What do our two characters have in common other than the simple fact that they are losing their minds. In “The Fall of House Usher” Poe tells the story of an individual deeply tormented by the death of a sister and a long series of family misadventures. He is a prisoner in his own mind, with no possibility of escape. As in “The YellowWallpaper”, Gilman tells of a woman deeply tormented by her own mind. She is dragged into a reality of her own where she is the only one who can free herself. Being prisoners, these two main characters share a common theme and sense of symbolism in how they live and get around every day. The plots, while very different, each tell a unique story of impressions and the death of one's mind. Imprisonment within oneself can be a terrible tragedy. Roderick in “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a prisoner in his own mind. He's trapped in the house because he feels like that's the only place he belongs. In a dialogue between the narrator and Roderick we see proof of this: “By an anomalous kind of terror I found him a bound slave. “I will perish,” he said, “I must perish in this deplorable madness. Thus, thus and not otherwise, I will be lost. I fear the events of the future, not in themselves, but in their results. I tremble at the thought of any incident, even the most trivial, that can operate on this intolerable agitation of the soul”” (Poe 235). As with the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” we see that she too is a prisoner in her own mind. A little dialogue between the narrator and her husband John tells us about her belief in this thought: “John is so happy to see me getting better! He laughed a little... middle of paper... the character is vastly different and yet they both share the same notion of imprisonment within themselves. Roderick fights battles in his brain to decide whether his actions were right, and he will. his sister's resurrection actually takes place. Will he be a dead but living ghost of who he was? And would she chase him? Yes and yes, as you could see, she came back and chased Roderick. As for the old woman, she was a tenacious woman, strong and sure of everything, and it was the yellow wallpaper that drove her mad. Both start out sane and end up insane. Yet everyone has a completely different way of proceeding. Both Roderick and the old woman struggle with their own demons in their heads by the end of their stories. Each is a different battle, but in the end, madness is nothing more than a common factor.