Sibling Psyche: Exploring the Unique Bond Between Roderick and Madeline Usher

Abstract

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” Roderick says the he shares a special kind of connection with Madeline. What is he talking about, exactly? “The Fall of the House of Usher” is Poe’s publication of 1839 that stands out as a Gothic short story that uses an unnamed narrator to explore a great and terrifying experience at Ushers family that remains defined as a decaying ancestral home. Within Usher’s family is Roderick a twin brother to an ailing Madeline that he claims to share a very unique connection citing that “We were born tins, and I and my sister were twins and solitary things.......at birth, she had been delicate to an extreme....the first glimpse of her she had been called Madeline Usher.....” Such a statement is a clear indication that Roderick strongly believed that they were not just the ordinary twins but something beyond being twins connected them closely since birth describing the uniqueness s “irrepressible and perhaps undue horror and melancholy.” Based on the experiences narrated by the unnamed narrator ranging from illness experiences, death of Madeline, entombing her and the horrible resurrection before Roderick dies of fear as Madeline also dies for the second time leading the narrator to flee the decaying house; it is open that the two twin connection was beyond the normal sibling blood bond. For this reason, one can argue that Roderick meant that other than being his twin sister, their bond remained characterized by deep psychological and emotional associations leading the two to have a deeper relationship that attracted and attached them together. It is due to their strong and unique bond that provides a very interesting atmosphere for story development in the House of Usher.