The narrator learns that Lady Madeline is still alive and that Roderick buried her prematurely. He witnesses her terrifying return from the tomb, which ultimately leads to the collapse of the mansion and the deaths of Roderick and Madeline.
Roderick believes they prematurely buried Madeline alive.
Roderick keeps the narrator from knowing that Madeline is still alive by telling the narrator that Madeline has died and that he has already buried her. He also explains that they must keep her body in the house temporarily to comply with her dying wish, thus preventing the narrator from questioning her whereabouts. Roderick's manipulative behavior and the eerie atmosphere of the house contribute to the deception.
Roderick calls the narrator a "madman" because he believes the narrator buried his sister alive. Roderick is overcome with guilt and hallucinations, causing him to view the narrator as a crazed figure contributing to the destruction of the House of Usher.
The "helpless victim" is Madeline Usher, the twin sister of Roderick Usher, because she was buried alive. She was unable to resist the entombment because she suffers from bouts of catalepsy, where she is unable to move. Roderick Usher tells the narrator that she has died and it appears so to the narrator, so they put her into a coffin and entomb her in the family vault in the basement. The narrator believes she is dead but remarks that her face still has a faint blush and a lingering smile. Over the next few days, the narrator hears noises from the basement but does nothing about it. In time he realizes that they have buried her alive. She had been in the grip of a cataleptic seizure which made it impossible for her to resist the burial. That explains why she still had a blush to her face. Thus, Madeline was helpless to avoid being victimized by Roderick Usher entombing her while she was still alive.
Madeline suffered from catalepsy, a condition where the body becomes rigid and unresponsive. Roderick believed that she had died and placed her in the vault, unaware that she was still alive when he buried her. The shock and horror of discovering this likely contributed to Roderick's decline in mental health.
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a gothic short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839. It tells the story of a narrator who visits his childhood friend, Roderick Usher, in his decaying mansion. As the story progresses, supernatural events unfold, leading to the destruction of both the house and the Usher family. The tale explores themes of madness, isolation, and the power of fear.
Edgar Allen Poe's autobiographical short story is the quintessential haunted house story featuring dreary scenes, mysterious sicknesses and untimely deaths. The vagueness of the story is the main part of its terror with its unidentifiable Gothic elements. It is not clear to the reader when or where the story takes place. Poe instead describes dark barren landscapes and inclement weather to set the mood. All the reader knows and understands is they are alone with the unnamed author and neither knows why. The unnamed author describes his mind and personality as he rides toward the somber house. He meets his own insanity, superstitions, and horror when he describes his boyhood friend Roderick Usher. Poe asks the reader to question Roderick's decision in contacting the unnamed narrator in his time of need as well as the unnamed narrator's response. Poe contrasts the standard form of the gothic tale, with a plot of inexplicable, unexpected interruptions. The short story begins without a reason for the narrator's arrival at the house and this uncertainty drives this short story's plot, which blurs into the real and fantastic. Roderick Usher shows his sanity slipping when he tells the narrator he dreads the future struggle with the fatal demon of fear. The unnamed narrator is shocked to see Roderick Usher has a striking resemblance to his sister Madeline, Poe's late wife. Poe refers to his late wife's eventual death when he mentions Roderick's complexion as the mockery of a faint blush, and gives a sense of foreboding to the story as it leads to the end when Madeline's return from the grave is found as an unexplained mystery. Poe creates a sense of claustrophobia as the unnamed narrator is caught by the lure of Roderick and cannot escape unless the house collapses. The characters in the short story are trapped and cannot move freely because of the house's structure. This image gives the house a monstrous character of its own that controls the fate of the unnamed narrator and Roderick Usher. Poe masterly creates confusion between the living and inanimate objects by creating the physicality of the house of Usher. The mansion is used as a metaphor, however it is described as a real house. The narrator not only gets trapped inside the mansion, but the reader learns that his confinement involves the biological fate of the Usher family. The Usher has no long lasting attachments which means that the Usher's genetic transmission has occurred incestuously in the house. The peasantry confuses the mansion with the Usher family because of the physical structure dictated to the genetic patterns of the family. The claustrophobia of the mansion continues as it affects the characters relationships for example the unnamed narrator realizes to late that Madeline is Roderick's twin sister, which happens when both men prepare to entomb Madeline. The confined and cramped burial tomb metaphorically affects the features of the characters. The twins are very similar, because they do not develop as free individuals. Madeline is buried before her time because of her similarity to her brother. Roderick is the coffin, which holds her identity. The reader discovers that Madeline suffers from problems, which effected woman in nineteenth century literature. She invests all of her identity to her body, whereas Roderick possesses the power of intellect. Madeline holds an almost superhuman power in the story when she successfully escapes her tomb. This counteracts Roderick's weak, nervous and immovable attitude. It is said that Madeline is only a figment of Roderick's and the unnamed narrator's imagination; that she doesn't really exist. However, Madeline still proves detrimental to the symmetry and claustrophobic logic of this short story. She suffocates Roderick keeping him from seeing himself as different from her and completes this tactic by attacking and killing Roderick in the end.
Roderick Usher planned to bury his sister, Madeline, in a vault within the house temporarily until a more permanent solution could be arranged. However, the story takes a dark turn when it is revealed that Madeline was still alive when she was buried and later escapes from the vault.
One example of foreshadowing in "The Fall of the House of Usher" is the decaying state of the mansion and its surroundings, mirroring the physical and mental deterioration of the Usher siblings. Another example is the narrator's sense of impending doom and his unease upon his arrival at the house, which hints at the tragic events that will unfold. Lastly, Roderick's hypersensitivity to sound and light foreshadows his heightened state of anxiety and eventual descent into madness.
On the night of the terrible storm, the narrator is reading in the library when Roderick Usher appears, believing the house is alive and the storm is influencing it. Madeline Usher also apparently dies and is buried that night, but eventually returns. The storm intensifies, leading to the collapse of the House of Usher and the death of both siblings.
The cast of Buried Country - 2000 includes: Kev Carmody as Narrator