level 3 Teacher’s notes Teacher Support Programme

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories

Edgar Allan Poe after the old school friend arrives, Madeline dies and the
two men bury her in a tomb under the house. However,
it transpires that she is merely in a coma and they have
buried her alive. She comes back during a terrible storm
and both she and her brother die, bringing an end to the
Usher family and also to the house itself, which crashes to
the ground.
The Maelström
In this story, a fisherman relates how he and his brothers
were sucked into a terrible whirlpool and how he alone
managed to escape death by tying himself to a water
barrel. The experience frightened him so much that his
physical appearance changed dramatically. His black hair
About the author turned white and his body weak, like that of an old man.
Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet, fiction writer The Barrel of Amontillado
and critic, best known for his unforgettable tales of In this story, the madman Montresor wants to punish
terror and as the father of the modern detective novel. a man named Fortunato for the terrible things he has
He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809, the son supposedly done. Montresor tricks Fortunato into going
of two poverty stricken actors. Poe’s talent for writing with him to some caves under his house on the pretext
was evident at an early age and his first published works of inspecting a barrel of wine. Once there, Montresor
were collections of poems. After studying Latin and gets Fortunato drunk and ties him to some metal rings in
poetry at Virginia University and a period in the army, he a small cave. Then he builds a wall across the front of the
moved to Baltimore and continued to write, working for cave and leaves Fortunato there to die.
newspapers to earn a living. He then started to submit
short stories to magazines and his first book of stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, was published in This is a detective story starring C. Auguste Dupin, a
1839. Throughout his life, Poe struggled with poverty, character similar to Sherlock Holmes, who is able to solve
alcohol and madness. In 1849, he was found unconscious crimes that have baffled the French police. In this tale,
in the street after a bout of heavy drinking. He did not two women, mother and daughter, are found brutally
recover. Poe’s reputation continued to grow after his murdered on the fourth floor of their house in the Rue
death and his books became especially popular in Europe. Morgue. The daughter is found, covered in blood and
His work is still popular and very widely read today. badly bruised, up the chimney and the mother is found in
the yard, her head almost completely cut off. Witnesses,
Summary who entered on the ground floor, claim to have heard
The five stories in this collection represent different facets the voice of a Frenchman and another high-pitched
of Poe’s writing. Three of them, The Fall of the House of unintelligible voice coming from the room where the
Usher, The Maelström and The Barrel of Amontillado are daughter was found. However, when police entered the
horror stories, rich in atmosphere and gothic detail. The room, there was nobody there and they fail to explain
other two, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Stolen how the suspected murderers could possibly have left the
Letter are detective stories, amongst the earliest examples house without being detected. Dupin inspects the house
of this popular genre. and concludes that the second voice did not belong to a
human being, rather to an orang-utan, which could easily
The Fall of the House of Usher have escaped from the fourth floor window. He puts a
A man visits a former school friend and finds that both note in the local newspaper saying that the orang-utan
he and his sister, Madeline, are near to death. They are has been caught, thus tricking the owner, a French sailor,
suffering from a strange illness that seems in some way into going to his house to reclaim it. The mystery is solved
connected to the house, which had been passed down when we discover that the orang-utan had gone mad,
through this wealthy family for generations. A few days escaped and murdered the two women.

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level 3 Teacher’s notes Teacher Support Programme

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories

The Stolen Letter The power of the superior mind: In the two detective
This is also a detective story in which the Chief of the stories, Poe shows how a thinker with good powers of
Paris Police visits Dupin to ask for some help with observation can solve an apparently unsolvable puzzle.
regards to a stolen letter. The letter had been stolen by
a government minister from an important lady. She had Discussion activities
seen him take the letter but was unable to say anything Introduction
as the contents of the letter might compromise her in After reading
some way. The police had searched the Minister’s room 1 Discuss: Put students in small groups to answer
on numerous occasions but had been unable to find the following questions: Where was Poe from? What
the letter. Dupin realizes that the case must be simple happened to him when he was a child? Why was
rather than complicated and sees that the police are Mr. Allan angry with Poe? What did Poe do after he left
university? Where did Poe work? What kind of things did
not searching in the right way. He visits the Minister and he write? Did Poe have a happy life? Why or why not?
recognizes the letter immediately in a letter rack. He Do you think you will enjoy reading these stories?
leaves but conveniently forgets his hat so that he can
The Fall of the House of Usher
return on another occasion. This time he arranges for
Before reading
a disturbance to take place in the street and he takes
2 Describe and predict: Put students in groups of
advantage of the occasion to take the letter, replacing it three and tell one student from each group to look
with another. The letter is returned to the lady and the at the illustration on page 2, another student to look
Chief of Police is very happy. at the one on page 5, and the last student to look at
the one on page 8. Each student then describes what
Background and themes they can see in the picture to the other two students.
When they have finished, ask the students to make
Horror stories became extremely popular in the early predictions about the story. They can make notes
nineteenth century after the publication of Mary Shelley’s that can be checked later.
Frankenstein (1818), and this popularity has continued to 3 Discuss: Write the following on the board: airplanes,
the present day. Though many have not stood the test animals, criminals, dead bodies, death, the dark, illness,
being alone. Now put students in groups to discuss if
of time, those written by Poe have remained popular
they are scared of these things or not. They can also
and have not lost their power to chill. Another genre add some ideas of their own and talk about a time
for which people seem to have an insatiable appetite is in the past when they have felt really scared. Get
the detective story. The device adopted by Poe of an feedback from the class.
extremely intelligent hero who is able to solve cases While reading
which have baffled the police through impressive powers 4 Read carefully: Get students to collect information
of observation and deduction is one which continues to about Roderick. They can record the information on
feature heavily in modern detective fiction. this web diagram:

Madness: This is a recurrent theme in many of Poe’s short

stories. His work shows an astonishing grasp of psychology
(especially given that Freud didn’t arrive until a good sixty
years later) and he uses this to explore the darker side of
human nature, and extreme states of consciousness. 5 Role play: (p. 4, after “I will be the last of the
Death: Death and dying are central themes in the Ushers.”) Put students in pairs. One is the narrator
and the other is Roderick Usher. Have them act
first three stories in this book. This was new in horror
out the scene where the two old school friends meet
fiction of the time and Poe deals with it in an elaborate, each other again. Encourage them to ask each other
ceremonial way. He also addresses the fear of being questions about the things that have happened in
buried alive either deliberately or due to a mistaken their lives.
assumption of death when the person is really only in a After reading
catatonic condition. 6 Check: Students go back to their predictions and see
if they were right.

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level 3 Teacher’s notes Teacher Support Programme

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories

The Maelström The Murders in the Rue Morgue
Before reading Before reading
7 Pair work: Get students to look at the pictures on 13 Discuss: Ask students to discuss how the police or a
pages 13 and 15 and to describe them and say how detective normally solves a crime. Get feedback from
they think the people in them are feeling. Then tell the whole class.
them the man on the right on page 13 is the same
man as the one on the left on page 15. Ask students: While reading (p. 31, after “The police have little
How is he different? What do you think changed him? information and few ideas.”)
14 Pair work: Ask students to make a list of all the
While reading (p. 16, after “I wanted to see inside the things they know about the crime. Get feedback and
whirlpool.”) then ask them to discuss what they think might have
8 Discuss: Put students in small groups to discuss happened.
these questions: Why did the fishermen get into this
dangerous situation? What happened to one of the After reading
brothers? What do you think is going to happen to the 15 Write and guess: Write “The screams came from the
other two brothers? What do you think they will see third story of a house in the Rue Morgue.” on the
inside the whirlpool? board. Elicit which word is wrong from the students
(fourth story not third). Now students choose a
After reading sentence from the story and rewrite it changing one
9 Discuss: Put students in small groups and tell them word. Students mingle, reading out their sentences
they must imagine making a film out of this story. and the other students have to identify and correct
Get them to choose suitable actors, adding extra the mistake.
characters and scenes to make it more interesting. 16 Role play: Put the students in pairs. One is the Chief
of Police and the other is the sailor. Students act out
The Barrel of Amontillado the scene in which the Chief interrogates the sailor.
Before reading First, brainstorm with the class the kind of questions
10 Predict: Have students look at the picture on page the police normally ask in this situation.
23 and ask students these questions: Who are these
two men? What is happening? Is the man in green going The Stolen Letter
to die? Why does the other man want to kill him? What Before reading
has he done? Is this a prison? How is the story going to 17 Predict: Write these words on the board: thief,
end? Why is the story called The Barrel of government, woman, search, money, hide, hat. Tell the
Amontillado? students that these words all appear in the story and
get them to predict what happens in pairs.
While reading (p. 18, after “He must know who is
punishing him.”) While reading (end of page 45)
11 Discuss: Put students in small groups to discuss these 18 Pair work: Get the students to discuss good hiding
questions: Is it always right to punish somebody who places in a house. Tell them to think of at least five
does terrible things to you? What do you think Fortunato and then get feedback from the class. Have a vote to
did? What kind of punishment do you think he might see which hiding place the class thinks is best.
get?
After reading
After reading 19 Write and guess: Put students in pairs and tell them
12 Write, ask and answer: Write “Why did Fortunato to look at the illustrations on pages 44, 47 and 50.
think that Montresor liked him?” on the board and elicit Get them to write sentences to represent what they
the answer (Because his words and actions showed think each person in the illustrations is thinking. Now
he was a friend). Now tell students to write similar put each pair together with another pair and they
questions about the story. Students then mingle with read out their sentences and the other pair have to
each other, asking and answering each other’s guess which person it is.
questions. 20 Game: Put students in groups. They should make
5 questions about each of the stories. Once all the
groups are ready, each of the groups should ask one
of their questions to the others. The group to answer
first and correctly scores a point.

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