The Black Cat Analysis Essay - 1107 Words

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. â€Å"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†¦show more content†¦They named the cat Pluto, which is the name of the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. He mentions that his wife â€Å"†¦made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise† (Poe 513). He says that he is only writing this because he just remembered her saying it to him. On the night of the day that he hung Pluto, he awoke to his house burning down. An image of a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck appeared in the plaster of one of the walls. While patronizing one of his drinking haunts, he sees a very large black cat and thinks it could replace Pluto and take away his pain. He asked if he could purchase the cat, but no one had ever seen the cat before, so he brings it home. The next morning he discovers the cat has a very similar physical trait as Pluto, a missing eye. There was something different about this cat, it had a white mark on the breast of its fur. As time went on the white marking on the cat became a more pronounced outline of the gallows. It was the howl, â€Å"†¦a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell† (Poe 518) that revealed to the police his wife’s body that he had buried in the wall. This presents a question, was Pluto a witch in disguise that returned from the dead to burn the house down and drive his master into completeShow MoreRelatedThe Black Cat Analysis857 Words   |  4 PagesThe Tale of Two Cats The title of Edgar Allan Poe’s â€Å"The Black Cat† leads the reader to believe the short story is about one black cat. However, almost in the middle of the story a second cat emerges. Are the second cat one of the nine lives of the first cat? The narrator seems to be struggling with this question and considering the genre is horror, I as the reader also struggles with this question. Since the narrator hints the second cat may be the same as the first, the reader must look atRead MorePsychoanalytic Analysis on the Black Cat649 Words   |  3 PagesA Psychoanalytic Analysis on The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe First of all, let us go into the world of â€Å"The Black Cat† and delve into the inner workings of the dark side of the human mind. The Black Cat is a story that leaves the reader perplexed to some extent. It certainly contains all the ingredients necessary to satisfy the appetite of any Poe enthusiast – an enigmatic narrator, alcohol , mutilation, strangulation, murder, and, last but not least, one of Poes slight obsessionsRead MoreAnalysis Of The Black Cat And Frankenstein 1750 Words   |  7 Pagesto benefit them. Two great literary works that illustrate the dynamic between protagonist and â€Å"other† are The Black Cat and Frankenstein. In The Black Cat the protagonist is an unnamed man who abuses his cat representing the â€Å"other† in his life. Gouging out his cats eye and hanging his cat ends up brining about his demise at the hands of the â€Å"other.† This demise is the result of the cat becoming part of the establishment and the narra tor moving away from it. The iconic novel Frankenstein tellsRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Black Cat803 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"†¦ nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.† (Poe 718) Edgar Allen Poe in The Black Cat speaks of his demonic thoughts and his murderous crimes. Poe did kill his wife intentionally, and there is evidence that his wicked demons of hatred made him do it, and because of that†¦ Poe has no remorse for murdering the woman that he married. 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One day the man began to hurt all of his animals and even his wife, but not the black cat. He thought by acting this way it would prove his manliness. The man’s liking to alcohol consumed him and he then murdered his favorite cat, he felt somewhat remorse the next dayRead MoreSupernatural Essay1273 Words   |  6 PagesSupernatural (702 quotes).† (702 quotes), ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet , Act 1 Scene V www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/supernatural. B. Background information (titles, authors, book information, definitions, etc.) â€Å"The Black Cat† by Edgar Allan Poe: as the narrator slips into insanity, his grasp on rheality falters, and images, dreams, and unnatural emotions lead to murder and animal cruelty. â€Å"The Raven† by Edgar Allan Poe: â€Å"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow† by Washington