The Black Cat Psychological Analysis

Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques related to the study of the unconscious mind, which together form a method of treatment for mental-health disorders. The purpose is to analyze the reason behind the behavioral change of the protagonist by studying his psychology. In Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat," Poe creates a narrator who lacks remorse, empathy, and a conscience, a character who deceives and manipulates those around him because of an impulsive, egocentric personality known as psychopathy" (Hester). Being that the narrator who was once an animal lover gradually changed into an animal abuse. "While many of the critics of “The Black Cat” prefer to see this murder as premeditated, I interpret the act as the culmination of deep-seated and suppressed anxieties that are contained in how the narrator retrospectively presents his childhood" (Piacentino). Poe's childhood plays an important role in most of his stories and is used to explain various motives behind his characters actions. "In his telling of the story, the narrator employs a manner of planting clues, some of which seem deliberately ambiguous, their ambiguity in part attributable to the narrator's perceived unreliability. In fact, the narrator does little to convince the reader that his narration is reliable. Thus, he seems intentionally unreliable" (Piacentino). Poe is known for writing stories that involve

“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

The events that unfolded in Edgar Allen Poe’s, “The black Cat,” are all due to one person, the narrator. It is because of his Mental state, being an alcoholic, and being abusive to his wife and pets that the fault lies heavily on the narrator. What this paper will entail is all three of the reasons why it is the narrator's fault for what happens in the story and it will come to a conclusion based off the findings in the story.

Edgar Allan Poe was an extraordinary author whose horror and mystery stories leave an impression on readers even today. In some of Poe’s works, the narrator’s thoughts and actions make the reader question the narrator’s sanity. Two good examples are Poe’s poem “The Raven” and his short story “The Black Cat”; there is plenty of evidence to support that both of the narrators are not completely sane. In Poe’s “The Raven” and “The Black Cat,” both narrators exhibit symptoms of mental illness, including hallucinations, illogical thinking, mood swings, and substance abuse.

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

In Poe’s short story “The Black Cat”, the narrator’s insanity is shown as violence being used towards his loved ones as a problem-solver of his frustration. Throughout the story, there are many times where he finds himself in aggravating situations. His craziness shines especially at these times, as he automatically uses assault to fix his problems. As a sane person might lose control at times and hit something, the narrator seems to always take out his frustration with cruel actions towards his wife and animals. For

Being tenderhearted was always the narrator’s best quality, but even his best quality could make his day become worse. Having a big heart filled with kindness and love ever since he was an infant traveled throughout his childhood causing his friends to make fun of who he is. “From the time I was an infant, I was known for my obedient and kind disposition. I was so tenderhearted that my friends made fun of me.(Poe 4) Day by day I grew more moody and irritable. I cared less and less about other people’s feelings.(Poe 12) This was really ironic because he said that he was tenderhearted and kind, but look at him now, he mistreats and slaughters his pets and wife. This also shows that perverseness can control him because if it didn’t then why did the narrator kill his cat and wife without any regrets after that. If perverseness didn’t control him, then he’ll still be tenderhearted and situations wouldn’t progress this horrible. Another situation that shows irony is when all his anger builds up and is about to attack at the cat, similar to Pluto, to end its life. Right at the point where the cat trips him, the rage inside of him increases so much that he grabs a nearby axe and is about cause a blow at it. Little did he know, his wife came and stops the blow causing her life to end instead of the cat. As Poe said, “ The cat followed me down the steep

Immediately following the homicide, the narrator tries to think of a way to hide the body. He even says he slept very soundly right after. It is common and humane for people to feel emotions such as guilt after a murder. In result of the narrator not experiencing any emotions, it can be deduced that the narrator is mentally unstable. To further the reasoning of him being unstable, a significant component to analyze would be how the narrator changes. In the beginning of the story, the narrator tells the readers that he was an intense animal lover and had a “tenderness of heart” (Poe 137). He alters from an animal enthusiast to an abusive, homicidal madman. Aside from a character’s behavior and the changes he has throughout the tale, one must also take into consideration what the he says or does not say.

Within us, we have the dark and the bright side. We do the good, but have evil thoughts and some people act on it, thinking it may drag them to feel good in doing so. This informative short-story provides a perfect example on how we take control of our mind. Edgar Allan Poe, the author of “The Black Cat”, develops the central idea that violence solves problems. On the eve of an unnamed narrator’s death, he writes a story of how his life collapsed, turning around his love for everybody and falling into a big pile of a hopeless mess and madness by committing brutal actions.

Poe was strange with one of his aspects, that was with his “Guilt”. He began showing guilt when he killed his first cat in the story and really felt bad about his actions and what he had done to the poor creature. “I went so far as to regret the loss of the

When looking at a piece of literature through a psychological approach it is easy to apply Sigmund Freud’s theories of the id, ego, and superego, which focus on conscious and unconscious behavior. When analyzing many of Poe’s works, critics tend to look through a psychological lens. Specifically in Poe’s The Black Cat. Some critics believe that Poe’s alcoholism is reflected in the piece, but many, such as James W. Gargano “advised the tales readers to avoid the biographical pitfall of seeing Poe and the first-person narrator of The Black Cat as ‘identical literary twins’” (Piacentino 1). It is due to his childhood that Poe’s narrator in The Black Cat subconsciously places animals before humans, thus leading to him to murder his wife.

Edgar Allan Poe is well-known for his captivating tales of the macabre through eloquence and wit. In many of his short stories, Poe was able to exploit his audience's fears through allegory and descriptive details of murder and madness. One of Poe's captivating, yet mad, narrators helms "The Black Cat," a tale of paranoia, alcoholism, and murder. There are several things that make the narrator an intriguing character including his psychological state, the imp of the perverse, and the effect that alcoholism has on him.

All of these short stories contain characters with psychological issues.Furthermore , in Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” the narrator is an alcoholic and is in a psychotic state of mind.. His mental instability makes him believe that “the hideous beast... had seduced [him] into murder” (Poe 5) of the black cat. Consequently, the murder of his wife during the story further supports how Poe’s literature displays a disarray from traditional societal norms and the effects of doing evil actions. Such as, when the author uses alcohol to show his weaknesses. Additionally, in another story by Poe, “The Raven,” the character grieves from the loss of a loved one. The death has a horrible effect on his mental stability ; the narrator has a hard time separating reality between the ambiguity of being in a daze. Poe mind plays tricks on him and makes him believe that the bird “is sitting on the pallid bust of Pallas, just above [the] chamber door; and

Edgar Allan Poe’s stories are known for their portrayal of a variety of intensely mentally damaged characters. “The Black Cat,” one of Poe’s most famous works, showcases a deranged man abusing animals and eventually axing his wife to death. Needless to say, there’s something wrong with the main character. Psychoanalysis can be applied to the story to help us more deeply understand it. According to Sigmund Freud, “Psychoanalysis is the name (1) of a procedure for the investigation of mental processes which are almost inaccessible in any other way, (2) of a method (based upon that investigation) for the treatment of neurotic disorders” (Freud 181). Psychoanalysis is used to understand influences on psychotic behavior—“hysteria and obsessional neuroses, … all kinds of phobias, inhibitions, deformities of character, sexual perversions and difficulties in erotic life” (Freud 191). Many of these behaviors are applicable to “The Black Cat.” In Poe’s story, the theory of psychoanalysis can be applied to craft a reading of the narrator’s obsession over and maltreatment of the cat, the domestic violence and murder of the unnamed wife, and Poe’s own personal life leaking through the pages.

The Black Cat set in the 1843 setting tells the tale of a narrator and predicament. The story goes on in elaborates on the journey of the narrator of murdering a black cat. That later in the story, comes back to haunt him. A haunting which makes him tap into his unconscious drives. Internal drives that were exposed by the unreliable narrator in the black cat.