Poe includes some interesting mirror images in "The Fall of the House of Usher" including the image of
the House of Usher mirrored in the tarn, the decay of the house mirrored in the decay of Roderick, and the
twins, Roderick and Madeline, who mirror each other. Critics have offered many interpretations of the
meaning of these double images. Roderick and Madeline, for example, are twins and share a "striking
similitude", they share a family illness, and they die together. How do these mirror images contribute to the theme and plot of the story?