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What Is The Narrator's Guilt In The Black Cat

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In the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, there are many issues that has affected the narrator; however, the only thing that occurred often is his guilt. Guilt appears multiple times throughout the story ultimately leading to his downfall. In the story he murders his cat and his wife, the narrator started to realize what he did was morally wrong. The narrators anger and his alcohol problem weaken him and which made him lose control of himself. The components that led him to a guilty conscious is his addiction to alcohol, the black cat, and the police officers. These components were the reason why he had a guilty conscious which became his downfall. Alcohol is the contributing factor to his downfall which intensifies his guilt. …show more content…

The narrator killed his wife out of his anger towards Pluto as a result when he was under the influence. The disappearance of his wife began to be noticeable which led the police officers to investigate his home. The narrator was calm during the investigation and appeared that he will get away with the murder. He was sure of himself that the police officers will never find the carcass of his wife. Before the departure of the police officers, he became over confident and said the officers “These walls-are you going, gentlemen? -these walls are solidly put together”; “…I rapped heavily with a cane which I held in my hand… No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, then I was answered by a voice from within the tomb!” his over confidence screwed himself over. The narrator did not realize that he buried Pluto behind wall. The officer heard a weird noise and began to exam the wall and found the carcass of his wife. If the narrator only knew that he buried Pluto beneath the wall he would have gotten away, but his over confidence and guilt got in the way. The police officers were one of the reason he had a guilty conscious which led him to

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