The Fall of the House of Usher
|About the Author | Summary | Glossary | Literary Techniques | Reason for Usher Death | Study Guides | Creative Writing|Quiz |
Quick facts about the Author by Fatima
The info about Edgar Allen Poe is taken from: http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/poe/Bio.html
Picture taken from: www.coolattractions.com/ Permanent/Poe.html
Edgar Allen Poe was born in 1809 to parents David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins
His parents were both touring actors and died before he was 3 years old
His first novel was entitled Tamerlane and was printed in 1827
His other pieces he was known for were Al Aaraaf, To Helen, and Israfel
He is best known for his poems and short fictions
He is also known for transforming his short stories to art from anecdote
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Summary for The Fall of the House of Usher by Fatima
The story begins with the narrator receiving a letter from his boyhood friend, Roderick Usher, begging that he come to him. Usher wrote in the letter that he was suffering from a terrible mental and bodily illness, and had longed for the companionship of "his only personal friend". The request seemed so heartfelt that the narrator immediately set out for Usher's ancestral home. Approaching the house, he saw an ivy-covered, old house that was overwhelmed with gloom and depression.
When he reached the house, Usher looked equally shut in, pallid skin like that of a corpse, lustrous eyes, and long hair that seemed to float about his head. Usher wasn't in the house alone because the narrator caught a glimpse of his friend's twin sister, Madeline, who bore a resemblance to Roderick. It then became evident that Roderick and Madeline shared an almost supernatural bond. That very night after Madeline went to bed it was the last night the narrator saw her alive. For weeks the narrator tried to distract his depressed friend. They talked, painted, and read together. Then one day Usher announced that Madeline was dead and that he was going to entomb her body in the house's dungeon instead of burying her.
During the week that followed Madeline's death, a change came over Usher. Then one late night when the narrator was unable to sleep, Usher dashed into his room with an evil look in his eyes. His friend tried to calm him down by reading a medieval romance book. While reading he thought he heard the same noises that was being portrayed in the novel. Usher then made an announcement that he buried his sister alive. He said that all week he had listen to her stirring in her coffin.
At that moment, the door swung open and there stood Madeline with blood all over her. At that moment, he ran out of the house with great speed and glanced back. What he saw was unbelievable, the house was ripping up into pieces and was disappearing into the dark lake that was surrounding it.
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Glossary for The Fall of the House of Usher by Chen
1. desolate - Dreary; dismal.
2. precipitous - Resembling a precipice; extremely steep.
3. ghastly- Inspiring shock, revulsion, or horror by or as if by suggesting death; terrifying.
4. proprietor - One who owns or owns and manages a business or other such establishment.
5. recognisable- possible to recognize.
6. equivocal - Open to two or more interpretations and often intended to mislead; ambiguous.
7. appellation - an identifying name or title.
8. discernible- Perceptible, as by the faculty of vision or the intellect.
9. dilapidation - to bring into a condition of decay or partial ruin.
10. antiquity - Ancient times, especially the times preceding the Middle Ages.
11. scrutinizing - To examine or observe with great care; inspect critically.
12. phantasmagoric - an exhibition or display of optical effects and illusions.
13. armorial – relating to, or bearing heraldic arms.
14. cordiality - Serving to invigorate; stimulating.
15. pallid - Lacking intensity of color or luminousness.
16. prominence - The quality or condition of being prominent.
17. arabesque - A ballet position in which the dancer bends forward while standing on one straight leg with the arm extended forward and the other arm and leg extended backward.
18. enunciation - To pronounce; articulate.
19. guttural - Of or relating to the throat.
20. emaciation – to cause to lose flesh so as to become very thin.
21. succumbed - To submit to an overpowering force or yield to an overwhelming desire; give up or give in.
22. educe - To assume or work out from given facts; deduce.
23. rhapsodies - Exalted or excessively enthusiastic expression of feeling in speech or writing.
24. prolixity - Tending to speak or write at excessive length.
25. obstinate - Stubbornly adhering to an attitude, opinion, or course of action
26. melancholy - Sadness or depression of the spirits; gloom
27. bleak - Providing no encouragement; depressing
28. reveler – someone who is engaged in noisy partying or merrymaking.
29. importunate – troublesomely urgent
30. insoluble – not able to be solve or explain.
31. tarn – a small steep-blanked mountain lake or pool.
32. annihilate – to destroy
33. sojourn – temporary stay
34. munificent – very liberal in giving or bestowing.
35. collateral – accompanying as secondary or subordinate.
36. patrimony – an estate inherited from one's father or ancestor.
37. trepidation - a tremendous motion.
38. gossamer – film of cob weds floating in air in calm clear weather.
39. abhorrence – to regard with extreme repugnance
40. deplorable - Worthy of severe condemnation or reproach.
41. ennui - Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest
42. abeyance – temporary inactivity
43. incubus – one that oppresses or burden like a nightmare.
44. impetuous – a person who don't normally think on impulse.
45. commingled – to mix together.
46. reeling – stink smell
47. miasma – vaporous exhalation formerly believed to cause disease.
48. donjon – a massive inner tower in a medieval castle.
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Literary Techniques for The Fall of the House of Usher by ShengYing
1. During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year-Alliteration
2. During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year-Imagery
3. Upon the vacant eye-like windows-Simile
4. When I again uplifted my eyes to the house itself, from its image in the pool, there grew in my mind a strange fancy --a fancy so ridiculous-Paradox
5. Decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn --a pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued. -Imagery
6. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. -Metaphor
7. His action was alternately vivacious and sullen. His voice varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision (when the animal spirits seemed utterly in abeyance) to that species of energetic concision --that abrupt, weighty, unhurried, -Oxymoron
8. He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses;-Oxymoron
9. An eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin-Imagery
10. Hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity-Simile
11. The bitter lapse into everyday life-the hideous dropping off of the reveller upon opium --the bitter lapse into everyday life --the hideous dropping off of the veil. -Repetition
12. In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old wood-work which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air. -Personification
13. She succumbed (as her brother told me at night with inexpressible agitation) to the prostrating power of the destroyer; - Metaphor
14. We painted and read together; or I listened, as if in a dream, to the wild improvisations of his speaking guitar. – Personification
15. The more bitterly did I perceive the futility of all attempt at cheering a mind from which darkness, as if an inherent positive quality, poured forth upon all objects of the moral and physical universe, in one unceasing radiation of gloom. - Simile
16. I will not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the stair case, on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution. —Flashback
17. The disease which had thus entombed the lady in the maturity of youth, had left, as usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character, the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death. —Imagery
18. "And you have not seen it?" he said abruptly, after having stared about him for some moments in silence --"you have not then seen it? —Repetition
19. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; --Personification
20. But the under surfaces of the huge masses of agitated vapour, as well as all terrestrial objects immediately around us, were glowing in the unnatural light of a faintly luminous and distinctly visible gaseous exhalation which hung about and enshrouded the mansion. —Imagery
21. And the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. --Simile
22. And the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. --Simile
23. Of the dark and tattered draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising tempest, swayed fitfully to and fro upon the walls, and rustled uneasily about the decorations of the bed. –Personification
24. His countenance was, as usual, cadaverously wan --but, moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity in his eyes --an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanour. –Imagery
25. His countenance was, as usual, cadaverously wan --but, moreover, there was a species of mad hilarity in his eyes --an evidently restrained hysteria in his whole demeanour. –Repetition
26. The impetuous fury of the entering gust nearly lifted us from our feet. –Personification
27. It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. –Oxymoron
28. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the life-like velocity with which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance. –Imagery
29. The antique volume which I had taken up was the "Mad Trist" of Sir Launcelot Canning; but I had called it a favourite of Usher's more in sad jest than in earnest; --Oxymoron
30. Made quickly room in the plankings of the door for his gauntleted hand; and now pulling there-with sturdily, he so cracked, and ripped, and tore all asunder, that the noise of the dry and hollow-sounding wood alarumed and reverberated throughout the forest. --Onomatopoeia
31. It was, beyond doubt, the coincidence alone which had arrested my attention; for, amid the rattling of the sashes of the casements, and the ordinary commingled noises of the still increasing storm. --Onomatopoeia
32. Which in sooth tarried not for his full coming, but fell down at his feet upon the silver floor, with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound." --Onomatopoeia
33. I rushed to the chair in which he sat. His eyes were bent fixedly before him, and throughout his whole countenance there reigned a stony rigidity. --Repetition
34. But, as I placed my hand upon his shoulder, there came a strong shudder over his whole person; a sickly smile quivered about his lips; --Oxymoron
35. Long –long --long --many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it –yet I dared not --oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! --Repetition
36. Long—long—long –many minutes, many hours, many days, have I heard it -yet I dare not –oh, pity me, miserable wretch that I am! –Onomatopoeia
37. I dared not--I dared not speak! --Repetition
38. I heard them --many, many days ago! --Repetition
39. And now --to-night--Ethelred --ha! ha! --Onomatopoeia
40. MADMAN!" here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul --"MADMAN! I TELL YOU THAT SHE NOW STANDS WITHOUT THE DOOR!" –Repetition
41. While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened --there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind. --Personification
42. The windows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so vast a distance from the black oaken floor as to be altogether inaccessible from within. --Imagery
43. A small picture presented the interior of an immensely long and rectangular vault or tunnel, with low walls, smooth, white, and without interruption or device. --Imagery
44. In the greenest of our valleys,
By good angels tenanted, --Metaphor
45. Radiant palace --reared its head.
In the monarch Thought's dominion
It stood there! --Personification
46. Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow; --Imagery
47. Wanderers in that happy valley --Metaphor
48. A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty
Was but to sing, --Allusion
49. Round about a throne, where sitting (Porphyrogene!) --Allusion
50. Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair. --Allusion
51. In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A winged odour went away.
--Contrasting image
And, round about his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.
52. The story is told from the first person point of view. –Point of View
53. The setting of the story is autumn, in Usher’s house. –Setting
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Reason for Usher Death
Reason for Usher's Death by ShengYing
The bond between brother and sister is unbreakable; it is even stronger within twins like Usher and Madeline. Imagine one day if your beloved one was being killed, and ironically, you are the one who kill her/him for some specific reason, how would you feel? You are left alone in this world, regretting for what you did and lamenting the loss of your love for the rest of your life. Is that what you want your life be like? The same concept applies to Usher. Madeline is his only sister and also the only family he left with, however he killed her. Maybe because she’s always sick, that life is such a suffering to her, Usher just can’t stand watching his sister suffers, therefore he killed her. He thought it’s the best for her. However, his conscience keeps blaming him for doing such terrible thing. To relieve his conscience, he chooses to die. Life is no point of him anymore, after the death of her sister. Its totally fills with sadness, grieves, loneliness, and bitter regrets. What’s the point for him to live? Therefore why not go with Madeline?
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Study Guide 1 | Study Guide 2 | Study Guide 3 | Study Guide 4
1. Tenuity: Some parts of the United States are over populated, however others are in the state of tenuity.
2. Arabesque: Her clothing is full of Arabesque style.
3. Phantasms: He always lives in his own phantasm that never paid attention to any other things happened around him.
4. Gossamer: The gossamer wings of the dragonfly are like the lightest thing in the world.
5. Trepidancy: His trepidancy had showed us that he’s very nervous.
6. Tremulous: We could see he’s very nervous with his tremulous hands.
7. Insipid: The insipid performance of the symphony makes me falling asleep.
8. Anomalous: He is in an anomalous position as the only part time worker in the company.
9. Deplorable: Because of his deplorable attitude toward teachers, he’s often being call to the dean’s office.
10. Abhorrence: I have an abhorrence of war, because I don’t believe in violence is the way of solving problem.
11. Abeyance: The baseball game will definitely be in an abeyance due to the terrible weather.
12. Concision: I only want the concise summary of this article, don’t make it too long.
13. Ennui: since losing his job, he is often experienced a profound sense of ennui.
14. Equivocal: Philosophers always give us equivocal answers and we have no way to figure them out.
15. Dint: She succeeded by her dint of hard work.
16. Ghastly: He’s the most ghastly man in our neighborhood that no one had actually wanted to talk to him.
17. Sojourn: He sojourned with a friend during his vocation for two weeks.
18. Bleak: We hardly see people on streets during bleak winter days.
19. Stupor: He’s still in a drunken stupor since last night’s party.
20. Apathy: The extreme poverty had reduced them to a state of apathy.
21. Dirge: The mournful dirge was sing by a famous singer during his funeral.
22. Transient: Their happiness was to be sadly transient.
23. Emaciated: She becomes very emaciated after the long illness.
24. Palpable: How could you make such palpable error on your test?
25. Tempestuous: The tempestuous flood had killed hundreds of people in one night.
By ShengYing
In medieval times a donjon was used for captivity for people who broke the law.Some people consider doing taxes as an incubus.
The boy’s impetuous movement toward his peer was very disturbing to the people around him.
The exhalation that surrounded the building was very bizarre.
The miasma air in the boy’s bathroom was bad for the people who entered.
The prolixity of the sport announcer was very confusing to the fans.
A person who makes sandwiches with there feet is considering one of the anomalies of the world.
Pain in the boy’s life always seemed commingled.
The fisherman was reeling his fish from out the lake.
There was a fissure from the roof down to the base of the abandon building.
1.
Q: What are the connections between Roderick and the
house in which he lives?
Answer: The connection between Roderick and the house in which he lives is his
last name and the name of the estate.
2.
Q: What comparisons between the facade of the House of
Usher and a human face does the narrator make? What overall quality does the
facade/face possess?
Answer: The comparisons between the façade of the House of Usher and a
human face are the vacant eye like windows. The overall quality of the
façade/face is the scariness of it.
3.
Q: The narrator felt that, if he could just rearrange the
features of the House of Usher’s facade and landscape, the picture would be less
threatening. Why?
Answer: The features of the House of Usher’s façade and landscape if
rearrange would be less threatening because then the features would look more
abandoned as oppose to evil and mysterious.
4.
Q: What does Usher suffer from?
Answer: Usher had a morbid acuteness of the senses, which he eyes were
tortured with the faintest of light, musical instruments with the exception of
certain stringed instruments (guitar), he could only endure insipid food and
wear only garments of certain texture and the effect of the house it self.
5.
Q: How are the House and the family tied together?
Answer: The house and family are tied together by the last name and the
name of the estate.
6.
Q: Is it the world which makes him mad or his madness
which makes the world unbearable?
If the former, what about the world serves to madden us?
Answer: It is his madness which makes the world unbearable. There are a
lot of things in the world that can madden us an example of this would be the
lost of a loved one.
7.
Q: What does Usher fear will make him mad? Is it
reasonable to fear this?
Answer: Due the condition of Usher, he fears if he encounters with
something that agitates his soul he will perish. I think it’s reasonable to
fear this because of the state his in.
8.
Q: How does the description of Madeline's disease offer
foreshadowing?
Answer: The description of Madeline’s disease offer foreshadowing
because as you become more depth into the story you realize the horrible mistake
that was made before it was actually told.
9.
Q: What foreshadowing is present in this poem, but most
especially present in this stanza?
Answer: Foreshadowing that is present in this poem is the description of
the Lady Madeline’s disease. Another example was the description of the
features of the house especially the fissure. Another example is the coinciding
sounds the speaker described in the story and the sounds he heard.
10.
Q: "disordered fancy" and "kingdom of in organization":
why are these key phrases? What does the mind desperately seek but cannot find?
What evidence exists here to suggest that the narrator is growing mad?
Answer: These are key phrases because it conveys the idea of how Roderick
Usher can’t distinguish reality from fantasy. What the mind desperately seek
but cannot find is why the house of Usher unnerved the speaker so much. Some
evidence is “I endeavored to believe that much, if not all of what I felt, was
due to the bewildering influence of the gloomy furniture of the dark and
tattered draperies, which, tortured into motion by the breath of a rising
tempest.”
11.
Q: What happens in the reading of the story to excite the
wild imagination of the narrator? "I did actually hear..." Why is this a key
passage?
Answer: The coinciding sounds the speaker described in the story and
the sound he heard excited his wild imagination. This is a key passage because
it proves he actually heard the sound as described in the story.
12.
Q: What is interesting about Usher calling the narrator a
madman?
Answer: What is interesting is the way how he says it as if he
was giving up his soul and why he calls him this.
13.
Q: Why is "DID" italicized?
Answer: DID is italicized to emphasize a key point.
14.
Q: Think for a few minutes about the role of the
narrator, a childhood friend of Usher's. Is he necessary to the action of the
story? How would the story be different if narrated from Usher's viewpoint? From
Madeline's?
Answer: The narrator role is very important to the action of the story. If
the story was from the point view of Usher I don’t even think it would make
sense because of his morbid acuteness. However, if was from the point of view
of Madeline it wouldn’t be as detailed because of her disorder.
15.
Q: What is the narrator's attitude towards Madeline?
Answer: The narrator’s attitude towards Madeline was very cautious.
16.
Q: Usher invited his childhood friend for a visit so that
he might be cheered up. Does that work?
Answer: What activities do the two engage in? It was unsuccessful to cheer
Usher up; however, they did art projects, read literature and recited poetry.
17.
Q: Does Madeline have connections to the house in the
same way that her brother does? Why or why not?
Answer: I think Madeline has the same connections to the house as her
brother because Roderick and Madeline have a special bond and are very similar
in features so it would be only relevant if they have the same bond towards the
house.
18.
Q: Does the narrator change in any way during the story?
Does Usher? Does Madeline?
Answer: The narrator does change in story because at the beginning of the
story the house’s presences really agitated him but as he stayed he began to
develop some what of a tolerance for the gloominess. Usher doesn’t change in
the story but reveals more of him as the story moves on. Madeline does not
change.
19.
Q: How does the quoted ballad relate to the story?
Answer: The quoted balled is the key point to why the house of usher is in
that condition and why things are the way they are now.
20.
Q: Describe, in a few words or phrases, the sort of
material Usher likes to read?
Answer: Usher likes to read rare and wildly imaginative books.
21.
Q: What effect did burying Madeline have on Usher?
Answer: Some effects Usher received from burying Madeline were nervousness
and oppressiveness as if he was carrying a secret. He also couldn’t settle
down, Usher wondered from chamber to chamber as if he was hearing voices.
22.
Q: Describe the weather on the final night. How does that
contribute to the story's theme? What is the story's theme?
Answer: The weather on the final night was mysterious and peculiar. A
fog or some type of vapor surrounded the house of usher and a gust of wind
created a draft in the house of usher. This contributes to the theme because
this creates a frightening and morbid effect. The story’s theme is confiding
with a childhood friend who has a disorder, living in a mysterious mansion.
23.
Q: Does the story about Ethelred that the narrator reads
to Usher relate in any way to what is actually happening?
Answer: The story about Ethelred that the narrator reads to Usher does
relate to what is actually happening.
24.
Q: Is the ending appropriate? How does the ending tie the
story back to its title? Consider these questions and raise your own as
you discuss this story.
Answer: I think the ending is very appropriate because it ends at a climax
leaving the rest to the reader’s imagination. The ending ties the story back to
its title by describing the outcome of the estate and the tenants hence the
House of Usher.
25.
Q: In Summary: What five elements contribute to the
author's madness?
Answer: The five elements that contributed to author’s madness are: theme,
characterization, structure, point of view and imagery.
By Jeffrey
1. Roderick’s spirits are being brought down by the sadness and feeling of melancholy
that the house gives off.
2. For much time after his death, his wife felt desolate.
3. The doctors wore a bleak expression when they delivered their diagnosis.
4. Because Katherine is quite a reveller, her parents try to protect her by bidding her to
stay home.
5. Some people are importunate about everyday things.
6. Aught could cause her to become angry.
7. Loneliness can be a very pestilent feeling.
8. Both sides are engaged in a strong grapple.
9. UFOs are an insoluble phenomenon.
10. A great example or a precipitous geographical feature is mountains such as Mt.
Everest.
12. The horses are tied to the tree near the tarn.
13. Consequential reasoning requires that you do not annihilate your actions.
14. The house gives off a very ghastly aura.
15. Allen was made comfortable during his sojourn to Massachusetts.
By Josefina
1. The theory the scientist thought up was palpable.
2. The character was struck with the feeling of stupor when he found out his parents were getting a divorce.
3. Lack of nutrition could cause emaciation.
4. A theory of present day man is that to keep a body in cataleptically could stop the aging of the body.
5. Going to a teacher office without permission is transient.
6. The character in the story was characterized of being apathy.
7. The officer asked the culprit to be prostrated.
8. The doctor alleviates the pain of his patients.
9. The actors needed great improvisation skills to get a great job.
10. The fires that had cover the forest was describe as sulphureous.
11. People usually appreciated dirges after the person passed away.
12. The doctor was a hypochondriac and refuses to diagnose other disease, that's why we went to get a second opinion.
13. The archeologist excavation of the site was completed.
14. I sometimes struck with reveries when I am bored.
15. My friend gets very vagary when he loses his temper.
By Chen
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A parody by Dominique
The shutters of the window swayed violently in the gusty winds. As the low and dark moon peered faintly through the naked tree branches casting a shadow on the bleak bedroom wall, Mary lay asleep. The opening and shutting released her from this oppressed state. The panting, glossy broad eyes, and beads of sweat that now raced down her face exposed the terror which now resided in her heart. She lay motionless for a moment, consciously trying to decide whether or not she was trapped in a dream or now in reality. Slowly she arose from her sweat drenched bed and lit a candle adding to the collection of wax which had already formed around it.
Climbing back into bed Mary pondered in search of methods that would return her to her unconscious state. Nearing the thirtieth sheep that had unsuccessfully tried to jump over the fence, Mary who was now suspended between that of fear and sheer aggravation, headed to the kitchen for a warm glass of milk. As she crept down the stairs they each played a note of an eerie screech. Not wanting to make any more noise Mary paused and in that moment her surroundings tapped into her psyche, the dark and endless tunnel of the stairwell and the cool breeze which now played on the nape of her neck like tiny fingers fondling the hairs; sent the blood flowing through her body awaking the terror which now resided in her heart. Mary's fear was inevitable and was distinctly heard in the unsteadiness of the notes which played on the wooden stairs.
Upon her arrival to the kitchen Mary took a sigh of relief which subsided but did not relinquish the fearful beating of her heart. Sitting on the barstool, perched above the table with her glass of milk making its way down her throat , Mary spotted a spider through the half empty and half cloudy base of the glass. The mere sight of the creature sent an unpleasant tingling sensation up her spine. Her senses somehow found themselves vicariously living through the table and each step it took, the invisible impressions in her skin mimicked. Sucking the last bit of soothing liquid out of the glass, Mary placed the cylinder slightly above the spider, subconsciously giving the creature the option for its life. The spider, ignorant to the act of "compassion" Mary was displaying , did not take heed and motionlessly sat. Feeling as though she had given the spider a fair chance she forcefully lowered the glass onto the spider ceasing to beat of its heart. As the droplets of milk began to settle at the base of the glass you could faintly see the dark now flattened bodied of the once scurrying creature.
Mary now with a new reassure departed from the kitchen, she stare at the dark, long, and narrow stairs she began to feel a racing of her blood not as intense as before but enough to awake the terror which was now residing in her heart. Mary hurriedly made her way up the stairs filling the air with a cluster of notes from the wooden stairs. With her hand clasping that of the threshold Mary paced her breathing trying to appease the roaring blood which passed through her veins.
Mary now lay face up with her eyes prowling the room. The candle which was now in the final hours of its life, projected its wild flames across the wall bending the shadow with each sharp angle. Marry pulled the blanket under her chin and closed her eyes in attempt to shut all mind provoking images that surrounded her. As she reclined into a relaxed state, her legs gave way to a feeling that began to exposed the terror that now reside in her heart. The light and heated feeling of hands tracing the outline of Mary's petite body, this faint feeling sent the blood pulsating through every corner of her body. Mary lay motionless almost as to wait for the coming actions. The shutters flashed itself open crashing into the walls making a clanking sound, this started Mary but she did not flinch or move for her body was paralyzed by some invisible force that tightly grasped the fabric that cover her. Mary's breath grew heavier as she tried to move but was stuck in this state she lay there peering up at the illuminated ceiling, blinking and moving the tips of her fingers. Stretching her eyes to the limit Mary spotted a black dot which revealed itself like a sore thumb, this mysterious figure captured her attention and forced her to watch its every move.
The figure slowly began to lower itself on a thin and web-like wire. As it drew nearer and nearer the blood of Mary's body raced, awaking the terror which now resided in her heart. Still, she lay motionless and under the spell of the blanket; as the figure got closer and her eyes let up on false figures she saw a small creature who was well in deformity. In that instant she realized it was the helpless spider she had so recently robbed of its life.
Panic began to set in, the beat of her heart raced faster and faster awaking the terror that now resided in her heart. Mary lay as this creature drew nearer and nearer with every passing moment. The spider now rested on the tip of Mary's nose, slowly it made its way to the bridge. The beating of Mary's heart now rang on the walls vibrating them with every thump. Her breathing was the heaviest it had been, her eyes fluttered feverishly and the tips of her fingers wiggled but this was to the extent of which she was allowed to move. A sharp pain pierced the skin of her nose. Mary watched helplessly as the spider dug each of his eight sharpened legs into her soft skin. Mary's heart now so over worked began to skip and quickly repeat beats, her breathing became heavier depriving her of actually processing the air. As Mary looked on in fear of what was to come next, the spider raised its head in a triumphant manner and exposed its long sharp fangs. A bright white light now appeared behind the head of the spider, all sound stopped, the breathing of Mary was now drowned out by the beating of her heart and with a flash the spider struck down. All sound and motions were at a standstill, the wind only was heard. Mary had merely been pricked by the spider but the terror which now resided in Mary's heart ceased its beat.
Image borrowed from http://www.hammill.com.ru/cov/Usher_deconstructed_book.jpg
