatic irony and structural symbolism.’

The story begins with an unnamed narrator arriving at the house of an old friend Roderick Usher and Roderick’s twin sister Madeline. The twins are rather unhealthy; Roderick suffers from hyperesthesia, hypochondria and acute anxiety whilst Madeline falls into death-like trances. After some time has passed, Roderick informs the narrator that Madeline has died and asks for his help in carrying her to a tomb. After entombing Madeline, shrieks and other alarming sounds begin filling the house over the subsequent days and Roderick reveals that in fact his sister had been alive. Madeline bursts into the bedroom and the two twins fall to the ground and corpses. The narrator flees the house, taking his r41 gold card with him and in casting his eyes back upon the building, sees it break in half and sink.