Obsession In The Black Cat 'And The Birth Mark'

An aphorist, Mason Cooley, once said, “Cure for an obsession: get another one”. This quote can be qualified by humans and the changes in their passions. Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome weaves a tale with human-like characters and their obsessions in the short story. As a result, the novella can be used to qualify the quote because the characters would act in a similar way as humans. Both the quote and story have the theme of obsession. In both, an individual cures their obsessions by getting another one. However, an individual in “Ethan Frome” could only cure their obsession by having one with larger value rather than another one. Therefore, the cure for an obsession, often shown in humans, is to have a more significant one, using Ethan Frome as

Contemporaries Edgar Alan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne published their respective short stories The Tell-Tale Heart and The Birth-Mark only a couple of months apart. The Tell-Tale Heart is the personal account of a young man’s descent into madness as he becomes increasingly fixated on the eye of an older man, presumably his father. Similarly, The Birth-Mark narrates the story of a young couple, Aylmer and Georgiana, and how the latter’s birthmark becomes the obsession of the former. Poe and Hawthorne’s literary genre of Dark Romanticism opposes human perfectibility, and both writers employ symbolism, irony, similar characters and plot to convey the theme that obsessions will inevitably lead to destruction.

The Dark Romantic texts “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are similar and different in many ways. The similarities of the two pieces are very plentiful. To begin, obsession is a supernatural force that has taken over the main characters in each piece. The narrator in “The Black Cat” is on death row and is trying to rid the guilt he has accumulated through his wrongful acts. He has become obsessed over these actions and he says, “these events have terrified-have tortured- have destroyed me” (Poe 3). They have taken up so much of his thoughts that he no longers thinks of anything else. This similar obsession of it taking over the mind is also present in “The Birthmark”. Aylmer is obsessing over his wife’s birthmark. Thinking to himself, “At all the seasons which should have been their happiest, he invariably...reverted to this one disastrous topic” (Hawthorne 4). Nature is beautifully changing which should bring joy to Aylmer, but all that he can think about it the mark upon her face. Similarly to the narrator in the previous text, the object of Aylmer’s obsession fills his mind and becomes the only thing that he thinks about. Also featured in both pieces is the inability to distinguish fantasy and reality. The narrator in the first text cannot tell the difference between his two selves. He described the feeling as, “a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my

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 and Nathaniel Hawthorne focus on concepts that relate to the darker side of the human experience by creating characters that embody the relationship between evil and abnormal psychology. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “The Birth-Mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne feature characters that engage in an abnormal or unusual behavior and suffer from a flawed, obsessive psyche that causes them to commit evil or immoral acts. Montresor and Aylmer, the two main characters of each short story, both exhibit obsessive-compulsive behavior with one character fixated on revenge and vengeance and the other attempting to transcend the limits of human capabilities by altering nature to achieve “perfection.” Poe and Hawthorne are suggesting

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.

In addition, Immigration is a huge issue today. Many Americans think that immigrants are the reason behind there not being many jobs in the U.S. Also, the reason why the unemployment rate is high in America. Lots of Americans agree on the issue that immigrants that come here turn out to be criminals and causing a lot of trouble in America.

Finally,the most prominent case of obsession we see is Albert's obsession with bees.Since Albert was a child he has always gotten along with bees, so much that he devoted his entire life to them. While his passion led him to a successful job in selling honey, and providing for his family; his confessions towards the end of the story proved to be taking his passion to the extreme. “Still and Burdett found that a male rat with Hitherto was unable to breed until it was fed Royal Jelly, and I figured if it worked for a lousy rat there is no reason it shouldn't work for Albert Taylor.” (Rahl 12). This confession states that he has been consuming Royal Jelly for the past year, and that’s what has made him fertile. His fertility is not what is alarming though; it is the fact he doesn’t mind that the side effects have turned him into a bee. This shows that his obsession with bees was so overbearing that it consumed him. But his obsession does not stop there. Now that he is a bee, he is glorified to see that the Royal Jelly is turning his baby into a bee, just like him. After Mabel’s horrifying realization that her baby was nothing more than a comatose grub, she asks Albert to cover her up. Albert replies. “Why don't you cover it up, Mabel?” he said. “We don't want our little queen getting cold.” (Rahl 13). I can imagine Mabel must of felt she was a living a nightmare, realizing her husband

Obsessions cause havoc and can potentially ruin a person’s life, yet society normalizes and capitalizes on their effects. Obsessive thoughts and behaviors are becoming increasingly more common in today’s society. They can have many detrimental effects due to the lack of control it causes in a person. With the popularity of romantic comedies and love songs, borderline stalking behaviors are viewed as normal acts of love. The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, features a man hopelessly obsessed with a past girlfriend. Additionally, There’s Something About Mary is a movie about a man demonstrating stalker-like behavior toward a woman that he has been obsessed with since his childhood. Due to deficits in their own life and self-esteem,

Obsession is defined as “the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea or desire.” The desire for nonconformity is a praiseworthy attribute but when taken too far, it can be disadvantageous to one’s goals and ambitions. While it is essential for one to seek transient passions, it is also crucial to mollify this pursuit, with concern with actual use. The threats of overindulgence are notably apparent in the case of John, the protagonist of Virginia Woolf’s “Solid Objects”, whose passion for knickknacks turns into a subtle obsession. Woolf expresses her strong criticism of John by intensifying his wasted potentiality and his fixation with fleeting dreams while she commends Charles for his dependability and practicality.

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.

Before continuing this analysis, obsession will be clearly defined. For the purpose of this essay, obsession will be characterized by three concepts: the character is shown constantly contemplating the desired object or person, most of a character’s actions or goals are oriented towards the object or person, and

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.

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.

“The Black Cat” is one of Poe’s most memorable stories. The story first published in 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post, is a study of the psychology of guilt, paired with other works by Poe. The start of the narrative should intrigue readers, by the imagery that is recognized by writers. John Cleman wrote the article “Irresistible Impulses: Edgar Allan Poe and the Insanity Defense” analyzing the work written by Poe and his usage of themes and symbols. At the beginning of this article, Cleman stated this: “Near the beginning of the tale, the narrator says he would be “mad indeed” if he should expect a reader to believe the story, implying that he has already been accused of madness” (630). Poe is creating a sense of confusion for the readers and making them think more about the story before reading. The story is centered around a black cat and the idea of deterioration of a man. From his prison cell, the narrator is writing the story about his life, which is falling apart; He has a love for animals, and for his wife that he married young. One of the things that he takes on as a hobby, is drinking, and when he starts to drink, his personality shifts, as he starts abusing his wife and pets. The narrative is full of gruesome scenes in which he hurts his pets, including murdering them. Later, he continues the abuse and kills his wife, also. Eventually, the cops show up, and take down the wall. “Then quickly they began to pick at the stones, and in a short time they saw