Little Ball of Fur: The Black Cat Essay

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic. He was born on January 19, 1809, and he died on October 7, 1849. He wrote many famous poems. His most famous poems are the Raven, and The Tell-tale Heart.

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. “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

Edgar Allen Poe was bone in Boston on January 19 1809 to David and Elizabeth Poe. He lost his parents at the age of two years and had to be adopted by John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan. John Allan was a very wealthy man but he only gave Edgar a third of his school requirements and this alienated him from Edgar. When Allan’s wife dies Edgar also decides to move out because he could not put up with John Allan. Edgar loved poetry from a tender age. He even wrote verses to girls that he developed feelings for. He could have had his first poetry book published by the age of 14 years but there was no support both from his teachers and his adoptive parents. In the course of his life Edgar became an alcoholic and mentally disturbed and this enhanced his writing skills. He created his characters trough imagination to show mystery and adventure.

“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” (Benbenek). Another film adaptation influenced by the work of Edgar Allan Poe is Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key from 1972. It is based off Poe’s short story “The Black Cat;” only loosely, however, for there are a few changes in the details of the plot. The plot of the film includes the main character, Oliviero, who is an abusive and alcoholic writer who lives in an old mansion with his wife and their black cat named Satan. When Oliviero’s mistress is killed, his niece comes to stay with him and eventually to take his money, she and Oliviero’s wife plot to kill him and his “mysterious cat” (Poe). The original story is slightly different from the film because the main character is an alcoholic who owns a black cat, except he later

To start, It can be deduced from the text that the narrator suffers from bipolar disorder from manic behavior as well as borderline personality disorder, which are characterized by his lack of sleep, bouts of rage, and risk-taking behavior. For example, within the story the narrator talks about his restlessness over his fear of the cat, and he states, “ I, a man, a strong man, had become afraid of a cat! Why was I so frightened, so worried by a stupid animal? Day and night, I could get no rest. I had the most terrible dreams, and my mind turned to dark, evil thoughts” (Poe 8). Furthermore, as the narrator’s mania intensifies, which is catalyzed by his alcohol dependence, his bouts of anger intensify as well. Subsequently, this culminates in the murder of his wife, and the narrator describes this for us as he states, “ I almost fell on my face and, mad with anger, I took hold of an axe and tried to kill the animal. But my wife caught my arm to stop me, and then anger exploded in my mind. I turned and drove the axe deep into her head” (Poe 9). Also, another evident marker of his mania is the narrator’s risk-taking behavior, which ultimately proves to be his downfall within the story. As the police are searching his home looking for his wife, the narrator confidently takes them to the wall in which he put her body (Poe 10). Coincidentally, as he brags about the

Poe has a history of presenting characters with personal flaws who often confess to atrocious deeds. Both The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat tell the story of a seemingly senseless murder complicated by the vaugery of preternatural occurrences. The reader is forced to question whether or not they should believe what they are being told. Both of these narrators, the wife killer and the landlord killer, are unreliable and have a similar theme. The narrators are both mentally unstable however their conditions vary. The psychological implications of each character's’ attitude suggests while both are crazy, one is a sociopath and the other is a psychopath.

Edgar Allan Poe, the acclaimed poet, has created a multitude of short stories, one being “The Black Cat”.The short story depicts an alcoholic on his slow descent into insanity; this relates heavily to the author’s own life, being an extreme alcoholic himself. The narrator of “The Black Cat” is not only driven mad by alcohol, but also by a black cat, as you might guess from the title of the story. At the beginning of “The Black Cat”, you can tell the narrator’s alcohol addiction is taking its toll when he starts abusing his wife and pets. His actions slowly led up to him killing his cat, Pluto, and then killing his own wife because tried to defend their second cat from him. His meticulous writing style, diction, syntax, and imagery in his short stories are used to portray his emotions.

The Narrator in “The Black Cat” is explained as a man who fell into alcoholism and let deception take control over his mindset (Poe 79). His change of perspective over things causes him to believe his beloved first black cat (Pluto) is evil and demonic when the cat bites him one day (Poe 80). During the illusion from the excessive alcohol, he hangs Pluto (Poe 80). From guilt further on from killing his first cat, the narrator adopts another black cat. A while later, he comes to believe that the new cat has the same characteristics that Pluto had (Poe 82). In an act of fit from the new Black cat almost tripping him on the cellar stairs, the narrator starts to try to kill him with an axe (Poe 84). His wife comes in and tries to stop him, but instead that causes him to kill her. The narrator hides his wife’s body in a cellar wall, meanwhile the cat vanished (Poe 84). Four days later, the police came to do a thorough search. The narrator acted strangely calm and innocent, as if he had done nothing. They discovered her corpse with the cat standing on her head howling in the cellar wall though, and took the narrator into custody. (Poe 85-86).

The greatest metaphor throughout this tale is the black cat. While the narrator’s wife has been known to refer to the dark-haired feline as a “witch in disguise”, the metaphor for Poe is that the cat is not only a superstitious monster but it is also a metaphor for being the narrator’s own personal demon (Poe 706). The recurring events with the black cats in the story portray that they are metaphors for the narrator’s own problems that haunt him. As the series of events continue throughout the story, the cat becomes a visual element in the scene for the narrator’s recurring violence and finally brings him to the point of his insanity.

Edgar Allen Poe’s life was a series of small victories followed by disappointments and failures. According to Wikipedia, Poe was born on January 19, 1809, orphaned by the age of two, and raised by Mr. and Mrs. John Allan. He was educated abroad until the age of 11 when his adopted family returned to Richmond, Virginia. By the age of 19 Poe had disowned his adopted family and joined the U.S. Army. He did well in the military and even received and appointment to West Point. However, after a short time there he deliberately got himself kicked out. He goes onto publish a number of works that were well received and continued to publish until his sudden and unexplained death in 1849. Throughout his life Poe entered into situations with the best intentions to succeed,

Edgar Allan Poe, born in 1809, is a critic, mystery and short story writer, but most importantly a poet. Edgar’s troubled life greatly influenced his works. As a young boy, Edgar loved to compose poems for his loved ones. But as he grew older, Edgar started to experience pains and tragedies in life, causing him to abuse on opium and alcohol. These were scenes behind the years of Edgar’s dark writings.

Edgar Allan Poe born on January 19, 1809, was known as the creator of the modern detective story and innovator of the science fiction genre. Although, people identify him because of his horror stories as well as his haunting lyric poetry, there was a different side of him other than a gruesome, mysterious individual prowling in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries. Poe’s childhood was very tragic and affected his adult life when growing up. Poe was the second son of actors David and Elizabeth Poe. Shortly after Poe was born, his father abandoned the family in 1810 and the following death of his twenty-four year old mother in 1811, left Poe an orphan at the young age of three. Poe was adopted by a guy named john, who was a strict unemotional

     The multiple ironies of this story make the main character wonder if he is being haunted or if it is all coincidence. The introduction suggests that Poe has had a privileged upbringing and a happy life. He marries a woman with whom he has a lot in common and has a picture perfect life. They both love animals and have lots of them. Then all of a sudden he becomes an alcoholic and begins mistreating his animals and his wife. He cuts his cat’s eye out with a knife and kills the cat soon after. The following day his house burns down. The only wall left standing is in the image of a gigantic cat. They now have to live in poverty. One night, while in a drunken stupor, he

“… 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. Poe states that he is diseased with alcohol that resulted in the individuals around him experiencing the effects of his ill temper. (Poe 719) The fury of demons from his terrible alcoholic habit possesses him, and the original soul of his body is known no more. (719)

The psychology or mental state of the narrator of Edger Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat” is a broad area to analyze. The human mind is one of the most articulate system that is made in this world. It’s difficult to understand everybody’s actions and doings because everyone possesses their own unique patterns of thinking. Today, the world of psychology is hard at work to try to figure out the best answers to the questions we have about the mid. Even before the subject of psychology was produced, some writers loosely described the psychology and everything that goes into it. Edger Allan Poe was one of them who portrayed his characters in way that the reader could look further in to their actions and their behaviors to understand the mind better. Poe seemed to have an understanding and fascination for the human, and “The Black Cat” is one of them. The protagonist of the story and his psychology has brought into light in this short story. In this work, Edgar Allan Poe presents the main character, the protagonist, who becomes victim to many complex mind issues such as guilt, perversity, superstitions, revenge, and reverse psychology.