Final answer:
After Madeline Usher's death in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' her brother Roderick and the narrator entomb her body within the house to prevent doctors from examining her. This action, as with much of the story, reflects the themes of decay and inevitable doom inherent in the narrative and in Poe's portrayal of the human condition.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," after Madeline dies, Roderick Usher and the narrator place her body in a temporary tomb within the house itself. They do this because Roderick fears the doctors will want to examine her body to study the strange disease she suffered from, potentially desecrating her remains. A specific example from the text illustrating this comes when the narrator describes sealing Madeline's coffin and placing it in a vault deep within the walls of the house. Poe's use of mirror reflections in the narrative serves to emphasize the themes of decay, insanity, and the inevitable doom of the Usher line.
The grim atmosphere and the actions surrounding Madeline's death reflect the decaying state of the Usher family and the house itself, which can be seen as a metaphor for their lineage and the human condition. Edgar Allan Poe effectively uses the narrator's point of view to convey the sense of entrapment and dread that permeates the story, leading to the ultimate demise of Roderick and the literal collapse of the Usher household, a cornerstone of the story's theme of inevitable destruction.