Anger, fear, and hatred all are characteristics of the evil. They are qualities that lurk in every man’s heart, lying dormant like a bat in a cave until the time is ripe to come out and hunt. Some people can hold the bat back, some let the bat go free, and for others the bat is overcome with its freedom that it forgets how to think. Those people, the ones who become drunk on their own freedom, are the ones who become insane. Using foreboding word choice and horrific imagery, Edgar Allen Poe in his short story “The Black Cat” describes the narrator’s diabolic actions to convey the message that untamed anger leads to insanity – even in the most collected individual. Edgar Allen Poe utilizes increasingly dismal words within his story to create …show more content…
The narrator talks about his life; he explains his love for animals, especially his black cat named Pluto, and his marriage to a kind wife. His car is described as a completely black and healthy animal who deeply loves the narrator, a contrast to his own drunken and moody demeanor. The name “Pluto” in itself is a method of foreshadowing, as Pluto was the Roman god of the underworld, implicating future death. Pluto’s relation to witchcraft, as noted by the narrator’s wife who “made frequent allusion to the ancient notion which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise”(1) alludes to the supposedly supernatural events that occur in the story. Roberta Reader, while analyzing the significance of Pluto, theorizes that the cat symbolizes the narrator’s attitude towards his cat “as something dark, fearful, and unknown” (Reader 1). The narrator from that start is filled with superstition and fury that he has repressed. His beatings and his acrimony have pushed others away from him, so he is unnerved by his one friend that he has managed to …show more content…
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
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman spiralling into madness whilst her physician husband refuses to acknowledge that she has a "real" problem. On the other hand The Black Cat by Edgar Alan Poe is about a man who is initially fond of cats however as the plot progresses he becomes an alcoholic making him moody and violent, which lead him to torture and kills the animals and eventually also his wife. In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt .The recurring theme present in both these stories is that the main protagonists claim that they suffer or have been taken over by a form of madness. In this essay I shall examine the various symbolism used by the writer's to represent madness.
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe is narrated by a man dealing with an ill temper and alcoholism. The narrator who was once “noted for his docility and humanity” and cared for his pets transforms into a monster who kills his favorite cat, Pluto, his wife and another black cat that resembles Pluto. He tries to compromise his “fiendish” actions and hides his wife’s corpse, but at the end, his wife’s body is found in the walls while the black cat that resembled Pluto was sitting on top of the corpse buried together (3). Although “The Black Cat” centers around a series of terrific events caused by the unknown narrator, an examination of the insanity of the narrator shown in the first paragraph of the story raises the question of the reliability of story and its ambiguity.
In the beginning of the story, the narrator is happy, caring, loves animals, and loves his wife. He says “...and never was so happy as when I was feeding and caressing him.” (Poe 1); the narrator talks about how his pet Pluto makes him very happy and he loves him, the narrator also says “Pluto- this was the cat’s name- was my favorite pet and playmate.” (Poe 1) this shows that the narrator of the story loved his cat, Pluto. Due to the fact that the narrator began drinking, the narrator turns evil, cruel, dark, and murderous. In the story the narrator states, “The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and most patient of sufferers.” (Poe 5) these lines from The Black Cat demonstrates that after he started drinking alcohol frequently he became abusive to his wife, saying that she was the most usual of sufferers; meaning that she was one who he usually took his anger out on. Also these lines from the story show that the narrator had turned more hateful and is also very impulsive when he became an
“And thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquility slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul.” Edgar Allen Poe, a famous writer, wrote the short Story The Black Cat. The narrator in this story is insane because of the following reasons, he kills his wife without an inch of remorse, kills the cat in cold blood, also, his acts of insanity.
In the short story “The Black Cat” by Poe, black cat is a symbol for the beginning of evilness or decent to irrationality. In our everyday view, cats or felines are just that cats, an animal specimen. However, in old folklore, black cats are characterized as devils, demons, and associated with witchcraft. In addition, the color black is a symbol of darkness, lack of humanity, and secrecy from the truth. Continuously in “The Black Cat,” The narrator was unaware of these last symbols related to the black cat; since he takes as a joke his wife “allusion to ancient popular notion… that all black cats as witches in disguise” (Poe 1593). To add up, the name of the cat infers darkness; Pluto is, the powerful roman god of the underworld and death, foreshadowing that the dark is close, and the narrator most likely will conclude in an unpleasant place known as hell. Furthermore in the short story “The Black Cat,” night is not just flames of darkness devouring the soul; indeed through the story, the narrator gets out of the house at “night” due to the fact that the face and sins become blurry during night time (Poe 1595). During nighttime, the narrator’s demoniac personality is almost invisible and erase from the perception of the human eye, but it is not exterminated from the existence of the book known as history. However, evil inside the narrator “grew, day by day” because of the darkness built inside his soul made him perverse (Poe 1593). According to the narrator, “Perverseness is one of the primate impulses of the human heart” (Poe 1594); indeed, evil cannot be taken away from humanity. Yet, darkness is just taking time to build up, but eventually human instinct to be evil will be unlocked and escape to
Next, symbolism is always an integral part of any Poe story. The most obvious of symbolic references in this story is the cat’s name, Pluto. This is the Roman god of the underworld. Pluto contributes to a strong sense of hell and may even symbolize the devil himself. Another immensely symbolic part of “The Black Cat” is the title itself, since onyx cats have long connoted bad luck and misfortune. The most amazing thing about the symbolism in this story or in any other of Poe’s is that there are probably many symbols that only Poe himself ever knew were in his writings.
Within every one of us, we have small imperfections that are capable of killing people. While many try to improve their flaws, others allow them to dominate their lives. Edgar Allan Poe is a fine example of these types of people. His imperfection- obsession towards alcohol- influenced his stories. Proven through his work, Poe examined how feebleness stems from a person’s tiniest flaw. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero’s arrogance led him to believe he can overcome Death. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the main character’s delirium causes him to experience madness, which results in a heinous act of murder. The narrator’s alcoholic obsession, in “The Black Cat,” becomes corruption, again leading to destruction. Thus, Edgar Allan Poe
for dark, mysterious, and bizarre works of fiction. His works sometimes reflected his life experiences and hardships he tried to overcome. Examples of the troubles in his life include alcoholism, having his works rejected over and over, being broke, and losing his family, even his beloved wife to tuberculosis. There is no wonder why his works are so dark and evil, they were taken from his life. A theme is defined as the major or central idea of a work. Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, contains six major themes that are discussed in this paper. They include the home, violence, drugs and alcohol, freedom and confinement, justice and judgement, and transformation.
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...
The relationship between the narrator and the narrator’s first cat, Pluto, is representative of human nature. He is the perfect picture of an average man during his time, which sets Poe’s scene well. The narrator has an ongoing obsession with animals, starting at a
The story opens with the narrator telling the readers: “But tomorrow I die, and today I would unburden my soul.” This quote shows that he wants to free his soul from the guilt he carries within himself. This short story centers on a black cat named Pluto (Roman god of the dead) and the deterioration of a man. Pluto, the cat, is the man’s favorite pet and playmate. “I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.” These are examples of the loving feeling he has towards his feline friend. Their friendship lasted in such manner for several years. The conflict unfolds when the man’s personality starts to change; “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, and more regardless of the feelings of others.” These changes come when he starts drinking profoundly a f...
The vast intricacies of the human brain are a wonder that few have managed to successfully explore throughout modern history. Brains are the controllers of all thoughts, actions, and ideas, but all are tremendously different in and of themselves. We, as humans, have the capacity to kill hundreds of other innocent creatures, however, most dread the mere thought of harming any living being. Our actions seemingly define how our minds work, allowing society to categorize us as the sane or the insane. Those who are considered sane are perceived as being and doing “normal” things, and those considered to be insane, just the opposite. But, with such vague interpretations of the mind, where is the fine line drawn between them? If insanity is not knowing the difference between right and wrong, then everyone must be slightly insane. However, many unmistakable traits of insanity are displayed in the story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator of “The Black Cat” is evidently insane,
The story takes place in the home of the main character, the climactic events happening in the dark, gloomy basement. The main character, a one-time lover of animals, takes to drinking alcohol, which brings out his hidden cruel personality. He abuses his wife and animals, eventually loosing himself to his rage and committing murder. His one animal that he refused to harm in the beginning, the black cat named Pluto, eventually becomes the target of his entire wrath. As the narrator claims during a particularly cruel encounter, "I knew myself no longer," as his alcohol-induced anger caused him to become someone else, someone he did not recognize.
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.
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. ...