Twin Sister Of Roderick Usher example essay topic

In Edgar Allan Goes, The Fall of the House of Usher, the three characters are the unknown narrator, the narrators old time friend Roderick Usher, and Rodericks sister Madeline Usher. The three characters are unique people with distinct characteristics, but they are tied together by the same type of mental disorder. They all suffer from insanity but they each respond to it differently. Roderick and his sister seem to have a spiritual attachment, and the narrator begins to get sucked into it. The narrator is called for help by his old time friend Roderick Usher. There is a split feeling in the narrators mind between the rational and the supernatural.

When he first arrives to the house, he sees a face in the tarn, a split crack in the house and the double image of his own face on the image of the house. Unlike Roderick, the narrator appears to be a man of common sense. He seems to have a good heart in that he comes to help a friend from his boyhood. Being educated and analytical, he observes that his friend Roderick has a mental disorder. The narrator tries to find scientific explanations for what Roderick senses, but when he cant find one, he criticizes Roderick for his fantasies, and claims that Roderick is enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to the dwelling which he tented. The narrator tries his hardest to help but he cant because he doesnt understand what is going on.

The more he gets involved, the closer he gets to being part of Rodericks hysteria: Rationally Ushers condition terrified, it infected me... I felt creeping upon me, by slow yet uncertain degrees, the wild influence of his own fantastic yet impressive superstitions. As time went by Rodericks condition worsened and so did the narrators. When Roderick finally discovers tha he prematurely buried his sister Madeline, his condition reaches its peak, destroys him mentally, and causes the narrator to leave the house in absolute terror. Roderick Usher, the head of the house, is and educated man. He comes from a wealth family and owns a huge house.

He seemed to have once been an attractive man in the way the narrator described him to be. However, his appearance deteriorated over time. When the narrator finally saw Roderick, his appearance had completely altered. The narrator notes various symptoms of insanity from Rodericks behavior: in the manner of my friend I was struck with an incoherence and inconsistency... habitual trepidancy, and excessive nervous agitation... His action was alternately vivacious and sullen. His voice varied rapidly from a tremulous indecision... to that... of a lost drunkard, or the er reclaimable eater of opium.

Rodericks state worsens throughout the story. He becomes increasingly restless and unstable, especially after the burial of his sister. Lady Madeline, twin sister of Roderick Usher, does not speak one word throughout the story. When the narrator arrives to the House of Usher, she goes to her bed and goes into a dead like coma state.

The narrator helps bury her and put her away in a vault, but when she reappears, he leaves the house. Lady Madeline seemed to be portrayed as the ghost of the house in the way that she passed slowly through a remote portion of the apartment, and without haveing noticed his presence, disappeared. Before the narrator had even arrived to the House of Usher, Lady Madeline appeared to be completely overcome by mental disorder. The three characters are shown to slowly adapt the same mental disease. They all seem to suffer some degree of insantiy. Lady Madeline seems to accept the fact that she is insane and continues her life with that knowledge.

Roderick Usher appears to realize his mental state and struggles very hard to hold on to his sanity. The narrator, who is slowly but surely contracting the disease, wants to deny what he sees, hears, and senses. He, in the end, escapes from the illness because he leaves the house.