The Fall of the House of Usher

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The Fall of the House of Usher There are many differences and similarities to compare and contrast between Roger Corman’s movie in 1960 of The Fall of the House of Usher based on Edgar Allan Poe’s 1839 short story, “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Some of these differences include the characters, family history, and Madeline’s death. There are more differences than similarities within the movie and short story, but these differences have the most effect. These differences change the whole story around to where it can be viewed from a different perspective than before. These differences play a big role in both the short story and the movie. One difference that really stood out was the main characters. In the short story, the brother and sister were fraternal twins. Also, the guest in the short story is one of Roderick’s old childhood friends. However, in the movie Roderick is much older than Madeline and the guest is her fiancé and his name was Philip Winthrop. They also have a butler named Bristol who has worked for their family for over sixty years. The characters in the movie were clean and looked healthy, whereas in the short story, they were described as sick looking and Madeline was said to be emaciated. Some of the details stayed the same in both such as the names of Roderick and Madeline, their illnesses, and the way the house is described. Also, another difference between the short story and the movie is the Usher family history. In the short story, their family is referred to as being incest and having incest relations in the past. In the movie, the family was said to be criminals such as jewel thefts, murderers, and slave traders. Their bodies were in caskets in the basement of the house. The house in the movie was being haunted by the ancestors, but in the short story that was not brought up. Either way, the Usher family did not have a very good

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