What does the title "The Fall of the House of Usher" signify?

At the end of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," eponymous house, in which the Usher family has lived for generations, dramatically collapses. This fall is the literal meaning of the story's title. But the story's title has another meaning, a metaphorical meaning, that is of equal or greater importance.

One can refer to a noble family as being a "house." This is an example of metonymy, a figure of speech in which one thing is understood in terms of another kind of thing due to association or proximity. Metonymy is related to metaphor, but the two figures of speech differ in the kinds of connection they trace. Put concretely, a family is not like a house; rather, a family lives in a house.

In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” readers encounter a noble family that has been in decline from its former glory for quite some time. In the dramatic deaths of Roderick and his sister Madeline, the family is entirely extinguished, because Roderick and Madeline are the last two members of the House of Usher. This fall is the figurative meaning of the title.

The deaths of the Usher siblings is also literal fall in that Roderick and Madeline collapse to the ground together. At this stage of the story, the literal and figurative meanings of the title coalesce, perfectly illustrating its multiple meaning.

In "The Fall of the House of Usher," what is meant by the “fall” of the house of Usher, both literally and symbolically?

You have picked up on a very important aspect of the title. Of course, the "fall" in question works on many levels that are key to the story and the brooding atmosphere of evil that Poe creates through setting and character. There seems to be a real, supernatural kind of relationship between the literal House of Usher as in the location, and its two surviving members, the stricken Madeline and Roderick.

You will want to think about how in the description of the narrator's first sight of the house it is clear that it is given a supernatural menace:

The discolouration of ages had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves... In this there was much that reminded me of the specious totality of old woodwork which has rotted for long years in some neglected vault, with no disturbance from the breath of the external air.

Note the important emphasis that is placed on the rot and decay - a rot and decay that is symbolically present in the line of the heirs of the Usher family too, as we discover, for both Roderick and his sister Madeline suffer from a mysterious ailment that has changed them both dramatically. Consider how Roderick is described:

A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison, lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity...

Some critics have commented on the descriptions of both Madeline and Roderick, arguing that they appear incredibly vampire-like, but there is definitely something of the supernatural about their appearance.

Add to this mention of hereditary curses, the doom of the family of Usher and the finale where both twin brother and sister die together so dramatically, you can understand that the "fall" of the House of Usher refers to the end of the line of the Usher family with the spectacular deaths of its two surviving heirs, as well as the actual literal "fall" or collapse of the House of Usher in the last paragraph. It is as if the house is so tied up with the fates of its owners that it cannot survive or escape the fate that has come upon them either, thus emphasising the totality of the evil that has destroyed the House of Usher.

What is the theme of "The Fall of the House of Usher"?

One of the central themes of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is insanity. The Usher family is rife with corruption and incest, and as a result the last remaining members of the family seem to suffer psychologically. Roderick and Madeline are the last of the line, and both have tenuous grips on reality. Roderick is paranoid, claiming he will soon "abandon life and reason." Madeline is described by doctors as being overly apathetic. Ultimately, both characters are drawn away from life and into their own delusions.

The story emphasizes that this madness might originate from the house itself. The narrator—who is not an Usher and who represents a comparatively rational, objective viewpoint—is even affected by the atmosphere of the Usher mansion, growing as fearful as Roderick. This suggests that supernatural elements might be behind the madness of the Ushers, but Poe keeps this vague.

The psychological decline of the Usher family is linked with the instability of the Usher house. The mansion is gloomy, desolate, and already falling apart at the beginning of the story, foreshadowing the eponymous fall of the Usher family. Like the Usher siblings, the house is isolated and doomed, and both the house itself and the Usher line come to a cataclysmic and simultaneous end.

What are the themes of "The Fall of The House of Usher"?

The themes of The Fall of the House of Usher are the typical representative themes of Romanticism and 19th century Gothic literature. They include:

1. The inevitability of death

2. The authority of fate vs. our own free will

3. Nostalgia and sadness for better times gone by.

4. Inevitability of disgrace (as if destiny had precluded the characters to settle for it)

5. Darkness as a foreshadowing of the end, and as an atmospheric stylistic device.

** All these are staple themes of Romantic Gothic Literature which permeate through all of Poe's major works just like the works of his peers at the time.

What are the themes of "The Fall of The House of Usher"?

In my opinion, there are a couple of major themes in this story.  I think that the story is about insanity and evil.  These themes combine to make it a story that is also about terror.

These two themes are shown in the characters of Roderick and Madeline.  They both seem to be at least somewhat insane and we see Roderick getting less sane as the story goes on.

But why are they like this?  That is where evil comes in.  Poe seems that there is something that is simply evil or cursed in the Usher family.  It is not clear why this is -- some say it is supernatural, some say it is because the family is incestuous and inbred.  But somehow, there is an aura of evil in the house.

What is the overall theme of "The Fall of the House of Usher"?

One very strong overall theme is that of tradition.  The "Usher" family is a symbol in itself.  Over and over in the story, the narrator mentions how long Ushers have lived in the house, aptly named "The House OF Usher"--not of Smith, Jones, etc.  The narrator also mentions multiple times that Roderick and his sister are the last of the Ushers.  Once they die out, it stands to reason that the House can no longer exist.  They are connected...remember how Roderick and Madeline are feeling ill? As their mental and physical health declines, the house itself "feels" ill and displays it in the hairline cracks of the foundation, the overgrown weeds, the darkness that has overtaken it.  The Ushers and the house are one being...and have been for many years...tradition.  Once the Ushers die, the house also crumbles and is swallowed by the ground on which it has stood for years and years.

In "The Fall of the House of Usher," what were some of the themes that were explored in the novels that the narrator chose to read?

It is important to note that during the middle section of this excellent short story, the activities that Roderick Usher engages in all reflect his disturbed inner-nature and his troubled psyche. He produces paintings that are so abstract that the narrator is hardly able to describe them. He sings a song that, although it starts pleasantly enough, eventually brings in evil spirits that destroy the idyllic setting created by the lyrics and are clearly representative of Roderick's inner troubles and strivings. His choice of reading likewise represents his own character, as the narrator says:

Our books--the books which, for years, had formed no small portion of the mental existence of the invalid--were, as might be supposed, in strict keeping with this character of phantasm.

Thus Roderick devotes himself to various arcane tomes concerning such topics as forgotten religions and journeys of exploration, poring over abstract and recondite pieces of information that perhaps represent his own desire to work out what is happening to him and his sister. Thus the choice of reading material perhaps represents Roderick's own desire to make sense of his own situation and malady, and understand how and why the curse that he refers to has been brought down on him.