This section highlights the main elements of our analysis of the story “The Black Cat
The Black Cat
"The Black Cat" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in the August 19, 1843, edition of The Saturday Evening Post. It is a study of the psychology of guilt, often paired in analysis with Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart". In both, a murderer carefully conceals his crime a…
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What is the analysis of the Black Cat?
“The Black Cat” is a tale that explores daemonic force, symbolized by the cat itself. Not only were cats often associated with dark powers, but there are also other factors that support this claim based on the scholarship of the daemonic.
What is the scariest Edgar Allan Poe story?
The “Cask of Amontillado” is a horror story about revenge. It is by Edgar Allan Poe and also the “The Tell-Tale Heart” is written by him. He writes in a way that is scary and afraid. He wrote many short stories and very famous for them because of how scary they are and how unique his stories are.
Did Edgar Allan Poe have a pet cat?
The tormented American poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), had a beloved pet cat named Catterina. An excerpt from Poe's novel has the narrator stating, “Pluto—this was the cat's name- was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house.
Are there any facts about Edgar Allan Poe?
- Politian (1835) – Poe's only play
- The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) – Poe's only complete novel
- The Journal of Julius Rodman (1840) – Poe's second, unfinished novel
- " The Balloon-Hoax " (1844) – A journalistic hoax printed as a true story
- " The Philosophy of Composition " (1846) – Essay
- Eureka: A Prose Poem (1848) – Essay
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What is the structure of the story The Black Cat?
The story's plot structure features narrative techniques such as backstories and foreshadowing. The story's ending also has a twist because it leads to an unexpected outcome. The main character of the story is an unnamed male narrator.
What is the purpose of The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe?
Summary and Analysis "The Black Cat" More than any of Poe's stories, "The Black Cat" illustrates best the capacity of the human mind to observe its own deterioration and the ability of the mind to comment upon its own destruction without being able to objectively halt that deterioration.
What is the setting of Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat?
The Black Cat: Setting ''The Black Cat'' setting starts in the protagonist's jail cell where he is awaiting his execution the following day. He then takes the readers on a journey back to his old house. The first part of the story, where Pluto features, is set primarily in the narrator's house.
What is the irony in The Black Cat?
The irony in "The Black Cat" occurs after the narrator cuts out one the eyes of his cat Pluto. Although the cat no longer can see with that eye, the cat now sees its caretaker for what he really is -- unpredictable and dangerous.
What are some symbols in The Black Cat?
The Rope, the Tree, and the Gallows A gallows is a structure used to hang people. The second cat wears a symbol of Pluto's murder on its body. It becomes a symbol of the man's guilt and depravity, a visual reminder of his crime, and of his changing personality. It also foreshadows the man's own death by hanging.
What is the main theme of The Black Cat?
Major Themes Justice and truth: The narrator tries to hide the truth by walling up his wife's body but the voice of the black cat helps bring him to justice. Superstition: The black cat is an omen of bad luck, a theme that runs throughout literature. Murder and death: Death is the central focus of the entire story.
What is the tone in The Black Cat?
The tone in The Black Cat was paranoid and disturbed. The narrator is paranoid that his cat was a reminder of the crime he committed to his first cat, Pluto. The narrator is mad , in a insane way, because he did all of these acts, like hanging Pluto from a tree after cutting his eyes out.
What does the wife symbolize in The Black Cat?
The brief outline the narrator provides us of his wife suggests that she is kind, giving, loyal, and even heroic at the end. The narrator says she has "in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been [his] distinguishing characteristic." She is a highly sympathetic character, in her own right.
What is the moral lesson of The Black Cat?
"The Black Cat" is in many ways a moral tale that deals with the tension between love and hate and that warns of the dangers of alcohol, a substance to which Poe himself was addicted for much of his life.
Why does the narrator want to tell his story The Black Cat?
The narrator says that he lacks "logic" and that he's too "excitable" to tell the story plainly, to show that the murder of his wife is completely understandable. He hopes a logical reader, who isn't too "excitable" will be able to demystify the story and understand what it means.
What is the black cat in Poe's stories?
Poe's Stories: The Black Cat Summary & Analysis. Poe's Stories: The Black Cat. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Poe's Stories, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The narrator of "The Black Cat" begins by saying that we probably won’t believe what he is about to tell us.
What is the theme of the Black Cat?
Active Themes. The narrator of "The Black Cat" tells us of his boyhood, which was easy. He had a particular love of animals and had a lot of pets and this love only increased into adulthood. He thinks there is something in the loyalty and unselfishness of a dog that you can’t get from a man.
What is the doppelganger in Poe's new cat?
Poe brings out his doppelganger technique again. The features of this new cat coincidentally make him an exact replica of the murdered Pluto. Now this animal presents the narrator with a bigger challenge – an supernatural (or possibly imaginary) rival is much more difficult to get rid of than a real one. The narrator now battles with his own delusions as well as his violent moods.
Why does the narrator hang the cat from a tree?
It is this phenomenon that the narrator uses to explain his attack on the animal, and in the spirit of perverseness, he also commits a further act, and hangs the cat from a tree. He cried as he did it.
Why is it impossible to separate the disturbed vision of the narrator and the reality?
It is impossible to separate the disturbed vision of the narrator and the reality, because we know his mind is guiltily obsessed with the image of the cat. Active Themes. The narrator of "The Black Cat" tries to logically explain how it could have happened.
What does the narrator do in Pluto?
All trace of remorse is gone. Now the narrator cold-bloodedly focuses on concealing the body of his wife, without any sign of grief or of ever having cared for her. Poe uses the domestic environment to amplify the horror – just as the narrator warned at the beginning of the story, the household is now home to murder. In fact, the very walls of the family home are used to hide the bodies.
Why does Poe use foreshadowing?
Poe uses this foreshadowing message to increase the sense of horror for what is to follow. We already know that the narrator is on the brink of death, so the fact that the events are domestic and logical makes them even more real and horrific. Horror and the mundane household often come together like this in Gothic literature.
What is the theme of the Black Cat?
Written in the form of a first-person narrative, Poe employed multiple themes of insanity, superstition, and alcoholism to impart a palpable sense of horror and foreboding to this tale, while at the same time, deftly advancing his plot and building his characters. It's no surprise that "The Black Cat" is often linked with "The Tell-Tale Heart," ...
What are the symbols in Poe's dark tale?
Symbols. Symbols are a key component of Poe's dark tale, particularly the following ones. The black cat: More than just the title character, the black cat is also an important symbol. Like the bad omen of legend, the narrator believes Pluto and his successor have led him down the path toward insanity and immorality.
What is the cat that escapes the man's wrath?
The only creature to escape the man's initial wrath is a beloved black cat named Pluto, but one night after a serious bout of heavy drinking, Pluto angers him for some minor infraction, and in a drunken fury, the man seizes the cat, which promptly bites him. The narrator retaliates by cutting out one of the Pluto 's eyes.
What happens to the cat in the story of the cat?
While the cat's wound eventually heals, the relationship between the man and his pet has been destroyed. Eventually, the narrator, filled with self-loathing, comes to detest the cat as a symbol of his own weakness, and in a moment of further insanity, hangs the poor creature by the neck from a tree beside the house where it's left to perish.
What is the black cat's omen?
Superstition: The black cat is an omen of bad luck, a theme that runs throughout literature. Murder and death: Death is the central focus of the entire story.
What is the dark tale of descent into madness?
Edgar Allen Poe's Dark Tale of Descent Into Madness. Esther Lombardi, M.A., is a journalist who has covered books and literature for over twenty years. "The Black Cat," one of Edgar Allan Poe 's most memorable stories, is a classic example of the gothic literature genre that debuted in the Saturday Evening Post on August 19, 1843.
What is the story of House and Home?
House and home: " Home sweet home" is supposed to be a place of safety and security, however, in this story, it becomes a dark and tragic place of madness and murder. The narrator kills his favorite pet, tries to kill its replacement, and goes on to kill his own wife.
What is the Black Cat about?
The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” delivers all of the spooky elements that make a terrifying and haunting tale. This particular dark short story combines fear and guilt with brutality and violence, ultimately leading to the murder of the narrator’s wife. However, it also explores the themes of depths ...
What is the cat's name in Poe's The Underworld?
Pluto, Roman God of the Underworld. Poe chooses to name the narrator’s original black cat Pluto, after the Roman god of the Underworld. It is not surprising, then, that the cat ultimately becomes the narrator’s tormentor in the form of his own guilt, and leads the narrator to make decisions that bring about his own demise.
What is the black cat with a white spot on its chest?
A creature from Scottish and Irish mythology, the Cat Sith (Cat Sidhe, in Irish folklore), is a large black cat with a white spot on its chest, not unlike the cat Poe describes as coming into his narrator’s life after Pluto. The Cat Sith, in Scottish folklore, haunts the Highlands and may actually be a witch in disguise.
What is the cat sith supposed to be?
The Cat Sith is supposed to be as large as a dog, and attracted to warmth. Students may find this website to be an interesting resource for reading more about the legends and tales surrounding the Cat Sith. Poe chooses to name the narrator’s original black cat Pluto, after the Roman god of the Underworld.
What is the cat sith?
The Cat Sith is believed to be able to steal a corpse’s soul before it could cross over into the next life. The Cat Sith is supposed to be as large as a dog, and attracted to warmth.
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