Question

• Poe writes, “I had learned, too, the very remarkable fact that the stem of the usher race, all time-honoured as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch; in other words, that the entire family lay in the direct line of escent, & had always, with very trifling & very temporary variation, so lain.” He’s saying that the Ushers never married outside their own family. What is the purpose of having the Usher twins be in an incestuous relationship for the story? Explain your answer.
• Both “Tell Tale Heart” & “Fall of the House of Usher” make use of the idea of a heartbeat that only one character can hear as a trigger for a nervous breakdown. What is the symbolism of the beating heart (in either story)? Use the text to support your answer.

Answer 1

Well, Poe suggests that the twin relationship involves not only physical similitude but also psychological or super natural communication. The power of the intimate relationship between the twins pervades/permeate the incestuous scaffolding of Usher line/string, since the mansion contains all surviving branches of the family.(a)In the story Tell Tale Heart is about a ill man who stays with an old man, that man was very ill he could hear noise in his mind, he killed the old, since he thought he could hear old man's heart, he covered the old man face with bedcover, old cried loudly but he didn't stop till the heart of old man stop beating then he buried his body by cutting it into pieces and not let blood drop on the ground, after burying the old man body he sat for a while, suddenly someone rings the door bell, that ill man opened the door without any hesitation and fear, there was 3 officers at the door, they came to check and investigate since someone in the neighborhood complained about loud noises of an Old Man crying, so that ill man said there is no one at home and old man has gone to visit on his friend house, so tried to make the officer believe in his story, they sat in the old man room and talked for a while, suddenly that ill man again started to hear the sound of clock through the wall it started getting louder that it made ill man angry and he spilled out the truth from his own mouth to the police officer that he killed the old man and he had buried him below the board; and that ill man kept on saying why does old man's heart not stop beating ? why does it not stop!?. (b) Fall of the house of Usher- Madeline soon dies and Roderick usher buried her body in the tomb below the house with the help of narrator; since he wanted to keep Madeline's body because he fears that doctor will might dig up her body for scientific examination, as her disease was very strange/ unique to them. For next few days Roderick becomes even more uneasy, one night Roderick knocks at door of narrator and lead him towards window and they saw bright looking gas surrounded the house is a natural prodigy. To pass the night narrator decides to read a story i.e.. "Mad Trist" by sir Launcelot canning which is about medieval romance, As he reads the story he could hear noises that relates to the story descriptions. At first, narrator ignores those noises, as the conceit of his imagination. Soon, however they became more clearer and he can no longer ignore them. He also noticed that Roderick fell of from his chair and suddenly started to murmur and revealed to narrator that he has been hearing those sounds for days. And he believes that they had buried Madeline alive and she is try to escape and also yells to narrator that she is standing behind the door; the winds blows and opens door and confirms Roderick's fear, Madeline was standing in a white robe bloodied from her struggle. She attacks Roderick as the life drains from her and this made Roderick dies in fear. The narrator run away from the the Usher house and as soon as he escaped the entire house cracks along the break in the frame and collapse to the ground.