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Irony and Inevitable Justice in Poe's Gothic Works

            In Edgar Allen Poe's gothic masterpieces, "The Fall of the House of Usher " and "The Cast of Amontillado" the author structures each story around the theme of inevitable guilt and punishment after a criminal or immoral act has been committed. "The Fall of the House of Usher" chronicles the moral and mental decay of Roderick Usher , whose incestuous relationship with his own twin sister leads to his eventual madness and ruin. "The Cast of Amontillado" is similar to "The Fall of the House of Usher " in that the perpetrator and narrator of the crime goes mad from his feelings of guilt over the murder of his enemy. In each story Poe uses the main character to illustrate the inescapable workings of fate which bring retribution to all crimes.
             In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher ," the author uses the main character to illustrate the inevitability of punishment for an immoral act. The narrator tells the story of his boyhood companion, Roderick Usher , who summons him to his "mansion of gloom" (Poe 529) after suffering a prolonged illness of the mind. During his visit, Roderick's twin sister, the Lady Madeline dies from an unknown malady. The two bear the deceased Lady Madeline to her tomb and lay her low in one of the abandoned catacombs buried deep beneath the house . In an effort to calm Roderick's anxieties about his sister's death, the narrator reads to him from the "Mad Trist" by Sir Lancelot Canning, a purely fictional volume created by Poe. The title of the fabricated story reveals the immoral act for which Roderick and the House of Usher is to fall. The "Mad .
             Trist" is a reference to the incestuous relationship between the Lady Madeline and her twin brother Roderick. Madeline's last act of retribution likens her to the conquering knight the story speaks of while Roderick takes the place of the ravaged maiden, helpless to defend himself against her wrath. The gothic tale ends with a horrific twist.


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