Madeline Usher in Boston


The movie continually refers to Madeline Usher and Philip Winthrop meeting when she spent time in Boston, how she was full of life, how they were engaged, and then she left. What is never addressed, however, is why her brother would ever allow her to go to Boston in the first place if they were so cursed? And, if she had escaped his clutches, why return? This missing info really bothered me while I was watching the movie. Is there further explanation in Poe's original?

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This is something that puzzled me too. How did she get to Boston? Why did she go? Why did she go home to be under her brother's thumb again? Philip loved her and wanted to marry her, but knew nothing of her background? He did not know about her "eating disorder"? (unless it only manifested itself when she was at home). This is a great movie, but these questions kept beating around my head as I watched it.

"There is nothing in my dish but my dish!" James Cocoa-"Murder by Death"

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Why did she go home to be under her brother's thumb again?


That's not exactly an accurate characterization of the film version's Mads character. Mads liked abiding by the same rules as Rod did and fulfilling her obligations to her House. It's not like Rod was forcing her to do so against her will (which is what your statement/question that I've quoted implies). Mads would still have been more loyal to her House than to Philip even if Rod wasn't there to hate on Philip too.

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In Poe, the narrator does not have a relationship with Madeleine. He is a childhood friend of Roderick's and is called to the house by Roderick because he fears that he and his sister are dying. Thus, Poe has no explanation for this.

The short story is fantastic and spooky as hell, but I still enjoyed the movie. I think the writers just needed to add another dimension to the story to extend it to 80 minutes.

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I think the writers just needed to add another dimension to the story to extend it to 80 minutes.


Yes, but even more importantly, they needed to create drama for the film story. To do that, they had to make Philip be Roderick's rival. If they had Philip be Rod's best pal like in the short story, there would be no drama in the film and therefore it would be terrible.

I agree with the OP though that they needed to give better explanations as to why Mads left the House and why Rod let her do so.

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It does make you wonder.

Especially when contradicting lines like, "You know what would happen if you left this house." and "When you were in Boston..." keep getting brought up.

But I also remember Roderick saying his acute sensibilities were worse for having existed the longest. Maybe Madeline's younger age can explain why she was able to leave for a short time?

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Or she never had them at all and it was all just projected on her by Roderick.

"There is nothing in my dish but my dish!" James Cocoa-"Murder by Death"

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My guess is that The curse had never touched her in her life prior to her going to Boston and only begun to do so for the first time when she got back home.

''I can refute ANY argument !'' -- RexFDR

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That makes sense.

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While I personally lean toward Roderick projecting his "peculiarities of temperment" upon his sister as the most likely theory, there is always the possibility that Madeline's sudden departure from Boston was as the result of the onset of her illness.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

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I speculate that her and Roderick are interconnected and an extension of the house. The house is in bad form, and on the verge of collapsing which symbolizes the health of Roderick and Madeline.

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