grey sedge", "ghastly tree stems" and, the "vacant and eye-like windows" to describe the reflected picture (Poe in Roberts, 2000). Then the attention of the readers is directed to the "barely perceptible fissure" that zigzags from top to bottom of the house, eventually becoming "lost in the sullen waters of the tarn" (Poe in Roberts, 2000, p. 19). Here Poe sets the stage for what is to come.
Once introduced into the house, the protagonist continues to feel increasingly oppressed because of the atmosphere of the house and its tenants. The valet has a "stealthy step". The interior of the house is depicted as dark and gloomy. The physician has a "mingled expression of low-cunning and perplexity." Most importantly, Roderick Usher is portrayed much as the house is at the beginning. At first glance he is healthy and has a "vivacious warmth", yet upon further study he is seen as feverish and having a "cadaverousness of complexion" (Poe in Roberts, 2000).
The protagonist learns that his host's sister is ill and will certainly die. Usher believes that he will soon die afterwards: "I must perish in this folly . . .I dread the events of the future...I feel that the period will sooner or later arrive when I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR" (Poe in Roberts, 2000, p. 20). In a sense, the protagonist has been invited to partake in a deathwatch of sorts, presumably for both sister and brother -- the last of the House of Usher.
The tension builds as a growing gloom in the mind of both the protagonist and his host. They spend time together reading, painting and composing music. Poe uses Von Weber (18th Century German composer known for his romantic and emotional compositions (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2000)) and Fuseli (18th Century painter best known for the "The Nightmare" (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000)) to describe how Usher plays his music and paints his pictures ...