H.P. Lovecraft tells the story of the cursed Delapore family in his short story “The Rats in the Walls.” Lovecraft focuses on key concepts, like the architecture of the Exham Priory, and uses graphic imagery to reveal Delapore’s, the narrator and protagonist, ill-fate.  Delapore unwinds his family history while renovating his ancestors’ abandoned mansion, the Exham Priory.  As he spends more nights in the Priory, he learns about his family lineage so disturbshim and eventually drives him to insanity.  Lovecraft’s emphasis on the architecture of the mansion, the “slithering” rats in the walls, and the heinous imagery are parallel to Delapore family’s curse.  

The Exham Prior’s architecture is a key factor and driving force in Lovecraft’s short story.  He describes the Priory as having a “peculiarly composite architecture, involving Gothic towers resting on a Saxon or Romanesque substructure” (Lovecraft 75).  Although picturesque, the Priory was deemed as evil by the townspeople, who refused to set foot in or even go near the steps of the manor.  The Gothic building appears to be built on top of the Romanesque substructures as if attempting to cover the Priory’s history up.  This is fitting because the architecture, religion, and overall views of both time periods differ so greatly.  While Roman architecture is described to be dull, which is representative of its violent time, Gothic structure is elaborate, beautiful and ornate, characterizing a time of change and hope.  Perhaps the Gothic construction on top of the Roman substructure was an attempt to cover up the evil within the Priory with a beautiful ornate design.  Also, much of the house is made of limestone, a rock that is known to deteriorate easily.  The limestone should have decayed, given that the house was centuries olds, especially with the rats consistently scratching at the walls.  The limestone may have also symbolized the inevitable and underlying evil in the Exham Priory.  The evil, like the limestone, was expected to decompose over time, yet it was ineludible, much like the wickedness. 

Lovecraft’s second sentence of the story is, “The restoration had been a stupendous task, for little had remained of the deserted pile but a shell-like ruin; yet because it had been the seat of my ancestors I let no expense deter me” (Lovecraft 75).  By describing the house as a “shell-like ruin” so soon in the account, Lovecraft foreshadows what is to become of the mansion at the end of the story.  Delapore is enthusiastic about renovating the Exham Priory in the beginning of the story, and he is completely engaged in learning more about his unknown family history.  Calling it a “shell-like ruin” is not suitable for this portion of Lovecraft’s story, for this statement only becomes a reality when he goes mad.  The Priory becomes a shell-like ruin when it is left empty once again, after Delapore has gone mad and is taken over by his family curse.  Lovecraft also says the rats are “slithering” through the walls.  The first time Delapore mentions the rats, he describes them as “the scampering army of obscene vermin which has burst from the castle three months after the tragedy that doomed it to desertion” (Lovecraft 78).  However, once the rats abruptly woke Delapore in the middle of the night, he says, “for on every side of the chamber the walls were alive with nauseous sound- the verminous slithering of ravenous, gigantic rats” (Lovecraft 81).   Snakes are known to slither, while rats are more known to scamper.  Whence, Lovecraft is trying to portray the rats as the devil-like creature in this narrative by giving them a snake’s adjective.  

Finally, H.P. Lovecraft uses striking imagery to add a shock value to his story.  The writing, or old English graffiti, on the walls are direct quotes from the Magna Mater, whose dark worship was once vainly forbidden to Roman citizens (Lovecraft 77).  As the story progresses, Lovecraft intricately describes the human skulls and bones found deep in the cellar, creating a feeling of chilling suspense and fear.  Delapore realizes that the skeletons are “invariably in postures of daemoniac frenzy, either fighting off some menace or clutching other forms with cannibal intent” (Lovecraft 86).  He discovers the cannibalism in his heritage rather late in the story, and had earlier called the sight a “horrible suggestion,” indicating that Delapore does not want to admit the horror he has unleashed (Lovecraft 86).  Lovecraft’s use of the word cannibalism only once in the story is indicative of Delapore’s unwillingness to accept the history of his ancestors, for it is almost too hard for Delapore to say it aloud.  Also, Delapore’s cat, Nigger-Man, could be considered to be Delapore’s foreshadowing counterpart.  Nigger-Man notices the rats in the walls minutes before Delapore does each time, and as Delapore’s insanity progresses, his cat appears to directly forebode his downfall.  For example, seconds before Delapore goes mad, he saw his cat “monstrously perched atop a mountain of bones,” and he “wondered at the secrets that might lie behind his yellow eyes” (Lovecraft 88). 

Lovecraft’s utilization of different literary devices and language makes it obvious to the reader that Delapore’s obsession with his family history was an inevitable curse, and the more he discovered about his ancestors the more possessed he became.  Delapore could neither resist nor escape the evil in his family lineage, just as the foundation of the Priory was defective, being built on limestone rock and a Roman foundation that could never truly support what was built over it. Delapore’s turn for the worst was his destiny just as the renovation of the Exham Priory was doomed to fail.  Delapore’s curiosity drove him mad, and Lovecraft does an excellent job of portraying evil in its purest form, drawing parallels between Delapore’s own curse and the curse in the structure of the Priory. 
