ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -One conclusion to be drawn from the final scene is that Roderick dies of fear. Madeline rushes upon him and he falls to the floor a corpse, too terrified to go on living. As we’ll talk about in Madeline’s “Character Analysis, ” it’s even possible that Madeline is just a physical embodiment of Roderick’s fears.

Detailed explanation-2: -Roderick only fears fear itself – his fears focus on no tangible ends. By the end of the story, the narrator comes dangerously close to being as fearful and paranoid as Roderick is.

Detailed explanation-3: -Roderick isn’t afraid of death or pain; he is afraid of fear. And as he predicts, this is precisely what he dies of, when Madeline comes back from her tomb and scares him to death. Over and over again, the narrator reiterates the impossibility of his accurately conveying the events of this episode on the written page.

Detailed explanation-4: -The narrator describes discoloration, fungi, web-work on eaves, crumbling condition of individual stones, rotted woodwork and extensive decay. What is Roderick Usher afraid will happen to him? He is afraid of fear itself and the future.

Detailed explanation-5: -Roderick exhibits eccentric traits characteristic of schizotypal personality disorder and, as the tale unfolds, manifests symptoms of schizophrenia. While the narrator strives to hold onto his rationality, he eventu-ally becomes, in his own words, “infected” by Roderick’s superstitious beliefs.