To be driven mad by sheer paranoia is nothing short of the many themes Poe depicts within his stories. Within “The Black Cat” there are many elements that can be taken differently to the reader. With the Narrator suffering from severe alcoholism we see him continuously getting more ill throughout the story, up until the point he murders his wife. Which it can be theorized that the narrator’s sort of subconscious jealousy of his wife was the underlying cause for his wrongful actions towards the cat Pluto. This caused his heavy paranoia to come too, eventually turning to schizophrenia.
Edgar Allan Poe had a difficult life not only as a child but also as an adult. Poe “was left as an orphan at an early age. He was then informally adopted by John
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He states early on that he “was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets.” (Poe, 435) This also followed him into his adulthood. So that he and his wife eventually ended up owning “birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.” (Poe, 435) This large black cat, whom is named Pluto, happens to be his favorite out of all his pets. Keeping him to a higher standard than all of his other pets. The narrator even mentions that when his down fall with alcoholism started happening he would say terrible things to his wife. With his pets he “not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him.” (Poe, 435) Thus proving his love and desire for Pluto. Although after one night of drinking the narrator came home wanting to spend time with his beloved cat, only to be avoided in return. So he then decided to seize the cat, causing him to be bitten. At that very moment his good nature towards Pluto came to a halt. The narrator then goes to explain his terrible deed that he had done “I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast be the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!” (Poe, …show more content…
As his drinking increased it changed his behavior, he used to be such gentle man with compassion for his pets and a wonderful equal of a wife. Though once he had too much to drink he would go and abuse his animals along with verbally attacking his wife. As he grew more into a monster she stayed the same as she ever was, a woman of “high degree, that humanity of feeling” (Poe, 437) which had been one of his greatest traits. This could have been his subconscious source of internal struggles and the “fury of a demon” (Poe, 435) as he tends to put it. It would seem that he was infatuated with the new cat, of how it warmed up to him so quickly and the similarities between it and Pluto. That is until he brings it home and it “became immediately a great favorite with my wife.” (Poe, 437) At this point he begins to dislike the cat, and with every attempt it would make to show affection toward him it would grow more and more into hatred. This is until he suffers from nightmares and hallucinations with the cat’s appearance, resembling the gouged eye of Pluto and of the noose he hung him with. Though once the unfaithful moment comes when he has “a rage more than demonical” (Poe, 438) he murders his wife with the axe meant for the cat. After the fatal blow it seems he suffers no remorse for what he had done. In fact he puts that he had accomplished the
Edgar Allan Poe’s life had a lot to do with his madness in his writings. This is present in Poe’s short story “The Black Cat”(1843). “On the night of the day on which this most cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed...
Poe carefully details the most brutal scenes of his stories, a quality shared by many of his works. Within “The Black Cat,” three situations stand to illustrate Poe’s message: when the narrator stabs out Pluto’s eye, when the narrator hangs Pluto, and when the narrator murders his wife. Before the first violent act described in the story, the narrator is known to be a drunkard who abused his wife. No matter how despicable this may be, he is still a somewhat ordinary man. Nothing majorly sets him apart from any another, relating him to the common man. However, his affinity towards alcohol, led to “the fury of a demon” (2) that came over him as he “grasped the poor beast by the throat” (2) and proceeded to “cut one of its eyes from the socket.” (2) Poe’s gruesome description of the narrator as a destructive demon, one who was awakened by alcohol, connects his behavior to the common working-class man. Alcohol is a legal drug that can be obtained by many, and when consumed in excess leads to the uncontrollable madness that ensued. The descriptions of the act plants fear into the hearts of the readers, especially those who have consumed alcohol, of ever becoming such a
When Edgar Allan Poe was young, his father left him and his mother died, he was then taken in by his god father, and his wife, who had no children. Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston Massachusetts on January 19, 1809 (Werlock1) Poe’s parents, David Poe Jr., and Elizabeth Arnold, who were both very talented actors (Werlock1). Before Edgar turned three, his father David Poe, Jr., had left Poe and his mother (Werlock1). Also, his mother had died after moving her destitute family to Richmond Virginia(Barney1).Poe was then raised, but not adopted, by his god father, John Allan, in Richmond, of Virginia (Barney1).Allan took his wife, Frances Valentine Allan, and Edgar to England to visit, and al...
In "The Black Cat," the author, Edgar Allan Poe, uses a first person narrator who is portrayed as a maniac. Instead of having a loving life with his wife and pets, the narrator has a cynical attitude towards them due to his mental instability as well as the consumption of alcohol. The narrator is an alcoholic who takes out his own insecurities on his family. It can be very unfortunate and in some cases even disastrous to be mentally unstable. Things may take a turn for the worst when alcohol is involved, not only in the narrator's case, but in many other cases as well. Alcohol has numerous affects on people, some people may have positive affects while others, like the narrator in "The Black Cat," may have negative affects like causing physical and mental abuse to those he loved. The combination of the narrator's mental instability along with the consumption of alcohol caused the narrator to lose control of his mind as well as his actions leading him to the brink of insanity. Though the narrator is describing his story in hopes that the reader feels sympathy towards him, he tries to draw the attention to his abuse of alcohol to demonstrate the negative affects that it can take on your life as well as destroy it in the end.
Furthermore, Poe’s plot development added much of the effect of shocking insanity to “The Black Cat.” To dream up such an intricate plot of perverseness, alcoholism, murders, fire, revival, and punishment is quite amazing. This story has almost any plot element you can imagine a horror story containing. Who could have guessed, at the beginning of the story, that narrator had killed his wife? The course of events in “The Black Cat’s” plot is shockingly insane by itself! Moreover, the words in “The Black Cat” were precisely chosen to contribute to Poe’s effect of shocking insanity. As the narrator pens these he creates a splendidly morbid picture of the plot. Perfectly selected, sometimes rare, and often dark, his words create just the atmosphere that he desired in the story.
Gargano, James W. “’The Black Cat’: Perverseness Reconsidered.” Twentieth Century Interpretations of Poe’s Tales. Ed. William L. Howarth. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1971. 87-94. Print.
When the man’s anger finally capsized with the arrival of the second cat, his first intention was to kill the cat. Though this action was stopped by his wife leading to her death, his insanity reached the level of murder and feeling no remorse for his actions. In the poem, the man states, “This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body” (Poe 11). The use of “accomplished” and “task of concealing the body” shows the man feels nothing for the actions he had just performed. His craziness had complete control over him whether he blamed the alcohol or something truly wrong with him.
The narrator usually is telling the story almost like he is talking to someone, that someone being the readers. Poe sets up “Black Cat” with the narrator telling the readers he is not mad but then his story tells the exact opposite. Poe writes very Gothic style fiction in which Poe 's characters suffer from self-destruction. In the settings in “Black Cat” the narrator has already destroyed himself due to his alcoholism which he calls it a disease. As Poe uses keen detail on how the narrator goes into madness, readers see the narrator at the end as he tells that he is finally able to rest. The narrator says “It did not make its appearance during the night and thus for one night at least, since the introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept.” (700). He is able to rest because of the cat is not there to taunt him. Though he killed his wife it’s the fact that the beast, a name he calls the cat, is not there so he is able to have a great nights rest for the next 3 days. He follows up that quote with “The second and third day passes, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed a freeman. The monster in terror had fled the premises forever” (700)! He has paranoia because of the cat. The cat was unlike Pluto because the cat showed him affection as later on in the years due to abuse Pluto ran away from the narrator. He finds it strange that the cat looks like Pluto, with the gouged eye and all,
The presence of the two cats in the tale allows the narrator to see himself for who he truly is. In the beginning the narrator explains that his “tenderness of heart made him the jest of his companions”. (251) He also speaks of his love for animals that has remained with him from childhood into manhood. However, Poe contradicts this description of the narrator when he seems to become annoyed with the cat that he claims to love so much. While under the influence of alcohol the narrator is “fancied that the cat avoided his presence”(250) and as a result decides to brutally attack the cat. This black cat symbolizes the cruelty received by slaves from whites. The narrator not only “deliberately cuts one of the cats eyes from the sockets” (250) but he also goes on to hang the cat. Once the narrator successfully hangs the cat the tale begins to take a very dark and gothic-like turn. The racism and guilt of the narrator continues to haunt him once he has killed the black cat. Th...
In “The Black Cat”, the main character is consumed so much by his madness, which grows more and more as the story goes on and eventually ends with him being put in jail for murder of his wife. The madness first starts when his love for his black cat, Pluto,turns to utter hatred. He stabs out the
Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell-Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. “The Black Cat is Poe’s second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world.” (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying and grotesque. “The Black Cat is one of the most powerful of Poe’s stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust” (Quinn).
The story revolves around a man and his cat that loves him very devoutly. At the start of the story he is very fond of his loving companion the cat, Pluto. The cat's love for his master eventually becomes Pluto's demise. The cat would follow its master's every move. If the narrator moved the cat was at his feet, if he sat Pluto would clamor to his lap. This after a while began to enrage the narrator. He soon found himself becoming very irritable towards Pluto and his other pets. One night he came home "much intoxicated" and he grabbed Pluto. Pluto bit his hand and this sent him into a rage. "The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame"(Poe 103). At this point he seems to have lost it. This description is not that of someone of sane mindset. His soul taking flight from his body appears to be symbolic for the loss of his rational thought. The fury of a demon gives you the imagery of something not human. Poe takes every opportunity to use the narrator, and the point of view, to give you insight into the mind of the madman. He uses eloquent imagery and symbolism to further your understanding of the main character's rational.
The narcissism of the narrator contributes to the overall darkness of the story and is largely conclusive to the dark and the underlying malevolence of Poe’s own conscience. The cat in “The...
In The Black Cat, Poe creates a tale of strange confusion and morbid mystery. The tone is serious, as the narrator is writing his account of the events the day before he is going die, presumably for his crimes. The narrator, and the villain of the story, begins by saying he is "noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition." This statement is ironic, because as the story continues, we see he is anything but docile and humane. He becomes a driven man, passionate about getting rid of the cat that haunts him.
One of the staples of Poe's writing is the dramatic effect it has on the reader. Poe is known for his masterful use of grotesque, and often morbid, story lines and for his self-destructive characters and their ill-fated intentions. "The Black Cat" is no different from any of his other stories, and thus a Pragmatic/Rhetorial interpretation is obviously very fitting. If Pragmatic/Rhetorical criticism focuses on the effect of a work on its audience, then "The Black Cat" serves as a model for all other horror stories. One of the most intriguing aspects Poe introduces into the story is the black cat itself. The main character initially confesses a partiality toward domestic pets, especially his cat. Most readers can identify with an animal lover, even if they themselves are not. It is not long though before the reader learns of the disease that plagues the main character - alcoholism. Again, the reader can identify with this ailment, but it is hard to imagine that alcoholism could be responsible for the heinous actions made by the main character. In a drunken rage the main character cuts out one of the cat's eyes with a pen knife, and act at which he even shudders. Then, only after the cat's slow recovery from that attack, does the man hang the cat from the limb of a tree. ...