Wieczorek 1

Jayson Wieczorek
Mrs. Loy
English II H-2
Friday, January 8, 2015
More Than Just Womb-Mates
The Fall of the House of Usher is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe published in 1839.
It follows two men, the narrator and Roderick, during the time when the narrator stays on
Roderick Ushers house. As the narrator spends more time in the mansion, Rodericks twisted
family secrets are revealed when the narrator discovers that Roderick has a twin sister, Madeline.
When first reading through the story, the fact that Madeline is Roderick Ushers twin sister
appears to be just another face value fact in the story. Upon including the genre of the story in
ones interpretations and motifs of that genre, which is Gothic, more can be said about the fact
that the Ushers are twins. Madeline serves to represent a purposefully oppressed version of
Roderick Usher that unveils the deep issues with the Usher bloodline.
The reader is first introduced to Roderick Usher as the narrator is gazing at the House of
Usher, noticing all of its imperfections and twisted features. The narrator makes it a point to note
Rodericks acute bodily illness [] [and] mental disorder which oppressed him (Poe 223).
Here, Usher is described shockingly similarly to the house in which he resides. These maladies
could be stemmed, the narrator suggests, from the fact that the entire family lay [a] direct line of
descent [] with very trifling and very temporary variations (Poe 223-224). Rodericks corrupt
line does not immediately reflect his personality, however. He is fairly reserved at first and keeps
to himself.

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Later that night, the narrator sees Rodericks twin sister Madeline. He knows that
Madeline is mortally sick, but she has steadily borne up against the pressure of her malady, and
had not betaken herself to bed (Poe 227). The doppelganger archetype is one of the most
commonly used in Poes literature and can be seen here through Rodericks twin Madeline. She
is seen wasting away and on the closing in of the evening of [the narrators] arrival at the house,
[succumbs] (Poe 227). Madelines deteriorated condition serves to represent the unnoticeable
deterioration of Rodericks physical and mental state, which he is trying to keep secret. Roderick
uses her to indirectly represent his condition.
Roderick grieves deeply over Madelines death because he knows that he will now
display his condition. After temporarily entombing Madeline, the narrator notices that an
observable change came over the features of the mental disorder of [his] friend[] He roamed
from chamber to chamber with hurried, unequal, and objectless steps (Poe 231). The uneven
steps serve to represent Rodericks now uneven mental state.
When Madeline escapes her tomb, Roderick falls deep into insanity. He and the narrator
are in a chamber and Roderick starts murmuring to himself, constantly stammering. He knows
that Madeline will find them and she will fully reveal his mental state. A gust of wind blows
down the door and Madeline is seen trembling in the doorway. Madeline falls forward,
[bearing] him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated (Poe 235).
The terrors that Roderick anticipated are his mental state being revealed through Madeline.
Although his mental state is revealed, Roderick does not care because he is dead.
The fact that Roderick Usher and Madeline Usher are twins is not just a coincidence.
Madeline is Rodericks doppelganger. He uses her to express his mental instability so that he
doesnt have to show it because he is afraid of doing so.

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