brass had indeed, at the moment, fallen heavily upon a floor of silver.” (Poe 39) The narrator immediately panicked and Roderick sits still with no reaction. He proceeded to read the story and as he read the scrapping of the doors Madeline appeared at the doors. They had prematurely buried her and the narrator had noticed “a faint blush upon the bosom and the face” (Poe 34) but did and said nothing and continued with Roderick’s request. It is becomes apparent that the narrator is no longer just a passive witness but an accomplice. As Madeline entered the room she “fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother , and in her violent Alvarado, 5and now final death-agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse, and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated.” (Poe 40) The narrator shows us that fear can restrain us from actions that could be beneficial and how fear can be passed on to others , from Roderick to the narrator. He studied all of Roderick’s fears closely, meanwhile he was ignoring his own. The narrator was in search of fulfilling his fear of loneliness and his want for adventure through Roderick’s life. It is suggested throughout the story that the events taking place are merely dreams, fragments of the narrators imagination. Poe writes that the image of the house “must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the real aspect of the building.” There are also several references made to the hallucinations being induced to the use of opium. It could also be possible that Roderick was the narrators alter ego. As stated in Edgar Allan Poe’s House of Usher , “In meeting Usher, the narrator is symbolically staring into the face of his psychological double”. Poe shows us that excessive fear can lead to insanity. As the narrator quickly fled the house and looked back to see the House of Usher sink out of sight. The collapse of the house is symbolic to the...
