Euphemism In The Fall Of The House Of Usher

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In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the author Edgar Allen Poe uses the euphemism “the family lay in direct line of descent” (Poe 1) to show the meaning of incest has on the entire story that which causes guilt, desperation, and homicide. The history of incest in the Usher family and the incest Roderick and Madeline are guilty of causes Roderick to try to dispose of his guilt. He expresses to the narrator that he wishes to destroy this malady he describes as a “constitutional and family evil, and one of which he despaired to find a remedy” (Poe 3). Though the reader could assume that Roderick just talks about the physical illness he possesses that is described. Roderick tries to bury his own personal guilt – his sister, “a tenderly beloved