Irony In The Black Cat

The Black Cat is a story about a man’s downward spiral into delusion as a result of alcoholism. The story starts out with the narrator proclaiming that he is sane despite the horrific events that he describes. The tale revolves around the narrators black cat, an innocent creature that is abused through no fault of its own. As the story progresses, the narrator becomes more and more violent, which leads to the murdering of his wife and his ultimate demise. In order to have a good story there are certain criteria that it should be judged on. The criteria for evaluating this story will be plot, irony, and symbolism. The plot of the story involves the narrator’s struggle with an addiction to alcohol. As a result of this his judgment is clouded and becomes evil and maniacal towards his pets and even his wife. The plot consists of alcoholism, perverseness, insanity, fire, brutality, and murder, all the makings of an exciting story. It begins with the mere describing of household events. He explains how he loves his pets and he is not insane, but as the story progresses it seems he

At the beginning of the story the narrator proclaims, “mad am I not”, but by the end of the story he proves to the reader that he is nothing but. More irony makes an appearance with the cutting out of the cat’s eye. The cat always loved his owner and would follow him around and rub his head against his leg. After his eye his cut out he sees better than he did previously in the sense that he gains new insight into the evil and darkness that is his owner. The major irony in the story is that his own pompous arrogance is what gets him put in jail. “The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness.” If he had just kept his mouth shut he might have gotten away with