The Fall of the House of Usher Chronological Order

Which event came first?

• The narrator explains that his boyhood companion, Roderick, had written to him to try to lift his spirits.

• The narrator discovers that Roderick and Madeline are actually twins!

Which event came first?

• Usher and the narrator begin to spend much time together, and although Usher is unable to stand music, he sings “The Haunted Palace” along with his guitar.

• Roderick becomes hysterical and screams that his sister was still alive when they buried her.

• Madeline dies and Usher decides to temporarily put her body in a vault within the house.

Which event came first?

• Usher explains that he is suffering a sickness that has arisen from a “family evil.” Because of it, his senses are overly acute.

• Madeline falls on Roderick and they both die on the floor.

Which event came first?

• The narrator enters the house and notes how old and lifeless it is.

• Usher’s sickness gets worse and worse and he wanders from room to room with no luster in his eye.

• The narrator begins to read the “Mad Trist” by Sir Launcelot Canning, a story of a knight who breaks into a home to escape a storm but is met instead with a dragon

Which event came first?

• Roderick Usher welcomes the narrator very warmly and is much changed since boyhood. He appears pallid and seems exceedingly nervous.

• The narrator flees from the house. He turns to look at it and the house splits in two.

• The narrator arrives at the house of Usher and finds it ominous and ultra-gloomy.

Which event came first?

• The bedroom door blows open and Madeline, still alive stands in front of Usher and the narrator.

• Usher knocks on the narrator’s door then opens a window to a wild raging storm outside.

Which event came first?

• Madeline makes a brief, eerie appearance, then disappears.

• The house starts to mimic sounds made in the “Mad Tryst.”

• Usher and the narrator read many books together including one of their favorites, an edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum.

Which event came first?

• Usher explains that he is suffering a sickness that has arisen from a “family evil.” Because of it, his senses are overly acute.

• Roderick Usher welcomes the narrator very warmly and is much changed since boyhood. He appears pallid and seems exceedingly nervous.

• Madeline makes a brief, eerie appearance, then disappears.

Which event came first?

• The narrator flees from the house. He turns to look at it and the house splits in two.

• Madeline falls on Roderick and they both die on the floor.

• Roderick becomes hysterical and screams that his sister was still alive when they buried her