# incest in "the fall of the house of usher"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 16, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576 "2003-11-16T19:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/1 "2003-11-16T19:40:53Z")
I am reading a paper by a student in which he claims that the comment Poe makes about the Usher family demonstrating “a direct line of descent” means that there is the suggestion of incest among members of the Usher family. I always took that phrase pretty innocently: Usher has no sons, so there are no more Ushers after him (and Madeline). Am I missing something? Is there any evidence whatsoever that incest among Roderick and company exists? Does “direct line of descent” suggest incest somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/2 "2003-11-16T20:39:56Z")
Wha? I thought the whole dang story was about incest! What class do you teach? At what level? If this student isn’t remarkably bright, and you haven’t even hinted at this theme in the story while teaching it, the boy has done his homework (whether he picked up on this by himself, simply didn’t understand the story and researched it further online and discovered this, which is totally legit, or cut and pasted something right off the internet, I don’t know). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/3 "2003-11-16T20:50:27Z")
Wait, you teach English, and you didn’t know that _The Fall of the House of Usher_ was about incest? ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/4 "2003-11-16T20:56:20Z")
Well I always thought Roderick was a wee bit too torn up over Madeline’s death. I’d have to pull the story again but there does seem to be things alluded to on Madeline’s side that she was MORE than just her bro’s housekeeper.😉 ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/5 "2003-11-16T21:02:56Z")
The story has subliminal incest, maybe. But the phrase, “direct line of descent” does not mean anything incestuous. I am a direct descendant of my father, & an indirect descendant of my uncle. That’s all the term means—presumably even in Poe. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/6 "2003-11-16T21:06:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*Wha? I thought the whole dang story was about incest! > \*\* Ditto! I saw the movie (in Jr High) before I read it and it’s pretty damn obvious in there. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/7 "2003-11-16T22:42:41Z")
You can’t judge Poe’s work by movies with the same titles. There were no dueling wizards in “The Raven”. On the other hand, “that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honored 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 descent,” is suggestive. Their family tree doesn’t branch, and ends with a brother and sister who never leave the house. Would a forbidden lust help explain why Usher would leave his “beloved” sister alive in a tomb? But I don’t think anything in the story proves that Roderick and Madeline were actually doing it, and I don’t think it’s “about incest” anymore than it’s about abstract art. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/8 "2003-11-16T23:08:56Z")
Usher, that degenerate prick, Harbored fantasies twisted and sick 'Til a flaw in the mansion, Much worse than my scansion, Covered Usher and sister with brick. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/9 "2003-11-16T23:19:18Z")
Wasn’t his sister dying of some strange disease as well? It’s been so long since I read the story. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/10 "2003-11-16T23:28:30Z")
Yes, although she may not have been dying fast enough for all concerned. Here’s a perfectly legal link to the story: [http://www.bartleby.com/195/10.html](http://www.bartleby.com/195/10.html) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/11 "2003-11-16T23:43:53Z")
Oh thank you so much. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/12 "2003-11-17T04:34:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Wait, you teach English, and you didn’t know that _The Fall of the House of Usher_ was about incest? \*\* Um…yes. And frankly, I’m still not buying it. I still see nothing in the story that is evidence that it exists. That Roderick lives in the same house as his sister isn’t evidence as far as I’m concerned. Oh well. It never even entered my mind. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/13 "2003-11-17T05:26:57Z")
I have on professor who insists there is an incestual subtext. I have another professor who thinks it’s a load of bull…and as for me, I see sexual subtext everywhere, so I doubt my own interp…I guess that AFAIC, as long as a student can offer more evidence then “direct like of descent”, it’s a valid interp… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/incest-in-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/213576/14 "2003-11-17T06:03:50Z")
I can see not buying the incest interpretation, but you’ve never even _heard_ of it before? Wow.