The Fall of the House of Usher vs. Ligeia

I found many similiarities when reading "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "Ligeia".   In both stories there are two characters who have, in a way, dual identites. In "House of Usher" we find out that Roderick and his sister, Madeline, are twins; both identical in apperance.  In "Ligeia",  Rowena and Ligeia are almost like the two sides of every woman (Rowena being the blonde, blue-eyed beauty and Ligeia being the dark haired, dark eyed, intellegent woman); both being beautiful in the other ways that the other woman is not. 

Also, in both stories there seems to be some external representation of the internal struggles of the characters in the story.  In "House of Usher", the struggle Roderick is having with his sister can be represented by the zig-zaged crack in the front of the house. Showing the literal division of these two people who live in the same house and who you would think would be closer (since they are twins).

"Perhaps the eye of a scrutinizing observer might have discovered a barely perceptible fissure, which, extending from the roof of the building in front, made its way down the wall in a zigzag direction, until it became lost in the sullen waters of the tarn." (pg. 874)

In "Ligeia", he mentions the city in which he meets his beloved.  The city is dwindling away; much as his beloved Ligeia is during her illness.

"Yet I believe that I met her first and most frequently in some large, old, decaying city near the Rhine" (pg. 862)

Finally, in the end of both stories we see the dead rising from their graves.  In "House of Usher", we see Madeline being buried alive and rising to seek revenge on her brother for doing so--and Roderick dies in fear of the attack of his sister.  And in "Ligeia" we see Ligeia coming back in Rowena's body for reasons that the readers are never told. We are left to wonder what happens to Ligeia and the narrator. 

The main difference I saw between the two stories is, although they both have supernatural and terrifying aspects to them (i.e., the dead coming back), "Ligeia" seemed to me as more of a love story (with the narrator confessing his love and obsession with the Lady Ligeia) and "House of Usher" seemed more of Poe's classic horror story.

Both are great examples of Poe's gothic style of writing: showing loss, death, madness, etc. Overall, I think both stories were written very well. However, I think I liked "The Fall of the House of Usher" more, because I think I liked the overall creepiness and uneasiness I felt throughout the story; whereas, in "Ligeia" I got over his obsessive rambling of how she looked very quickly.