Friday, July 17, 2009
House of Usher
I do not think Madeline was dead when she was put in the coffin. After looking up the definition of catalepsy, I understood that she was virtually frozen in her posture while laying in the coffin at first. I think it is a mystery if she was murdered. One way of thinking is they really thought she was dead since she was frozen in place, but also Usher states he heard the noises for days so that makes me think the negligence killed her. Catalepsy seem to be a strange diseases and Usher already a mad man did not know how to handle it. So I think he murdered her in a round about way. It was a tough story to follow, but it was interesting when the friend was reading the book and as he would describe what was going on, he would hear a similar noise.
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I also think their ideas of medicine and diseases were very closed minded during that time. They just assumed she was dead because she was "frozen" in her bed and coffin, this could happen because Usher was already going crazy and this could have been the icing on the cake. When he starts hearing noises he believes his "dark secret" is what killed her and she is coming back for revenge. It was surprising when I first read it and learned Madeline in fact had not died before being put into the coffin.
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