Poe's famous horror story has fascinated poets, dramatists and composers for over a century. Poe hints at much, but states hardly anything at all. Is the story real, or is it a hallucination? What are the relationships between the narrator (William), his friend Roderick Usher, and Roderick's dying sister, Madeleine? Has she been buried alive, or is it a demon from hell who takes such spectacular revenge at the end? And is the vast house in which they live a living, malignant entity? Incest, homosexuality, murder and supernatural hang in the air, but, then again, such things may exist only in the imagination of the audience.
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