The story begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the
house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a
distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking for his help.
As he arrives, the narrator notes a thin crack extending from the roof, down
the front of the building and into the lake. Although Poe wrote this short
story before the invention of modern psychological science, Roderick's
condition can be described according to its terminology. It includes a form of
sensory overload known as hyperesthesia (hypersensitivity to textures, light,
sounds, smells and tastes), hypochondria (an excessive preoccupation or worry
about having a serious illness) and acute anxiety. It is revealed that Roderick's
twin sister, Madeline, is also ill and falls into cataleptic, deathlike
trances. The narrator is impressed with Roderick's paintings, and attempts to
cheer him by reading with him and listening to his improvised musical
compositions on the guitar. Roderick sings "The Haunted Palace", then
tells the narrator that he believes the house he lives in to be alive, and that
this sentience arises from the arrangement of the masonry and vegetation
surrounding it. //ir
