Were the other dead relatives rising out of coffins as well?
I didn't see any chains around those coffins.
shareI don't think anybody was rising from graves. I think, through his own madness, Roderick created a self-fulfilling prophecy, driving his perfectly sane sister mad in the process and creating the very things that in his own mind were the concrete truths for the future that he so worried about, though his actions weren't driven by any intended malice on his part -- just insanity. The coffins were probably dislodged during the house's upheavals caused by the fissure as it was rotting. Though I suppose it could be seen as being ambiguous.
shareDon't forget, Madeline was also cataleptic and insanity doesn't simply run in the Usher family...it gallops. There's no guarantee of "happily ever after" even if Philip got her away.
share