Poe once said that his poem, "The Haunted Palace" that Roderick sings was meant to imply, "a mind haunted by phantoms - a disordered brain." It often does not take much to crack, much like the crack that has appeared in outside wall of the House of Usher. Other people and places have an impact on the mind’s mood, interpretations, and emotions. The human mind is also often affected by the people and settings around it. As one gets more ill (Madeline), the others fall into similar states of disrepair. Roderick, Madeline, and the family house all seem to have a connection with each other. Many have posited that this story reflects the interconnectedness of the human mind with the environment around it. The house, connected to the last vestige of the Usher family, dies too, breaking down the crack on the exterior wall and falling into the tarn.Īn additional theme is the fragility of the human mind. The sight of his sister, along with the weeks of emotional and mental unrest connected with her illness and the house, cause Usher to die as well. Indeed, she escape, and uses her last bits of strength to find her brother and fall onto him.
This is a glaring hint for readers that Madeline might not, indeed, be dead, and that there may be consequences for burying her alive. Poe first explores an almost Romeo and Juliet-like moment when the narrator notices that Madeline is still flushed in death. The fact that his friend and his sister are dead are bad enough the house is clearly connected to them and they to the house, and once this connection is broken, the narrator bears witness to its utter destruction.ĭeath is a popular theme found in many of Poe’s works. As she appears in the doorway in the middle of a horrific storm, covered in blood and in her final gasps, the narrator, now terrified by what he has just witnessed, runs outside only to see the entire house break and fall into the tarn. The terror arises not only on the part of the reader through the creepiness of the setting, the state of Usher, and the ghastly sounds coming from the vaults it also comes from Usher’s realization that he probably buried his sister alive.
In this activity, students will identify themes and symbols from the story, and support their choices with details from the text. Themes, symbols, and motifs come alive when you use a storyboard.
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