The Fall of the House of Usher Group

Question:

kalajsfinest
kalajsfinest
Student
College - Freshman

What do you think is happeneing at the end of the story when Madeline Usher appears? Support with evidence from the story.

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Posted by kalajsfinest on Tuesday October 14, 2008 at 4:17 PM and tagged with ending, madeline, plot, roderick, the fall of the house of usher.

Answers:


  1. kwoo1213 Teacher
    College - Junior

    eNotes Editor

    When Madeline appears, it is clear that she was buried alive; the reader does not know if this was done on purpose or whether Roderick thought she really was dead when he buried her.  It could be that Roderick's mental state had deteriorated so badly that he tried to murder his sister by burying her alive.  Perhaps he could not live with the fact that he had done some truly horrible things and he had to kill her to purge himself of them by doing so.  Regardless, Roderick cannot handle the stress of seeing Madeline back from the dead, so to speak, so he drops dead of shock or fright or both!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/fall-house/characters

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    Posted by kwoo1213 on Tuesday October 14, 2008 at 4:43 PM