1) why did poe make Roderick and Madeline TWINS, and not just brother and sister? 2) Where is there evdidence in the story that the narrator's state of mind may be approaching Rodericks? 3) What was basically wrong with the Usher's? evidence? 4) At the end of the story is Madeline a hallucination, a ghost, or a real person who has been buried alive? evide

-- Anonymous, November 30, 2000

Answers

To answer your first question was that he made them twins b/c Rodrick represents the physical deterioration and Madaline represents the mental. As the house deteriorates, so do the twins. It is said that they have committed some unnamed sin and this might be the reason for deterioration (punishment). At the end of the story, they have to stay apart to live so when they bury Madaline, Roderick, who represents her physical half, isn't dead so she isn't either. When they come together in the end they die and the house falls. I think this is right. It's part of the whole doppleganger motif.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2000