Edgar Allan Poe is an incredibly established American author. His writing style is easily identifiable due to his unique characterization and conspicuous usage of elevated vocabulary. Some of Poe’s pieces incorporate a character whom has committed a crime and is revealing to the readers how and why he committed it. It is not always explicitly started what motivates the individual to enact his crime; this enables the audience to look deeper into the story. The way Poe can place himself in a criminal 's mind is frightening. Poe’s stories always present themselves as eerie or sinister to the audience; therefore the audience is always engaged throughout the tale. An example of such a story would be Poe’s “The Black Cat.” The narrator of this …show more content…
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. The narrator of “The Black Cat” writes his murderous history in a way to receive justification or sympathy from the audience. When the narrator refers to the black cat, he usually calls it beast to give the image of a dangerous animal rather than an innocent pet. This terminology is used to justify why he abuses and hung the cat. Moreover, the narrator articulates certain events as insignificant to persuade the audience that the instances are not as terrible as they are. An example would be when he slaughters his wife and immediately formulates a way to
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most recognizable literary figures in 19th century American literature. Poe is most well known for his short stories that focus on a psychologically unhinged character who murders an innocent person without motive and eventually cracks under pressure before the police, ultimately turning himself in for the crimes he committed. Two such stories that follow this theme are "The Imp of the Perverse" 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 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.
In the poem the “Black Cat” the story is a symbol about Poe’s alcoholism and how you can feel like a completely different person, the more you drink the less and less the person who you truly are get pushed farther backed. This is where the doppelganger comes in; since Poe can't hold even a little bit of alcohol his another personality comes out which with every sip he loses control. The story appears to be about how within every person even the most gentle there is an instinct to destroy, to create chaos. The character cannot stop himself from hanging the cat, he cries as he does so, he can't resist feeling guilty. But as he lets go into this different person he begins to
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.
Having moved into a new house, the narrator happens across a black cat, which then follows him home. Nerves rattled, the narrator does his best to avoid the cat. When that fails he tries to kill it, accidentally killing his wife in the process. After sealing his wife's body into the basement wall, he is interviewed by the police. Not unlike in “The Tell-Tale Heart”, the narrator of “The Black Cat” cracks under the pressure of his guilt and gives himself up. Symbolism and suspense make “The Black Cat” worth reading.
Many people enjoy the detective and crime shows, but what they may not realize is that Edgar Allan Poe was the one to pioneer this genre. For the short stories, poems, and a few books he wrote, Edgar Allan Poe is a recognized American writer. He lived in the era of westward expansion, slavery laws beginning to become an issue, and most influential to Poe, Tuberculosis(TB) was a major issue. There was not yet a cure for people with TB, in fact, there wouldn’t be a known cure for another 100 years after his life. He lost many people during his life; his father left before Poe was 3 years old, his mother died from TB when Poe was three. He moved into a foster home, but stories tell that his foster father did not like him so he struggled to find the support he needed both as a child and as a broke college student. Although many myths state that Poe was a drunkard and incapable of love, he was married. His outsiderness in his foster home likely influenced his writing, as well as his irregularity and uniqueness, and his horrid memories of how TB had taken some of his closes family. Poe’s unique literary techniques enhance his macabre writing style.
1. He is not a reliable narrator because he is insane. Though he repeatedly states that he is sane, the reader suspects otherwise from his bizarre reasoning, behavior, and speech. ‘‘True—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?'' The reader realizes through Poe’s description of the narrator’s extreme nervousness that the protagonist has in fact descended into madness, as anxiety is a common symptom of insanity. He apparently suffers from some form of paranoia. Besides, the narrator claims that he loves the old man and has no motive for the murder other than his growing dislike of a cloudy film over one of the old man’s eyes. His madness becomes
The opening of ‘The black cat’ gives the reader the knowledge of the narrators past ‘from my infancy I was especially fond of animals’. A lonely image of the narrator is portrayed in the readers mind as he explains he was closer to
When reading a short story many people take the details given to be the unconditional truth. This is probably why so many of these people are confused or repulsed by a story like “The Black Cat.” Throughout the story, the narrator makes numerous contradictions. These contradictions, combined with his actions make me doubt the legitimacy and truth of what he says.
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe is one of Poe’s greatest literary works that embodies his signature themes of death, violence, and darkness. Poe’s main character begins his narration of his horrible wrongdoings regarding them as a “series of mere household events” (Poe 705). However, this is where Poe’s satire and irony begins and the story progresses to show the deranged mindset of this character as he tries to justify his actions. As the main character proceeds to rationalize his crime, Poe is able to convey a sense of irony through his use of foreshadowing, metaphors and symbolism.
Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat” starts off with a nice couple. The man starts off as a nice man, but begins to change at the very beginning of the story. As the narrator of the story, the man even admits he “experienced a radical alteration for the worse” (138). In the beginning he seems to love his wife and treats her well but ends up murdering her hiding the body. He all seems to love his pet cat but also end up kill it too. The changes in the narrator are dramatic and well presented in the story in many ways. In “The Black Cat,” Poe uses character, dialogue, and setting to show the drastic changes a person can experience in life.
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most influential and important writers of the nineteenth century. He was the first writer to try to make a living only writing. One of Poe’s most popular short stories, “The Black Cat”, is considered horror fiction or gothic fiction which Poe is known for in his books and short stories because it was a popular genre during his days. In Poe’s short story, “The Black Cat”, Poe uses a horror fiction genre, a mentally deranged and evil narrator/character, and symbolism of death to make a thrilling story with tons of suspense, drama, and gruesome detail.
The dark and eerie tone of the murder story and its unusual setting contribute to the story’s theme of defense of one’s honor and avenging wrongdoing. The haughtiness and conceited attitudes of the two men create an extension of this theme in which Poe wants to show how far some men will go when they receive a blow to the ego. The story’s setting in the
Poe’s Characterization also helps the reader understand the theme. I believe the narrator is remained unnamed to give a sense that the story could happen to anyone. The theme that everyone has an evil side show all humans are capable of committing a murder and or crime like this. Just like everyone is capable of committing this kind of crime, everyone will also feel the guilt after the crime has been committed. As