Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” features Roderick and Madeline Usher. In the story the Usher twins seem to have completely opposite illnesses. Roderick suffers from hypersensitivity and Madeline suffers from hyposensitivity. Madeline becomes paralyzed so Roderick believes that she is dead. Roderick buries her underneath the house and invites his old childhood friend, the narrator, to come over. Turns out Madeline was never dead, she digs out of the tomb and collapses on Roderick. They both die and the entire Usher mansion collapses with the death of the last of the Usher family. With further evaluation of the Usher twins, the short story shows you that the twins are in fact not twins but one person with two separate
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What Roderick can do, Madeline cannot. Roderick has to eat bland food and wear clothes with very little texture due to his hypersensitivity. Madeline, on the other hand, is essentially paralyzed. Roderick is trying to rid Madeline from his life, causing him to be extra sensitive to everything because Madeline was a part of him and she now feels nothing because of his betrayal. In the process of trying to fix his schizophrenia, he calls upon his childhood friend, the narrator, because he is scared of himself and his altered personality, Madeline. When Roderick sends him mail stating, “[Roderick] spoke of acute bodily illness- of a mental disorder which oppressed him- and of an earnest desire to see me…” (Poe), the narrator comes to Roderick’s rescue, helping him cope with separating himself from …show more content…
Kendall, the writer of “The Vampire Motif in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’” believe that Madeline is a vampire. Kendall writes in his article that “she has the common ability of witches” (102). Although Madeline being a vampire would be easy to believe, if you look deeper into the text you can see that writers like Kendall are wrong. Roderick is overcoming his schizophrenia so the acts of Madeline, his second personality, are becoming less powerful. The more Roderick tries to deny Madeline the more she becomes cataleptic. Roderick has Madeline buried because he can no longer stand the presence of her. Kendall writes that “[Roderick] must put an end to Madeline… or suffer the eventuality of wasting away, dying, and becoming a vampire himself” (100). The real reason he is afraid is that she is going to take over his life so he gets rid of her all together. The coffin is a symbol for him being able to rid his mind of his altered
What Roderick can do, Madeline cannot. Roderick has to eat bland food and wear clothes with very little texture due to his hypersensitivity. Madeline, on the other hand, is essentially paralyzed. Roderick is trying to rid Madeline from his life, causing him to be extra sensitive to everything because Madeline was a part of him and she now feels nothing because of his betrayal. In the process of trying to fix his schizophrenia, he calls upon his childhood friend, the narrator, because he is scared of himself and his altered personality, Madeline. When Roderick sends him mail stating, “[Roderick] spoke of acute bodily illness- of a mental disorder which oppressed him- and of an earnest desire to see me…” (Poe), the narrator comes to Roderick’s rescue, helping him cope with separating himself from …show more content…
Kendall, the writer of “The Vampire Motif in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’” believe that Madeline is a vampire. Kendall writes in his article that “she has the common ability of witches” (102). Although Madeline being a vampire would be easy to believe, if you look deeper into the text you can see that writers like Kendall are wrong. Roderick is overcoming his schizophrenia so the acts of Madeline, his second personality, are becoming less powerful. The more Roderick tries to deny Madeline the more she becomes cataleptic. Roderick has Madeline buried because he can no longer stand the presence of her. Kendall writes that “[Roderick] must put an end to Madeline… or suffer the eventuality of wasting away, dying, and becoming a vampire himself” (100). The real reason he is afraid is that she is going to take over his life so he gets rid of her all together. The coffin is a symbol for him being able to rid his mind of his altered