Compare and contrast The Purloined Letter and The Black Cat

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                Fahad Younas

Compare and contrast “The Purloined Letter” and

“The Black Cat”

In this essay I will be comparing the two short stories, ‘The Purloined Letter’ & ‘The Black Cat’.

        The Purloined Letter is about a detective (Dupin) who is asked by the Parisian Police prefect over a Purloined Letter.  An eminent minister has stolen an important letter and it contains information that can be dangerous for an important individual. No one can find the letter even though knowing who has it. Dupin has had past history with the minister, the motivation to get revenge and also Dupin’s superior intelligence helps Dupin to recover the letter.

        On the other hand The Black Cat has a totally different story line. The Black Cat is about the narrators downfall into madness and murderous violence, his love for animals changing into hate, which is all fuelled by alcoholism.

After the narrator murders his cat, he has a lot of guilt on his shoulders. Having so much guilt he finally finds a replacement cat, which looks similar to his old cat but has a spooky factor to it. The spooky cat is the result of the narrator’s downfall at the end, when he ends up murdering his wife. The spooky cat gets its revenge when the police, for the murder of his wife, catch the narrator.  

The two stories, which have hardly anything in common story wise, have some similarities in some aspects of the stories.

First of all, looking at both of the stories plots you can see they are two completely different short stories. The Black Cat and the Purloined Letter have a lot of plots, which is probably the only similarity between both of the stories. The Black Cat has a violent, murderous plot filled with revenge and insanity. Also it has a small plot which can be the alcoholism shown in the story. The Purloined Letter whilst has a more calmer and subtle plots, such as the intellectual thrills, blackmail, theft and deceit. Both of the stories although do share one plot that is the same and that is revenge.

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        There are more different locations in The Purloined Letter compared to the different locations in The Black Cat. The Purloined Letter has locations such as Minister D’s hotel, which adds mystery; Royal apartment equals high society and extravagance. Dupin’s apartment is small, smoky and claustrophobic, probably representing Dupin. The Black Cat has more haunting locations such as basements and pubs, which give a sense of vile haunts. Also the tree is spooky as that is were the cat was hanged. There is no similarities between both of the stories locations as The Purloined Letters locations give the story that mysterious ...

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