The Twins’ Shared Ending

The Fall of the House of Usher

The apparent death, concealed burial, and return of Madeline converge with Roderick’s terror in the destruction of both twins.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Twin Presence A Twin Presence from "The Fall of the House of Usher". The Last Two Ushers Sole companionship Roderick describes Madeline as his tenderly loved sister and his only remaining relative.

A Twin Presence from "The Fall of the House of Usher". The Last Two Ushers Sole companionship Roderick describes Madeline as his tenderly loved sister and his only remaining relative.

The Last Two Ushers Sole companionship Roderick describes Madeline as his tenderly loved sister and his only remaining relative. Her illness is therefore both a personal loss approaching and a threat to the family line. A shared history The narrator later learns that the siblings are twins and have long experienced an obscure sympathy. Their kinship gives the ending a force that exceeds the death of either one alone.

Madeline’s Illness Madeline’s Illness from "The Fall of the House of Usher". A Cataleptic Condition Uncertain symptoms Madeline suffers wasting, apathy, and brief cataleptic episodes.

Madeline’s Illness from "The Fall of the House of Usher". A Cataleptic Condition Uncertain symptoms Madeline suffers wasting, apathy, and brief cataleptic episodes.

A Cataleptic Condition Uncertain symptoms Madeline suffers wasting, apathy, and brief cataleptic episodes. Her physicians have not resolved the nature of the illness, leaving death difficult to distinguish from suspended life. A fragile body She continues to resist the illness until the evening of the narrator’s arrival. The symptoms establish the possibility that her apparent death may be mistaken for a final one.

The Coffin’s Secret The Coffin’s Secret from "The Fall of the House of Usher". Life Behind the Iron Door Burial without certainty The narrator and Roderick place Madeline in a vault while her face still bears a faint blush.

The Coffin’s Secret from "The Fall of the House of Usher". Life Behind the Iron Door Burial without certainty The narrator and Roderick place Madeline in a vault while her face still bears a faint blush.

Life Behind the Iron Door Burial without certainty The narrator and Roderick place Madeline in a vault while her face still bears a faint blush. Her cataleptic history makes the appearance of death disturbingly inconclusive. The hidden possibility Roderick later admits that he heard movements from the coffin but lacked the courage to speak. The choice to delay ordinary burial becomes the twins’ decisive catastrophe.

The Return The Return from "The Fall of the House of Usher". Madeline at the Door Escape from the vault During the narrator’s reading, sounds echo from elsewhere in the mansion.

The Return from "The Fall of the House of Usher". Madeline at the Door Escape from the vault During the narrator’s reading, sounds echo from elsewhere in the mansion.

Madeline at the Door Escape from the vault During the narrator’s reading, sounds echo from elsewhere in the mansion. Roderick recognizes them as Madeline’s struggle through the coffin and vault. A terrible arrival The chamber doors open in the storm, and Madeline appears wounded and exhausted. Her return confirms that the supposed burial was premature and makes concealment impossible.

The Twins’ Deaths The Twins’ Deaths from "The Fall of the House of Usher". A Shared Catastrophe Final collapse Madeline falls upon her brother in her death agonies.

The Twins’ Deaths from "The Fall of the House of Usher". A Shared Catastrophe Final collapse Madeline falls upon her brother in her death agonies.

A Shared Catastrophe Final collapse Madeline falls upon her brother in her death agonies. Roderick dies beneath the impact, overwhelmed by the very terror he had anticipated. A line extinguished The deaths leave no surviving Usher relative. The twins’ end coincides with the mansion’s destruction, making their private tragedy inseparable from the family’s extinction.

During Roderick’s first account of his family

Before and during the narrator’s arrival

Several days after Madeline’s reported death

The final stormy night

Immediately after Madeline reaches the chamber