madness

This is a standard question when it comes to Poe. Many consider Poe mad, but he sure can write a creepy story! I think, in Usher's case, the narrator is fairly benign. Unlike the narrator in say Tell Tale Hart, the one in Usher doesn't really have any mad genius to prove. We don't see any "look at me, I decapitate people but nobody will ever find out!" I suppose he is there to help his Roderick and Roderick certainly has mental issues. In the end, we can say that the narrator is separated enough from the "crazy" that we can say Usher is the mad one.