'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allan Poe
'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allan Poe
'The Black Cat' by Edgar Allan Poe is an American classic. It was first shown in the 'United States Saturday Post' on August 19, 1843. It is about a man that loses his sanity because of one cat. Poe wrote this story after his wife's and his mother's death. The narrator is self-destructive by killing or hurting all things that loved him and alcoholism. After a while he recognizes his self-destructiveness.
As the story begins, the narrator is in jail awaiting his execution which will take place the next day, ("But tomorrow I die") for the brutal murder of his wife. From this point, the rest of the story is told in flashback.
Although several characters are mentioned in this story, the true focus lies on the narrator who is left nameless. He was especially fond of animals, and he was pleased to find that his wife shared a similar fondness for pets. They had many pets including, "...birds, gold fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat." The cat was a large, beautiful animal which was entirely black. His name was Pluto; he was the narrator's favourite pet. He alone fed him and looked after him. Pluto followed the narrator wherever he went. Occasionally, his wife would refer to an old superstitious belief that "all black cats (were) witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point". But she never bothered with the cat, she left that to her husband, the narrator.
Poe writes this story from the first person point of view. The perspective of the narrator, a man whose "...temperament and character (are changed) through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance (alcohol)." Telling the story from the first person point of view amplifies the shock and horror. Poe often wrote from this point of view. Writing in this point of view almost invites the reader (as was the case in both "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado") into the story.
'The Black Cat' is one of the most powerful of Poe's stories. Poe constructed ...
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Poe writes this story from the first person point of view. The perspective of the narrator, a man whose "...temperament and character (are changed) through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance (alcohol)." Telling the story from the first person point of view amplifies the shock and horror. Poe often wrote from this point of view. Writing in this point of view almost invites the reader (as was the case in both "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado") into the story.
'The Black Cat' is one of the most powerful of Poe's stories. Poe constructed this story in such a way that the tale remains somewhat ambiguous. As the narrator begins to look back on the events that "...have terrified-have tortured-have destroyed (him)," he reminds the reader that maybe "...some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than (his) own," will perceive "...nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects."
As the narrator begins to tell the story (flashback), the reader discovers that the man's personality has drastically changed which he attributes to his abuse of alcohol and the perverse side of his nature, which the alcohol seemed to evoke. The reader also discovers (with the introduction of Pluto into the story) that the narrator is superstitious, as he recounts that his wife made "...frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, (that) all black cats (are) witches in disguise." Even though the narrator denies this (much as the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" denies that he or she is insane), the reader becomes increasingly aware of his superstitious belief as the story progresses.
Superstition has it that Satan and witches take the form of black cats. It is believe that they are symbols of death, sorcery and witch craft. The narrator calls his cat Pluto, which in Greek mythology was the "god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld". I think that Poe included this subtle detail for those who understand will link this with the fact that the cat appeared to be performing some kind of supernatural activities.
As in other Poe stories ("The Tell-Tale Heart"," The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Gold Bug"), mutilation appears. The narrator of "The Black Cat" first becomes annoyed when Pluto "inflicted a slight wound upon (the) hand with his teeth." After he is bitten by the cat, the narrator cuts out its eye.
Poe's use of words leads the reader from one event to the next ("one night," "one morning," "on the night of the day," etc.). Within the first few paragraphs of the story, the narrator says that he will violently harm his wife "I even offered her personal violence". We don't know whether the story is based upon "an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effect," or are they caused by the supernatural? There are three main events in this story; the apparition of the first cat upon the burned wall, the appearance of a gallows like pattern upon the chest of the second cat, and the discovery of the second cat behind the cellar wall. This suggests that perhaps supernatural events are taking place.
The narrator doesn't want to believe that the apparition of the cat on the wall, he tries to think of a scientific reason for this. However, the chains of events that he re-creates in his mind are so strange that it would just be easier to believe the supernatural. We must remember the state of mind that the narrator is in at the moment and almost anything would have been believed.
The reader is not sure if the narrator's perceptions can be seen as just hallucinations. After all, the second cat is also missing an eye. Poe is very careful to avoid stating if it is the same eye of which Pluto was deprived. Are there really two cats in this story, or did Pluto possibly "a witch in disguise" survive.
Of all the incidents, the discovery of the cat (first or second) behind the cellar wall is the easiest to believe. The cat was frightened and took shelter. The police searched the cellar thoroughly and the cat didn't make a sound. It was not until the narrator rapped heavily on the wall with his cane that the cat made a noise. Was it because of the narrator was going crazy in his mind, or was it, as the he say's, "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."
At the beginning of the story, the reader is told that the narrator appears to be a happily married man and was always kind and gentle; "From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions". He blames his downfall to the "Fiend Intemperance" and "the spirit of perverseness." Perverseness, he believes, is "...one of the primitive impulses of the human heart." "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?" Perverseness provides the rationale excuse for unjustifiable acts, such as killing the first cat or rapping with his cane on the plastered-up wall where his dead wife lay behind "...already greatly decayed and clotted with gore."
The reader is led to believe that the narrator was actually a good man. But due to the events throughout this story, he has drastically transformed from this 'good man' into an evil man and as he gets dragged down, he takes his loved ones with him.
The end