Edgar Allan Poe composed “The Fall of the House of Usher” about two decades before Abraham Lincoln warned those who lived above and below Mason -Dixon on the dangers of trying to live comfortably in a house divided against itself. Lincoln's warning against reliance on the structural foundations of such a home can be applied with equal metaphorical application to Poe's story. The story told in this example of Gothic literature is sufficiently detailed and broad enough in allegorical mysteries that one of the reasons for its longevity is surely the ability to read a very large number of interpretations into it. , all of whom are capable of doing so. to ring true to some extent. The extent to which an interpretation of the details Poe provides in "The Fall of the House of Usher" rings true ultimately depends on how far one strays from its allegorical foundation. Interpreted as a literal example of how a house divided cannot stand, the allegorical component paradoxically becomes even stronger. The first step in arriving at this interpretation begins by abandoning one of the most widespread and damaging literal explanations behind one of those meager details applied in broad strokes from Poe's pen. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Lincoln's warning echoes through time to that dark and stormy night (or so a typical reader might wish) when Poe took up his pen and put it to paper the phrase that is perhaps the key to uncovering the mysterious meaning of the story: “A striking similarity between the brother and sister first attracted my attention; and Usher, perhaps guessing my thoughts, murmured a few words by which I learned that he and the deceased had been twins, and that sympathies of a scarcely intelligible nature had always existed between them. " For nearly two centuries, readers and critics have interpreted this striking and almost unintelligible connection between Roderick and Madeline as a literal allusion to incest. This interpretation clearly makes sense in light of the fact that Roderick believes his sister's death "would leave him hopeless and fragile). the last of the ancient race of Ushers. If Roderick's belief is true, there are only two possible conclusions: either the Ushers are a family whose lineage continues through generational incest, or Roderick is simply impotent. The problem is that either interpretation is clearly too clear cut to fit comfortably into a story that raises far more questions than it answers. The gothic nature of "The Fall of the House of Usher" indicates that Poe was suggesting something much deeper and supernatural at work in the relationship between the Ushers. The narrator describes Usher House as "an appellation which seemed to include, in the minds of the peasants who used it, both the family and the family manor. honored as it was, had produced, at no time, any lasting branch; in other words, that the whole family was in the direct line of descent, and had always, with very insignificant and very temporary variations, been so. One only needs to have the courage to endure a single viewing of an episode of The letter and limited only to Usher family, Roderick and Madeline would be in much more horrible physical and psychological states.