Edgar Allan Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" - A critical comparison.
Edgar Allan Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" A critical comparison Edgar Allan Poe’s main focuses in his writings are horror, fantasy, and murder, with the theme of death visited in most of his works. His many writings reflect an imagination that most of his readers could experience when dreaming at night. Poe takes the subject matter death a step further than the simple act and explores the processes and avenues of death. This form of morbidity that is brought throughout Poe’s stories usually involves the main character getting rid of one's burden, to one degree or another. Nearly all of his works consisted of variations of this single theme of dark and dreary death. In addition, most of his stories involve an individual who is forever haunted by their reactions to the one thing that they wanted to get rid of. In the stories "The Tell Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" we see this theme presented in a very powerful sense. Both the “Tell Tale Heart” and “The Black Cat” involve the narrator’s inner torment to his selfless act of violence. The focus on the narrator and the theme of the story is strongly concealed with the characters need to be rid of something, but yet continuously being haunted by that very something, even after it has been disposed of, presenting us with what Poe termed "spirit of perverseness." “The Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Alan Poe (1843) is a story describing a case of domestic violence that has occurred as a result of an irrational fear. To the narrator, that fear is represented by the old man's eye. This eye which has caused such fear to the narrator is described as a vulture’s eye. “He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it.” (Poe, 1843) A vulture, of course, is a bird of prey; and if anyone is predatory in this story, it is certainly not the old man, but the narrator. An element in this story which further magnifies the thesis presented is that of one which involves hiding the perverseness and the haunting of guilt. In addition to dramatizing the spirit of perverseness` in his narrative, Poe combines other elements of the gothic tale including the evil eye, the narrator's paranoia after the act is committed, the dramatic concentrated intensity of tone, the gradually heightening series of dramatic events, and the narrators conscience which causes his compulsion to confess the murder. “But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder!
louder! Louder” (Poe, 1843) The narrator is a person whom feels the need and compulsion to commit a gratuitous act of evil against the old man due to this fear of the eye. There is no real reasoning for this decision, except for the fact that the narrator suddenly takes a violent dislike to the way the old man looks at him. The narrator is essentially losing his mind; he is consumed by some inconceivable need to rid himself of the insanity caused by the old man and his eye. “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
louder! Louder” (Poe, 1843) The narrator is a person whom feels the need and compulsion to commit a gratuitous act of evil against the old man due to this fear of the eye. There is no real reasoning for this decision, except for the fact that the narrator suddenly takes a violent dislike to the way the old man looks at him. The narrator is essentially losing his mind; he is consumed by some inconceivable need to rid himself of the insanity caused by the old man and his eye. “I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture…” (Poe, 1843) This insanity became extremely overwhelming for him, it began to eat away and overtake him, "It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” (Poe, 1843) This constant torment eventually did the man in and he came to the one and only conclusion which would allow him to be free from the glare of the eye, “…very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever" (Poe, 1843). This act of evil, this focus on ridding oneself of something through riddance of sorts, is clearly found in both of Poe's work. This is show in the way that the act of evil removes this “something” but in turn it comes back to haunt the characters in the story. This further emphasizes the power of this "spirit of perverseness." The eye that the narrator focuses on is a symbolic representation of the narrator understands of himself. He sees himself, as the old man sees him through the eye and is not content with the view as the eye sees him. This in turn gives him the notion that it is necessary to get rid of the eye that can pick out his weakness. But, even with the death of the old man and the removal of the eye from the world he still sees and hears. He still exists, and the wickedness, the “spirit of perverseness” is still there. He can not escape the wrath of it and the continuous beating of the heart haunts him with that truth which must be told. “The Black Cat” is a story which follows the common theme and subject of imagery, of Edgar Alan Poe’s writings. "'The Black Cat” is one of the most powerful of Poe's stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust" (Quinn, 395). Poe constructed this story in such a way that the events of the tale remain somewhat opaque. As the narrator begins to tell his story in a flashback, the reader discovers that the man's personality undergoes a drastic change with the influence and abuse of alcohol. The perverse side of his nature is seemingly evoked with the use of alcohol. The introduction of “Pluto” allows the reader to see the superstitious side of the narrator, as he tells of his wife’s comments. “In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tincture with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.” (Poe, 1843) The similarity between the denial by the narrator of his superstitions, and way the narrator in “The Tell Tale Heart” denies that he is insane in hearing the heart beat, the reader becomes more aware of the narrators superstitious beliefs in the story. "The Black Cat" is the second of Poe's look into the study of domestic violence and guilt following that of "The Tell-Tale Heart." This story does not deal with premeditated murder as "The Tell-Tale Heart" does. The reader is told that the narrator appears to be a happily married man, who has always been exceedingly kind and gentle, “My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous to make me the jest of my companions.” (Poe, 1843) He attributes his downfall to the "Fiend Intemperance" (Poe, 1843) and "the spirit of perverseness." (Poe, 1843) The term perverseness, as he believes, is "...one of the primitive impulses of the human heart."(Poe, 1843) "Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a stupid action for no other reason than because he knows he should not?" (Poe, 1843) The narrator’s continuous perverseness provides his personal justification for the unfathomable acts upon which he commits. This perverseness is shown in the multiple occasions of which he uses physical violence, the killing of both the first cat, Pluto, and his wife. In the beginning of the story the narrator is depicted as a man whom is comfortable with his life, and seemingly happy with his surroundings. He then becomes more and more burdened with the things in his life which are close to him. “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others.” (Poe, 1843) The narrator then falls back to alcoholism to relinquish the problems which he is encountering. It is fairly clear now that the author does in fact have an alcohol problem. Alcohol, of course, is not the only affliction to grip the narrator. What he designates as “perverseness” is also evident. Again, there is hardly any question that he is having difficulties, this time mentally. Instead of murdering his cat in any conventional way, such as beating or poisoning it, he chooses to construct a cat-sized noose and hang it. This action alone should characterize the man as “perverse.” The condition in which he hangs the animal and his reasoning for doing so, are even more exceptional. He hangs it with “tears streaming from his eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at his heart” (Poe, 1843). The cat is used as a symbol of both the fear and constant anxiety that the narrator encumbers in his newly formed alcoholic state. The cat is also symbolized as a sort of scapegoat for his actions. This decision to kill the cat because it is wrong to do so, along with his obvious remorse while doing it, shows how the narrator as truly “perverse.” The mental instability of the narrator is again shown with the narrator’s killing of his wife. The extreme detail and thought process which he discusses in regards to disposal of her body demonstrates again that there is something vastly wrong in his mind. He casually considers “cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire” (Poe, 1843). He then makes an attempt to justify to the reader his decision to wall the body in instead of following through with the act of cutting her up. Finally, when the police are searching the cellar for clues to his wife’s disappearance, he deliberately, albeit indirectly, calls their attention to the walled-in body, incriminating himself. The action of foolishly incriminating himself is the embodiment of what he describes as “perverseness The symbolism in both of the stories follows the same basic pattern. In each of the stories the narrator is becoming more and more disturbed by something, by some truth about themselves. In the "Tell-Tale Heart" we see a man quickly traversing his way into a form of insanity, which is propelled by “the old man’s vulture eye.” This eye seemingly knows the truth about the author and in fact the eye represents this truth. The narrator knows this and he forms the conclusion that he must be rid of this truth. He understands that he must destroy this truth before it is let out. In ‘The Black Cat", we see a gradual growth to the same realization. The narrator begins the story happy and suddenly turns a corner to become unhappy without any idea why. The cat slowly becomes the symbolism of his unhappiness and his truth. The narrator becomes distraught with the cat in the notion of this symbolism of truth. A notion that must be destroyed! The narrators of both stories become motivated by their inner guilt as the stories advance. In the beginning neither narrators have done anything, but inside each of them is this ability to do a wrongful deed. Their guilt is overwhelming even before the act is committed. As such their spirit of perverseness urges them to get rid of that which sees their nature. Each of the narrators actively seeks a method by which they feel they can eliminate that truth. They use their scapegoats (the eye and the cat) as a way to place the blame on something other than themselves. This leaves the notion that once this scapegoat is removed from their lives they will be free. The removal of this blame does not settle their minds. The truth still lies with each of them, it still haunts each man. They have not completely rid themselves of the burden, they have only removed the physical aspect of the burden; the spirit of their perverseness still lives on. This perverseness now has the ability to cause each to lose control. Both of the men are haunted forever by their actions and by the burden they feel is not theirs to carry. Both are driven over the edge by the fact that they have attempted to place the blame on something else and the guilt has lingered on reminding each of their actions. In "The Tell-Tale Heart" the narrator is driven to madness, hearing the truth in the heartbeat that he assumes the officials can hear. “They heard!-they suspected!-they knew!-they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think.” (Poe, 1843) This perverseness is clearly overtaking the man and the guilt that he felt, the haunting he experienced, had not ended with the murder and removal of the “eye.” The truth of who the narrator really was could not be escaped. This was also seen in the final words by the narrator in "The Black Cat". "The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!" (Poe, 1843). Both of the men in the stories tried placing the blame for their evil actions and thought onto something else. Once this blame was placed, each man felt he could be rid of the feelings he had by removal of what he felt was the cause. Their perverseness drove them to believe that if this thing that blame was laid upon was removed, they would be free. But in reality they were trying to be free of something that could not be escaped…Themselves! WORKS CITED Anonymous. "Edgar Allan Poe.," 24 April 2003 Anonymous. "On Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" 24 April 2003 Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference, 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002 Madden, David. A Pocket Full of Prose: The Tell Tale Heart. USA: Thomson Learning, Inc, 2002 Poulter, Thomas R.. "The Black Cat.," 24 April 2003 Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ‘Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography.” New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1941.