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Roderick Usher
The owner of the mansion and last male in the Usher line. Roderick functions as a doppelganger, or character double, for his twin sister, Madeline. He represents the mind to her body and suffers from the mental counterpart of her physical illness.
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Madeline Usher
Roderick’s twin sister and victim of catalepsy, a mysterious incapacitating illness. Because the narrator is surprised to discover that Madeline is a twin, she signals the narrator’s outsider relationship to the house of Usher.
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The Narrator
Roderick Usher’s best boyhood friend. Contacted by Roderick during his emotional distress, the narrator knows little about the house of Usher and is the first outsider to visit the mansion in many years.
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The Physician
A family doctor who tends to Roderick and Madeline. Although his appearance is brief, Poe’s description of his expression (“low cunning mixed with perplexity”) suggests that he may be unscrupulous or could be hiding a secret.
