"The Fall of the House of Usher" - A Critical Analysis

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“The Fall of the House of Usher”

A Critical Analysis

        There are three significant characters in this story: the narrator, whose name is never given, Roderick and Madeline Usher.  The narrator is a boyhood friend of Roderick Usher.  He has not seen Roderick since they were children; however, because of an urgent letter that the narrator has received from Roderick which was requesting his assistance in alleviating his malady, the narrator makes the long journey to the House of Usher.  

        Roderick and Madeline Usher are the sole, remaining members of the long, time-honored Usher race.  This might suggest incestuous relationships throughout the Usher family tree.  When Madeline supposedly “dies”, and is placed in her coffin, the narrator notices “a striking similitude between brother and sister....”  It is at this point that Roderick informs his friend that he and the Lady Madeline had been twins, and that “sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them.”  Edgar Allen Poe treats Madeline and Roderick as if they were identical twins instead of fraternal twins.  He implies the Roderick and Madeline are so close that they can sense what is happening to each other.  

        Lady Madeline, twin sister of Roderick Usher, does not speak one word throughout the story.  In fact, she is absent from most of the story.  At the narrator’s arrival, she takes to her bed and falls into a catatonic state.  He helps bury her and put her away in a vault, but when she reappears, he flees.  I think the Edgar Allen Poe seems to present her as a ghostlike figure.  Before she was buried, she roamed around the house quietly not noticing anything.  According to the narrator, Lady Madeline “passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and, without having noticed [his] presence disappeared”(Poe, 688).  Overall, Madeline Usher appears to be completely overcome by mental disorder.

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        Roderick Usher, the head of the house, is an educated man.  He comes from a rather wealthy family and owns a huge library.  He had once been an attractive man and “the character of his face had been at all times remarkable” (Poe, 667).  Nevertheless, his appearance deteriorated over time.  Roderick had changed so much that “[the narrator] doubted to whom [he] spoke” (Poe, 667).  Roderick’s changed appearance probably is caused by his insanity.  The narrator notes various symptoms of insanity from Roderick’s behaviors: “in the manner of my friend I was struck with an incoherence – an inconsistency...and excessive ...

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