“It was a black cat – a very large cat-fully as large as Pluto and closely resembling him” you are thinking how this new cat could be linked to his death.
Stoker, however has a very different approach to build up mystery. He uses setting whereas Poe does not. When he describes the lodgings he describes it as a gothic residence:
“with heavy gables and small windows set higher than was customary in such houses”. Gothic residences have always been associated with death and fear in horror movies. He describes the village as empty:
“desolation was the only term for conveying a suitable idea of its isolation” the idea of a desolate empty place is the perfect setting for a horror story. The fact that the house has been empty for so long indicates something dreadful has happened there. The locals all seem to know something dreadful about the house. It seems that Malcolm is the only person who doesn’t know what’s going on there. When Mrs Cranford cries at him “not the judges house!” it creates a feeling of dread for what is going to happen to Mr Malcolmson.
Poe uses superstition to add to the mystery. The first little bit of superstition is when he reveals that his wife believes that all black cats are witches in disguise. This brief, initial introduction of superstition creates mystery in your head, and it makes you think, ‘what if black cats are really witches in disguise.’
When the cat imprint appears on the wall, the character tries to dismiss the supernatural happening with a far fetched logical explanation. He tries to say that someone tossed the hanging corpse of the cat in through the window to try and wake him up. He then tried to say that because the wall was freshly spread plaster, it did not fall down. He said that the ammonia from the carcass had made the impression on the wall. Edgar Allen Poe had purposely made this string of events unbelievable so that the reader would know that there was something strange going on. I think that the imprint was a symbol that the cat was not dead and that it was an omen that it was going to come back to haunt him.
The new cat was very suspicious, the fact that it looked a lot like Pluto made you think that it was a demonic symbol of Pluto. The cat gets more and more attached to him but he is reluctant to interact with it because he feels the supernatural element of this situation. He begins to hate the cat and the fact that it is always around him:
“Its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed me” but he wont harm the cat for fear of what will happen and regret of his previous crime:
“at times although I longed to destroy it with a blow I was withheld from doing so partly by memory of my former crime but chiefly – let me confess it at once – by absolute dread of the beast”. The fact that it wont leave him alone, and that drives him madder and more angry makes it seem like the new cat is testing his willpower to leave it alone. His fear grows as the cat follows his every step.
The only difference between Pluto and the new cat was a white splodge on its belly. It turns out later that this splodge is actually a image of gallows. The image grows in size until the character can clearly make out the image. his realisation of what this means is clearly shown in this quote “Gallows! - oh mournful and terrible engine of horror and crime – of agony and of death.” He has realised his fate – death. He feels remorse for what he had done to Pluto. He knows that this ‘beast’ is an image of Pluto. A symbol of god:
“a brute beast to work out for me-for me, a man fashioned in the image of the high god – oh insufferable woe! He believes its is god in disguise of a cat”
Stoker also uses supernatural elements. Every night the rats come out and make a lot of noise. They run up and down the alarm bell. They all stop suddenly a run away as a giant rat comes down the alarm bell. The rats are scared of this larger rat indicating that this rat is evil. Stokers description of the rat makes it sound evil:
It showed its great white teeth and its cruel eyes shone in the lamplight. When Malcolmson throws a book at the creature to try and scare it, but it does not flinch. But when he throws a bible at the rat it scampers away. This indication of good/evil shows that the rat is evil. It is well known that Satanic beings such as this rat fear holy objects such as a bible and a cross.
When Malcolmson realises that the rats eyes are identical to the picture of the Judge the figure of the judge disappears. He then turns round and sees the judge. The judge smiled in a cruel way:
With his baleful eyes glaring vindictively, and a smile of triumph on his face”
The judge does not say much in this last scene, I think this is important. Stoker did this so his character was not totally revealed. He remained a mysterious character.
The descriptions of horror in The Black cat are very in depth:
“I grasped the poor beast by its throat and purposely cut out one of its eyes from its socket.”. He doesn’t linger on this for long. These shock tactics really build up the horror in this story by making you feel horrified and shocked. Another example of this is when he kills his wife:
“I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and buried the axe in her brain.” This again shows the shock tactics used when describing the horror scenes.
His violence gets gradually worse. All his violence is triggered by anger or drink:
“Through the instrumentality of the fiend intemperance had (I blush to confess it)experiences a radical alteration for the worst. I grew day by day more moody, more irritable regardless for the feeling of others. First he verbally abuses his wife, this turns to physical violence towards his wife and animals – except Pluto:
“I suffered myself to use intemperate language towards my wife. At length I even offered her personal violence. My pets of course were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them.” Then he cut out Pluto’s eye when he scrammed him on the face. This again is due to him drinking. Poe writes “one night, returning home much intoxicated”. The guilt of doing this to Pluto and the sadness that it once had loved him got to him and he hung the cat in cold blood:
“I hung it with tears streaming from my eyes” this shows his remorse when hanging him. The guilt of what he had done prevented him from hurting the new cat, until one day when the cat nearly tripped him up in the cellar he grabbed and axe, but his wife prevented him from killing by grabbing the axe. He then split her head open with the axe. The violence gradually gets worse and worse, building up the horror as it goes along.
Stoker uses less graphic description, but instead uses reactions of characters to create the fear:
“not the judges house”. This, I think is one of the main advantages of introducing characters into the plot. A disadvantage is that it can take the focus of the main character.
They both use pattering to create fear in their stories. In the Judges house the same thing happens every night. He drinks too much tea, then out came the rats making all the noise and finally they all stopped when the large rat emerged. This also happens in the black cat. His violent acts are all triggered by alcohol. Pattering creates suspense, which in turn makes you wonder how does this link with what is happening in the story.
The two writers both use logical explanations to try and explain why these things are happening. In the black cat, The character makes up a ludicrous explanation to explain why there was an imprint on the wall. He tries to say that someone must have thrown the cat through the window in an attempt to wake him up. He says that the wall didn’t fall down because it had just been plastered and that the ammonia from the carcass has made the imprint on the wall. In The Judges house Malcolmson’s explanation for all the events that are happening is that he was drinking too much tea and it was making him delusional. Both of these are deliberately far fetched so that the reader knows that something super natural is going on.
Stoker uses a more descriptive style in his writing. He describes the scene, the weather and the people in far more depth than Poe:
“The carving of the oak on the panels of the wainscot was fine, and on and round the windows and doors it was beautiful and of rare merit”. I prefer the descriptive writing of Stoker because it creates an image in your mind. Especially with the weather. Stoker uses the weather to great effect. When the thunder was lashing down toy could tell something bad was going to happen. This effect is used in a lot of horror stories.
In my opinion, I prefer Stokers method of creating horror. I think the introduction of characters brings in a new element to the story. It creates an atmosphere of bewilderment and isolation. I say isolation because everyone seemed to know what was going on but Mr Malcolmson.
However, as a whole I think I preferred The Black cat by Edgar Allen Poe. I think this is because I am used to modern stories, and this storyline is a bit more advanced and modernised than The Judges House. As I am used to modern horror stories I can relate to this story better. I think that the plot has some realism to it, more so that Stoker’s story. I don’t think Stokers story was linked together very well and it all seemed a bit distant.
