Lady Madeline’s struggle against the pressure of her malady shapes and reflects Roderick Usher’s concern about the commitment to responsibility for his family. The stem of the Usher race had a deficiency and because of this the entire family lay in a direct line of descent; with very trifling and very temporary variations in the long passing of centuries. This remarkable fact might affect both the character of the house and the character of the people who have dwelt in it. Roderick Usher’s malady was a constitutional and a family evil and one for which he despairs to find a remedy – a mere nervous affliction which would undoubtedly soon be transferred from generation to generation. He suffers much from a morbid acuteness of the senses. The disease of the lady Madeline is also an unusual type of illness. She has struggled against the pressure of her malady. The story reveals that lady Madeline finally passes away and her corpse is preserved for a fortnight in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building. This macabre sense of deep melancholy which has dominated Roderick Usher shapes and reflects his concern about the commitment to responsibility for his family. Although Roderick Usher tells the narrator that he has his resolution “by consideration of the unusual character of