THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INCEST AND THE GOTHIC MOTIF IN EDGAR ALLAN POES “THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER”Kerri PEARSON,Salem State College, Salem, MAKerriannepgmail.comAbstract. In Poes “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the underlying intimation of the incestuous union between twin siblings, Roderick and Madeline, serves as an extension of Poes use of the doppelganger motif. My paper explores this insinuation of sibling incest, apparently left out of the scholarly conversation on this particular tale, as an ingredient of the Gothic mode. The allusion to incest in “The Fall of the House of Usher” is directly related to the characters slow and withering demise. More importantly, it is outright related to the violent deaths of both brother and sister. Keywords: Poe, Usher, doppelganger, Gothic, incestOne of the most interesting literary motifs present in the short fiction of Edgar Allan Poe is his infusion of diverse elements of the German Gothic tradition. The Gothic literary tradition is a synthesis of two genres: the romantic and the horrific; yet the origins of Gothic influence in literature and myth can be traced back to ancient folklore. Traces of the Gothic tradition in literature are often found in stories and novels that employ the use of tropes such as eerie supernaturalism, haunted or cursed houses and castles, storms and darkness, decadence, and of course, the formidable doppelganger motif. In Poes “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the underlying intimation of the incestuous union between twin siblings, Roderick and Madeline, serves as an extension of Poes use of the doppelganger motif. The word “doppelganger” translates literally from the German to mean, “double-walker.” Thus, the twins Roderick and Madeline are “double-walkers” of a sort; they are a close version of each other despite their differences in gender. Poe is undeniably employing conventions of the Gothic tradition in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” incorporating elements such as the dark setting, the haunted house, characters who exhibit madness, the motif of doubles, or the doppelganger. Yet what has seemingly been left out of the scholarly conversation on this particular tale is an exploration of the insinuation of sibling incest in the story and how it relates specifically to the doppelganger motif and thus, as an extension of the Gothic mode. The allusion to incest in “The Fall of the House of Usher” is directly related to the characters slow and withering demise. More importantly, it is outright related to the violent deaths of both brother and sister. The influence of the Gothic tradition in European fiction took nearly a century to reach America (Hume 1969: 282). The European origins of Gothic literature are often attributed to 18th century novels such as Horace Walpoles The Castle of Otranto and Charles Robert Maturins Melmoth the Wanderer. The American Gothic literary tradition, which was popularized in America nearly a century later is often credited in its popularity to authors such as Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and later, William Faulkner and Flannery OConnor. In his essay, “Gothic versus Romantic: A Revaluation of the Gothic Novel,” Robert D. Hume writes that the tradition “can be seen as a widespread shift away from the neoclassical ideals of order and reason, toward a romantic belief in emotion and imagination” (1969: 282). Certainly Poes short works employ elements of the romantic and as an author, he aims to excite readers imagination and in exploring their deepest fears, he seeks to consequently heighten their emotions. In “The Return of Negation: The Doppelganger in Freuds The Uncanny,” Dimitrius Vardoulakis writes that, “The doppelganger as a motif arose within German Romanticism and became a canonical theme in Gothic literature. The term was coined by Jean Paul in his novel Siebenkas, published in 1796” (2006: 100). Vardoulakis explains that “Doppelganger characters” in literature “tend to be associated with evil and the demonica notion of the subject/subjectivity that is defective, disjointed, split, threatening, spectral” (ibid.). While this description is certainly more applicable to Poes short story “William Wilson” wherein the main character discovers his defective moral conscious is split into two personalities and he attempts to murder his morally superior half. However, Vardoulakis description of the “spectral” element of the doppelganger motif can certainly be applied to “The Fall of the House of Usher” (ibid.). Madeline is often described as “ghostly” when the narrator first notices her passing slowly through the halls and the narrators initial description of Roderick describes his “ghostly pallor” (Poe 2004: 203). The spectral or supernatural element in fiction is perhaps most commonly associated with more general Gothic fictional conventions.In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the infusion of the Gothic tradition is established immediately as Poe