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The Fall of the House of Usher

Summary:   Edgar Allan Poe has left his readers with many questions concerning his short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." Madeline's return can be understood in many different ways.

Who Was Madeline?

In the story "The Fall of the House of Usher" Usher's sister, Madeline was extremely ill with a mysterious disease, for a very long time. Once Usher thought that she was dead he buried her in a vault in his house. Madeline was buried alive, so after several days she returned and killed Usher. When she came back was Madeline a ghost that appeared and wanted her revenge? Or did Madeline survive being in the vault and escape from it alive? Did the narrator imagine everything and was Madeline just a hallucination? Many literary experts have proposed these and other ideas that could explain in what form the author, Edgar Allan Poe wanted Madeline to be in his writing. Edgar Allan Poe was a mysterious, gothic writer and his writings can be interpreted in many different ways; one example of this is the form Madeline returned in to kill Usher.

One belief is that Madeline never died. She broke out of the vault and then attacked her brother. If Madeline had had enough determination and anger then she could have used the last of her energy and power in order to kill Usher. She may have been so furious that she wanted nothing but payback for being buried alive. Poe mentions that the narrator and Usher could hear the sounds of screaming, footsteps and other noises indicating that Madeline was still alive. They could also hear the sound of someone struggling. Madeline could have been struggling to break free. Usher heard these noises for several days. Once Madeline came for her revenge she was bloody and looked as if she had been fighting to get out. The narrator says, "There was blood upon her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame." If she had been a ghost why would she have waited so long for her revenge? Or does being in the form of a ghost only make sense?

Another theory is that Madeline was a ghost. She came back in spirit form to kill Usher. It would be very hard for a person to stay alive in a vault without any food or water or even air for many days. Staying alive in these circumstances would be hard for a healthy person, so it would be even more difficult for a sick, fragile woman. If Madeline died and she wanted revenge, it would be possible for her ghost to attack Usher. She would be powerful enough to overtake her frail brother. Another argument that Madeline was a ghost is in the way that her screaming parallels to the story they are reading. As a ghost, Madeline would know exactly at which part of the story Usher and the narrator were reading and she would be able to moan, scream or yell at the appropriate moments. On the other hand, each of these interpretations can be somewhat contradictory.

Both of the previous beliefs could both be proven and disproved. Could it be that none of this entire story was true? It is also possible that all of this was just the narrator hallucinating. In the beginning of "The Fall of the House of Usher" the narrator is describing what he sees at the mansion. He then goes on to say, "Shaking off from my sprit what must have been a dream..." Could what he had seen be a dream? Maybe the whole account was a dream. Everything in this story is so bizarre and seems completely impossible. An example of a strange event is at the end of the story when the whole house crumples to the ground. There is not a very good explanation for the house falling at the exact moment that they both die. Both of the other explanations can be shown to be false. Although, is the narrator hallucinating a valid reason?

Edgar Allan Poe has left his readers with many questions concerning his short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." Madeline's return can be understood in many different ways. Madeline may have been a ghost. She may have been a live person or even a hallucination of the narrator's mind. All three of these explanations are logical in certain ways and invalid in other ways. Edgar Allan Poe wrote amazing stories that allow the reader to interpret them as he wishes.