Psychoanalytic Criticism Of Edgar Allan Poe

Poe ,truly, had a very inspired and original form of writing. His works tended to be on the darker side, but they appealed to people’s human nature. The new style provoked curiosity and sparked intrigue in many poets of the day. Alduos Huxley however equated Poe’s works to “wearing a diamond ring on every finger” declaring his works were too romantic and stating there is not much meaning behind the words. (Wiki)The disproportionate, gory details of many of Poe’s writings compelled many readers to question his mental health and the nature of his writings. Poe once even said himself, “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”(Poe) However unethical and unscrupulous his life may have seemed, he did greatly influence modern literature and expanded the bounds of what we now consider poetry. Poe’s artistic vision is largely responsible for the wide variety of literature we enjoy today. Some of his most famous works include the poems: “The Raven”, which tells the story of lost love by a raven sitting on his mantle, “Ulalume”, which focuses on the death of a loved one, and his creepy, blood-chilling stories “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Some of his most used plots in stories were the eerie subjects of revenge, torture, murder, the plague, being buried

Concerning “The Black Cat”, Poe vividly portrays individuality as a connecting theme to Romanticism because of the narrator’s treatment of each character of the story’s characters, his wife and the cat. In the story, the narrator kills his wife in a “more than demonical” rage, for no other reason than to express his rage at his wife’s interference between him and the cat (723). He acted alone, with no prompting from anyone other than himself. The cat as a character receives no different of treatment from the narrator’s wife: even the wife’s own intervention on the cat’s behalf does not save it from its eventual demise, rather the narrator “firmly resolved to put into death”(723). The only way the cat escapes death is through hinting at the narrator’s murder to the police through the house’s walls.

Usually, fairy tales are in connection to big and illustrious happy endings. But in Edgar Allan Poe’s case, it is evident that they do not exist, for his stories more often than not bear a grotesque demeanor. His life was surrounded by death. All of the women in his life died young, including his mother, sister, and wife. By the age of three, he had experienced what most would not experience until nearly the middle or end of their lives. Living in such an atmosphere allowed Poe to reach deep into his emotions when writing. Edgar Allan Poe was known for his macabre metaphors. These metaphors challenged the reader to endeavor themselves into his simple words; coming to find the gothic elements portrayed. He most commonly portrayed love and death in his poems. Poe is even credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe utilizes symbolism and portrays an envious love tale, ending in tragedy to expose the speaker’s emotional state in the poem “Annabel Lee.”

“The Black Cat” is one of Poe’s more gruesome stories. It is one of the darkest stories he has written. The narrator opens the story by saying he is sane. It is the night before he dies. The story talks about the narrator’s past and how he knew so many people who all

Edgar Allan Poe has been known for writing stories of mystery and horror. He has

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 Allan Poe was a great writer. He wrote very dark stories and set the right tone for them. Many books that I have read cannot do this properly. This is what makes Poe a great writer in my opinion. There is also how he can describe one scene in one paragraph. I would compare him to Stephen King. There is a very dark and gloomy mood in most of his stories. Many of his stories have very silly and strange motives for a murder. I will compare the reasons for murder, the methods of murder, and the preparation for the murder.

In Poe’s, “The Black Cat”, the narrator murdered both his wife and cat and thought he could get away, but later on it comes back to haunt him. Even though the narrator thought he had escaped the consequences of death the black cat ruined it for him by “cry[ing], at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swell[ed] into one long, loud, and continuous scream…” (Poe 108). The meow of the black cat gave away the hiding spot of the narrator’s dead wife, proving no matter how strategical one maybe death always comes around. The black cat completely ruined the narrator’s attempt to get away with death, exhibiting Poe’s ideas of death and demise within his

Poe is a very well-known writer from the 19th century. Most of his works are not easy reads, in fact most people don’t understand what he is trying to get across by just ready his stories or poems just one time. His style of writing is very unique, usually gothic. It has something to do with his background, he was a struggling child growing up, losing both of his parents at a young age. Then later having issues in school, he was kicked out of West Point. For him writing was a way to express himself and exhale. One of his most famous work is “The Cask of Amontillado” published in 1846.

In the story The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe the setting, characters and suspense are all used as elements to show horror throughout the story. The story opens in the cell of the prisoner the day before he is to be executed by hanging. He introduces himself then tells us of what led to his imprisonment. The story takes place at the prisoners home or tavern with his wife, birds, gold-fish, dog, rabbits, small monkey and a black cat.

Edgar Allan Poe was a very talented writer. His works included intricate horror poems along with books which reflected the issues of his personal life. “Poe’s most conspicuous contribution to the world of literature derives from the analytical method he practiced both as a creative author and as a critic of the works of his contemporaries” ("Edgar Allan Poe"). Before Poe, the horror and detective genres did not really exist or at least they weren’t as highly publicized. People only wrote stories about their everyday life, fantasies, etc. He influenced others to use his literary style. Even though his work was not a success in his life. “Poe’s stature as a major figure in the world of literature

Edgar Allan Poe’s writing differed from most writers during his time period. He was often critical of his contemporaries, as most writers wrote with the purpose to teach or instruct readers or make a religious or political statement. Poe believed literature was to be simply for the reader’s amusement. Due to his dislike for this didactic style of writing, he preferred writing horror short stories with the use of his imagination, which would impact the future of literature. Because Poe did not write like most of his contemporaries, he failed to have his work highly regarded by established literary people of his day.

Edgar Allen Poe has created many stories that are dark, suspenseful, and murderous such as The Tell- Tale Heart and The Black Cat. His works tend to resemble one another in style, mood, theme, and plot. The ways in which these elements are displayed show contrast between the two. The Tell- Tale Heart and The Black Cat are two brutal tales with similar themes about being insane. Both stories are told from the first person point of view with a maniacal narrator.

In many of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, a reader can encounter with many similarities of style and technique. In this paper, I am going to state the similarities of The Black Cat and Tell-Tale Heart to understand Poe style in short stories.

Poe introduced several changes to the literary style of his time period. He was one of the first writers to develop the genre of both detective fiction and horror. Poe was renowned for focusing on the opaque side of the human nature. He can even be considered the father