The same is true of the people inside. They live in a kind of living death, waiting for the end to claim them.
The idea of dual life and death culminates in Roderick's sister, whose image in perceived death is one of smiling peace, almost as if still alive. The narrator's comparison of her similarity to her brother can be interpreted both literally and more supernaturally. As Roderick explains, they are twins. It is only however when he believes her to have died that the narrator makes this comparison, indicating a rather more morbid interpretation: she is dead, and he is close to it.
In terms of life and death, reality and the supernatural appear to merge when the narrator thinks he hears noises and screams in the house, at which point he believes himself to be affected by the psychological state of his host. Only too late however does he discover that the noises were no phantasms of his strained mind, but in reality the attempts of the "dead" sister to escape her crypt. This is Poe's final decadent element in the story that culminates in the final horror of brother and sister falling together in death. The building itself soon follows, signifying the end of the Usher line.
Poe's depiction of the House of Usher is symbolically and stylistic firmly rooted in the Decadent style. From the first paragraph discussed above, to the final decay and fall, the story...
This indicates a complete change in society from a centuries-old system making way for a new and different system. Ancient heritage is also emphasized by the House of Usher not only in terms of decay, but also in terms of the family line and the establishment of the house itself. As in the first paragraph, there is the continual contrast of the aged and the new, the reality of decay and the dreamy glories of the past.
The mental illness of the last Usher and the living burial of his sister refers to a kind of living death experienced by the aristocracy during this period. While there was no longer any true use for the aristocracy, having lived for so long, their death could be neither easy nor quick.
In this contrast between life and death, harsh reality and opium dream, Poe has crafted a very stylish story relating to the tragedy and the gloom of what he saw as a glory that could no longer hold sway in the world that was becoming.
The Fall of the House of Usher" was as complete as it was extreme. It was predicted in the first paragraph and culminated in the last. It was as inevitable as it was tragic. The narrator could be seen to represent the future; without his aristocratic friend, he is symbolic of a world without the ancient and beautiful aristocratic families and buildings.
