ental disorder. He looks for natural scientific explanations for what Roderick senses. Criticizing Usher for his fantasies, the narrator claims that Roderick is “enchained by certain superstitious impressions in regard to thee dwelling which he tenanted”(668). The narrator’s tone suggests that he cannot understand Usher. However, he himself is superstitious. When he looks upon the house, even before he met Roderick Usher, he observes “here can be no doubt that the consciousness of the rapid increase of my superstition” (665). The narrator also automatically turns away from an unpleasant truth by reasoning or by focusing of something else. When he and Roderick go down to bury Madeline, he speculates that she may not be completely dead yet. Studying her face, he notes “the mockery of faint blush upon the bosom and the face”(672). Yet, rather than mentioning his suspicion to his friend, he remains silent and continues the burial. Furthermore, when Roderick claims that there are ghosts in the house, the narrator feels fear too, but hi dismisses Roderick’s and his own fear by attributing them to a natural cause. He tells Roderick that “the appearances are merely not uncommon”(674). In the end, this fear finally overcomes him. Although he had been able to suppress his fears all along, Lady Madeline’s reappearance runs him out of the house.The three characters of course are unique people with distinct characters, but they are tied together by the same type of “mental disorder”. All of them suffer from insanity, yet each responds differently. Lady Madeline seems to accept the fact that she is insane and continues her life with that knowledge. Roderick Usher appears realize his mental state and struggles very hard to hold on to his sanity. The narrator, who is slowly but surely contraction the disease, wants to deny what he sees, hears, and senses. He...
