1LLCE1 – TUESDAY 9th May – THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

PART 5 - Lady Madeline

The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe ¦ Unabridged Audiobook - YouTube
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Note box.

• She is Roderick’s “tenderly beloved sister”.

• She is at the origin of Roderick’s disease and affliction.

• She is frail and she was strong.

• She is approaching dissolution.

• She suffers from a severe and long continued illness.

• She has been Roderick’s sole companion for years (the narrator was
also referred to as “his sole companion”). She is his last relative on
Earth.

• She is like a ghost: silent and scary, she passes in silence.

• Hermalady is mysterious: a settled apathy, a gradual wasting of the

person.

• She is a cataleptical character.

• She died a short time after the narrator saw her.

3. Doubles and Mirror images:

- Roderick and his sister.

- The physical house and the dynasty

2. Name - Problem(s) - What happens to her in this passage

Madeline - She has a mysterious disease. No one can cure her. She
crosses the room in silence, like a ghost.

3. Lexical field used by Roderick to describe Madeline:

Tenderly / beloved / sole / last and only.

It seems that Madeline is Roderick’s last link to life. The vocabulary

he uses about her expresses both love and nostalgia, as if she was
already dead.

4. Their relationship:

They are very close and have a fusional relationship. Like

communicating vessels, his disease finds its origin in her illness. He
feels what she feels. Maybe they can communicate through
telepathy. When he sees her, he becomes as pale as a ghost and
starts crying. Also, just as he mentions his sister, she appears, as if
she was the embodiment of his own despair and fear.

5. The narrator’s feelings:

He is appalled and terrified. His strange feeling of unreality comes

back, as if he was looking at a supernatural creature. (“astonishment
not unmingled with dread” l.9-10)

Focus on: The name Roderick Usher evokes punishment (Rod) and a
passage between two worlds (Usher). Indeed, Roderick represents
danger, a form of violence, and the introduction of the narrator into
another dimension. “The valet now opened a door and ushered me
into the presence of his master” (Part 3) The name Madeline recalls
heroines from fairy tales and evokes madness at the same time.

Word lab

a. pass → give pass through → cross pass away → die pass out →
faint pass off → terminate / complete / disappear

b. PASS AWAY (she dies) or PASS OFF (disappears, like a ghost).

EX 6 page 24:

In this passage, the narrator discovers that Roderick Usher has a

sister. Her name is Madeline. She has a strange disease: she is
cataleptic. Madeline passed through the room before the eyes of the
narrator, who was appalled and astonished.

When he saw his sister Roderick burst into tears. Shortly after, she
was dead.

PART 6 – Inside Roderick Usher’s soul

EX 6 - Check your understanding

a. Roderick and the narrator talked about the death of Lady Madeline
all night long. FALSE. Her name was never mentioned.

b. Roderick had a passion for arts and natural sciences. TRUE

c. He created works of art that were realistic and easy to understand.

FALSE. His works of art were abstract, morbid and phantasmagoric.
d. Roderick believed that the house and its surroundings were the
cause of his tragic family history TRUE

* Line 21 Page 25: Henry Fuseli (see The Nightmare - 1781)

PART 7 – The Vault

The doctor’s intentions : To examine Madeline’s body in order to
investigate the reasons of her strange malady.

Roderick’s intentions : To keep the body for a fortnight (two weeks)

in one of the vaults of the house, before burying it/the funeral.

The narrator’s reaction : He finds it strange but he does not want to

interfere with Roderick’s decision. He remembers the bad impression
he had of the doctor.

Word lab – a)

Prefix Root Suffix Translation

entombment en tomb -ment mise en tombe

encoffined en coffin -ed dans un cercueil

entombed en tomb -ed dans une tombe

enshrouded en shroud -ed dans un linceul

b) embedded / enclosed / engulfed

Focus on

a. On one hand it seems that Roderick and the narrator have a

mirror relationship.

Roderick needs the narrator’s company for no other

apparent reason than staying with him and witnessing
everything he does. Also, the narrator and Roderick are the
same age and come from the same place as they were “boon
companions” in their childhood.

What is strange is that the narrator seems to obey Roderick.

Since he entered Roderick’s chamber, as if he was entering
 “the recesses of his soul”, he does the same strange actions
as Roderick, like carrying Madeline’s corpse down into the
vault, without ever questioning Roderick’s oddities.

At the end of this passage, he says that he feels infected by

Roderick’s madness, which implies that recognises in himself
the symptoms of Roderick’s strange disease. Therefore, the
narrator can be seen as a “double image” of Roderick.

b. Vampires…

Check your understanding Page 32:

a. Reason why Roderick wants to keep his sister’s corpse:

obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical

men.

b.The narrator’s reaction:

“I did not feel at liberty to dispute”.

c. Place where they put the coffin:

A vault / below the narrator’s sleeping apartment.

d. Strange characteristics of the corpse:

a faint blush upon the bosom / a lingering smile / she is

Roderick’s twin.

d. Roderick’s attitude after the entombment:

His ordinary occupations were neglected / He roamed from

chamber to chamber / his voice has a tremulous quaver as if
of extreme terror