The Fall of the House of Ushers

No, Madeline is not dead when she is placed into the coffin. I was confused when I first read this story because I couldn't understand how one my confuse someone to be dead. After reading about the it made more sense. Catalepsy is a nervous condition characterized by muscular rigidity and the the stiffening of the body no matter the external stimuli. People who suffer from this disease also have a decreased sensitivity to pain. I could definitely see someone in that time is seems to be mad themselves could mistake this disease for death. This would explain how she didn't move when being mummified. Her lack of pain could explain her strength to open the coffin and break free. Even when she busts into the room where Roderick Usher and the narrator she was covered in blood but it appeared to have no affect on her. I don't know if I would call it ironic or not, that she was buried believed to be dead but was really alive. However you might say it was that her own brother who was very disturbed might fall to her hands, in the manner in which he had dreaded. It was her illness that could have caused the confusion of her death. However Roderick Usher died in the way in which his illness had long since tormented him.

On a side note, I do not think that she was murdered/attempted murder but one could make an argument for it. Roderick Usher told the narrator when he, the narrator, saw Madeline that that would be the last time he see her alive. This seems to have a sinister feel behind it. It was also Roderick that claimed Madeline to be dead, when really she wasn't. Also towards the end of the short story he mumbles how he had heard her but said nothing, how he thought she was living in the tomb, and how he feared for his life now that she was free. These could all be signs to a darker secret, that Roderick was trying to kill Madeline without anyone knowing.