the black cat short essay

A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Black Cat’ was first published in August 1843 in the Saturday Evening Post . It’s one of Poe’s shorter stories and one of his most disturbing, focusing on cruelty towards animals, murder, and guilt, and told by an unreliable narrator who’s rather difficult to like. You can read ‘The Black Cat’ here . Below we’ve offered some notes towards an analysis of this troubling but powerful tale.

First, a brief summary of the plot of ‘The Black Cat’. The narrator explains how from a young age he was noted for his tenderness and humanity, as well as his fondness for animals. When he married, he and his wife acquired a number of pets, including a black cat, named Pluto. But as the years wore on, the narrator became more irritable and prone to snap.

One night, under the influence of alcohol, he sensed the black cat was avoiding him and so chased him and picked up the animal. The animal bit him slightly on the hand, and the narrator – possessed by a sudden rage – took a pen-knife from his pocket and gouged out one of the cat’s eyes.

Although the cat seems to recover from this, the narrator finds himself growing more irritated, until eventually he takes the poor cat out into the garden and hangs it from a tree. Later that night, the narrator wakes to find his house on fire, and he, his wife, and his servant, barely escape alive. All of the narrator’s wealth is lost in the flames.

A crowd has gathered around the smouldering remains of the house. Setting foot in the ruins, the narrator finds the strange figure of a gigantic hanging cat on one of the walls, the dead cat having become embedded in the plaster (the narrator surmises that a member of the crowd had cut down the hanging cat and hurled it into the house to try to wake the narrator and his wife).

A short while after this, the narrator is befriended by a black cat he finds in a local tavern, a cat that has shown up seemingly out of nowhere, and resembles Pluto in every respect, except that this cat has some white among its black fur. The cat takes a shine to the narrator, so he and his wife take it in as their pet.

However, in time the narrator comes to loathe this cat, too, and once, when he nearly trips over the pet while walking downstairs into the cellar, he picks up an axe and aims a blow at the animal’s head. His wife intervenes and stops him – but, in a fit of rage, he buries the axe in his wife’s head, killing her instantly.

He conceals the body, but when the police call round to look into his wife’s disappearance, a sound from the place where the narrator has concealed the body exposes the hidden corpse.

When the body is revealed, the black cat is there – and it was the cat that had made the noise that gave away the location of the corpse. The narrator had walled up the animal when he had hidden his wife’s body. And with this revelation, the narrator’s story comes to an end.

The narrator piques our interest at the beginning of ‘The Black Cat’ by announcing that he dies tomorrow; it becomes clear that he is to be executed (by hanging, aptly, given the fate of his first pet cat) for the murder of his wife.

The ending of ‘The Black Cat’ suggests that a productive analysis between this story and ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ might yield a fruitful discussion. For one, both stories are narrated by murderers who conceal the dead body of their victim, only to have that body discovered at the end of the story.

It was Robert A. Heinlein, a later American author who made his name in the genre that Poe helped to create (science fiction), who remarked: ‘How we behave toward cats here below determines our place in heaven.’ What drives human beings to commit horrible deeds of pointless sadistic cruelty towards defenceless animals?

Whenever we read upsetting stories in the newspapers about people who have committed violent acts upon pets for no discernible reason, we have probably wondered this. Are they all psychopathic?

The narrator of ‘The Black Cat’ seems not to be – for he can recognise that his violent cruelty towards his cat is sadistic and vile, and even recoils in horror when his conscience is pricked and he realises that he is doing wrong. He attributes his violent behaviour towards the cat to ‘perverseness’, arguing that we all do things from time to time purely because we know they’re wrong.

Yet even in the face of his horrific treatment of Pluto – the cat’s name is shared with the Roman god of the Underworld – and his apparent desire to atone for his cruelty with the second pet cat, he ends up lapsing into his old ways and tries to kill the creature for no reason other than that he comes to be annoyed and irritated by it.

But of course, the mention of gin in the story offers a clue as to the cause of the narrator’s violence and irritation. What could cause an otherwise pleasant and humane youth, who grew up loving all animals, to turn into such a brute towards them – and, in time, towards a fellow human being? One answer suggests itself: alcohol.

‘The Black Cat’ can be analysed in light of Poe’s dislike of alcohol: he struggled with alcohol and was prone to drinking bouts which caused him to act erratically, so he knew well the dangers of over-indulging in drink until it begins to alter the drinker’s moods.

The narrator’s growing irritation towards both cats may, then, be a result of his overuse of alcohol. Shortly before his death in 1849 – possibly brought on by the effects of alcohol – Poe became a vocal supporter of temperance. It may be that ‘The Black Cat’ should be analysed as being, among other things, an earlier attempt to dramatise the dangers of drink.

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10 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’”

The discussion about cruelty to animals makes me, a vegan, raise the question: how does anyone accept the horrible cruelty perpetrated on animals by the thousands every day. I just don’t know how that is acceptable when we understand in reading this story that the mistreatment of one cat is grounds for retribution.

I KNOW RIGHT, TF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE ANYMORE

A fair analysis, though I’m not sure it reflects how funny “The Black Cat” can be. At one point, the narrator theorises that the dead cat has been thrown through his window “probably with the view of arousing me from sleep.” A beautiful mental picture.

Also, some of the narrator’s melodramatic anguish sounds funnier when you realise that he is delivering these lines holding a cat.

Incredible analysis. It’s hard to read a poem like this when I am such an animal lover, yet the the mind of human beings who do twisted things to others always turns me into a researcher. I do seek to understand. Repelled and Fascinated at the same time!

Thank you! I know what you mean by repelled and fascinated. As a cat-lover I find it hard to read the account of what happens to the poor creature. But as you say, Poe’s tale offers us a chance to understand (not the same as justifying) his erratic and violent behaviour. A study of a troubled human mind…

Exactly. My nature is to understand first…

Poor first cat. Hangings all very well and might seem to fit the crime, but it’s not an eye for an eye, is it, so could have been more appropriate. But surely his wife’s death was accidental, she threw herself in front of the axe, so no punishment justified.

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The Black Cat

by Edgar Allan Poe (published 1845)

    FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not -- and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified -- have tortured -- have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror -- to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place -- some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.     From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.     I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.     This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point -- and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.      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. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.     Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character -- through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance -- had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto , however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me -- for what disease is like Alcohol ! -- and at length even Pluto , who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish -- even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.     One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My  original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket ! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.     When reason returned with the morning -- when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch -- I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.     In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart -- one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not ? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself -- to offer violence to its own nature -- to do wrong for the wrong's sake only -- that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; -- hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; -- hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; -- hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin -- a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it -- if such a thing were possible -- even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.     On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration . The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.     I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts -- and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire -- a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words "strange!" "singular!" and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat . The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal's neck.     When I first beheld this apparition -- for I could scarcely regard it as less -- my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd -- by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.     Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place.     One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat -- a very large one -- fully as large as Pluto , and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast.     Upon my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it -- knew nothing of it -- had never seen it before.     I continued my caresses, and, when I prepared to go home, the animal evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so; occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife.     For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This was just the reverse of what I had anticipated; but -- I know not how or why it was -- its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike, or otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually -- very gradually -- I came to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence.     What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto , it also had been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.     With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly -- let me confess it at once -- by absolute dread of the beast.     This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil -- and yet I should be at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own -- yes, even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own -- that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimæras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of white hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole visible difference between the strange beast and the one I had destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees -- degrees nearly imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful -- it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name -- and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared -- it was now, I say, the image of a hideous -- of a ghastly thing -- of the GALLOWS ! -- oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime -- of Agony and of Death !     And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity. And a brute beast -- whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed -- a brute beast to work out for me -- for me a man, fashioned in the image of the High God -- so much of insufferable wo! Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of Rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight -- an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off -- incumbent eternally upon my heart !     Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates -- the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.     One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.     This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard -- about packing it in a box, as if merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar -- as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.     For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the rest of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious.     And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brick-work. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself -- "Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain."     My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forebore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night -- and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul!     The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme! The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had been instituted -- but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked upon my future felicity as secured.     Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness.     "Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this -- this is a very well constructed house." (In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.) -- "I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls -- are you going, gentlemen? -- these walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom.     But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! -- by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman -- a howl -- a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.     Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

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• Annotated Full Text
• Literary Period: Gothic
• Publication Date: 1843
• Flesch-Kincaid Level: 10
• Approx. Reading Time: 19 minutes
• The Black Cat

Like many of Poe's other narrators, the narrator of “The Black Cat” is unreliable. He reveals himself to be a drunkard and appears to gradually losing his grip on reality. The more he drinks, the more he develops a homicidal rage towards the black cat that his wife gives him. Despite claiming that he has particular love for cats and dogs, the narrator begins to have violent mood swings that often result in harm to these animals. He blames external forces—“perverseness,” “alcohol,” “fiendish malevolence”—in order to separate himself from his actions. However, as the story unfolds, readers realize more and more that they are within the mind of a deceptive madman who is headed for disaster. One of Poe’s most horrifying and dark tales, “The Black Cat” contains Poe’s most vehement condemnations of alcohol and the ills it causes. The abundant symbolism, imagery, and psychological confusion throughout the story pull readers into the narrator’s twisted truth and violent psyche.

Table of Contents

• Alliteration
• Character Analysis
• Foreshadowing
• Historical Context
• Literary Devices

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"The Black Cat" Study Guide

Edgar Allen Poe's dark tale of descent into madness

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"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. 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," since both of Poe's stories share several disturbing plot devices including murder and damning messages from the grave—real or imagined.

The Black Cat Summary

The nameless protagonist/narrator begins his story by letting the readers know that he was once a nice, average man. He had a pleasant home, was married to a pleasant wife, and had an abiding love for animals. All that was to change, however, when he fell under the influence of demon alcohol. The first symptom of his descent into addiction and eventual madness manifests in his escalating maltreatment of the family pets. 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 Pluto's eyes.

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. Shortly thereafter, the house burns down. While the narrator, his wife, and a servant escape, the only thing left standing is a single blackened interior wall—on which, to his horror, the man sees the image of a cat hanging by a noose around its neck. Thinking to assuage his guilt, the protagonist begins searching out a second black cat to replace Pluto. One night, in a tavern, he eventually finds just such a cat, which accompanies him to the house he now shares with his wife, albeit under greatly reduced circumstances.

Soon enough, the madness—abetted by gin—returns. The narrator begins not only to detest the new cat—which is always underfoot—but to fear it. What remains of his reason keeps him from harming the animal, until the day the man's wife asks him to accompany her on an errand to the cellar. The cat runs ahead, nearly tripping his master on the stairs. The man becomes enraged. He picks up an ax, meaning to murder the animal, but when his wife grabs the handle to stop him, he pivots, killing her with a blow to the head.

Rather than break down with remorse, the man hastily hides his wife's body by walling it up with bricks behind a false facade in the cellar. The cat that's been tormenting him seems to have disappeared. Relieved, he begins to think he's gotten away with his crime and all will finally be well–until the police eventually show up to search the house. They find nothing but as they're headed up the cellar stairs preparing to leave, the narrator stops them, and with false bravado, he boasts how well the house is built, tapping on the wall that's hiding the body of his dead wife. From within comes a sound of unmistakable anguish. Upon hearing the cries, the authorities demolish the false wall, only to find the wife's corpse, and on top of it, the missing cat. "I had walled the monster up within the tomb!" he wails—not realizing that he — not the cat — is the actual villain of the story.

The Black Cat Symbols

Symbols are a key component of Edgar Allen 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. 
• Alcohol: While the narrator begins to view the black cat as an outward manifestation of everything the narrator views as evil and unholy, blaming the animal for all his woes, it is his addiction to drinking, more than anything else, that seems to be the true reason for the narrator's mental decline.
• 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. Even the relationships that should have been the central focus of his healthy and happy home fall victim to his deteriorating mental state. 
• Prison: When the story opens, the narrator is physically in prison, however, his mind was already imprisoned by the shackles of madness, paranoia, and alcohol-induced delusions long before he was apprehended for his crimes. 
• The wife: The wife could have been a grounding force in the narrator's life. He describes her as having "that humanity of feeling." Rather than saving him, or at least escaping with her own life, she becomes a horrible example of innocence betrayed. Loyal, faithful, and kind, she never leaves her husband no matter how low he sinks into the depths of depravity. Instead, it is he who is in a sense unfaithful to his marriage vows. His mistress, however, is not another woman, but rather his obsession with drinking and the inner demons his drinking unleashes as symbolically personified by the black cat. He forsakes the woman he loves and eventually kills her because he can't break the hold of his destructive obsession.

The Black Cat Themes

Love and hate are two key themes in the story. The narrator at first loves his pets and his wife, but as madness takes hold, he comes to loathe or dismiss everything that should be of the utmost importance to him. Other major themes include:

• 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. The question is what causes the narrator to become a killer.
• Illusion versus reality:  Does the alcohol release the narrator's inner demons, or is it merely an excuse for his horrendous acts of violence? Is the black cat merely a cat, or something embued with a greater power to bring about justice or exact revenge?
• Loyalty perverted: A pet is often seen as a loyal and faithful partner in life but the escalating hallucinations the narrator experiences propel him into murderous rages, first with Pluto and then with the cat that replaces him. The pets he once held in highest affection become the thing he most loathes. As the man's sanity unravels, his wife, whom he also purports to love, becomes someone who merely inhabits his home rather than shares his life. She ceases to be a real person, and when she does, she is expendable. When she dies, rather than feel the horror of killing someone he cares for, the man's first response is to hide the evidence of his crime.

The Black Cat Key Quotes

Poe's use of language enhances the story's chilling impact. His stark prose is the reason this and his other tales have endured. Key quotes from Poe's work echo its themes.

On reality vs. illusion:

"For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief." 

On loyalty:

"There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man." 

On superstition:

"In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise." 

On alcoholism:

"...my disease grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!—and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish—even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper." 

On transformation and descent into insanity:

"I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame." 

"This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself—to offer violence to its own nature—to do wrong for the wrong's sake only—that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute." 

"Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates—the darkest and most evil of thoughts." 

The Black Cat Study and Discussion Questions

Once students have read "The Black Cat," teachers can use the following questions to spark discussion or as the basis for an exam or written assignment:

• Why do you think Poe chose "The Black Cat" as the title for this story?
• What are the major conflicts? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional) do you see in this story?
• What does Poe do to reveal the characters in the story?
• What are The Black Cat's themes?
• How does Poe employ symbolism?
• Is the narrator consistent in his actions? Is he a fully developed character?
• Do you find the narrator likable? Would you want to meet him?
• Do you find the narrator reliable? Do you trust what he says to be true?
• How would you describe the narrator's relationship with animals? How does it differ from his relationships with people?
• Does the story end the way you expected it to?
• What is the central purpose of the story? Why is this purpose important or meaningful?
• Why is the story usually considered a work of horror literature?
• Would you consider this appropriate reading for Halloween?
• How essential is the setting to the story? Could the story have taken place anywhere else?
• What are some controversial elements of the story? Were they necessary?
• What is the role of women in the text?
• Would you recommend this story to a friend?
• If Poe had not ended the story as he did, what do you think might have happened next?
• How have views on alcoholism, superstition, and insanity changed since this story was written?
• How might a modern writer approach a similar story?
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• How to Identify the Theme in a Literary Work
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The Black Cat

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A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Story Analysis

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Essay Topics

Construct an argument about the narrator’s mental state throughout the story. How does he rationalize his actions? What role does alcohol addiction play?

Discuss the narrator’s murder of his wife and his motivation beyond the immediate catalyst. Why does he react so violently? What else has his wife done in this tale?

What is the narrator’s attitude toward humanity, and how does it determine his actions in this tale?

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Edgar Allan Poe — Repetitiveness Of Death In The Black Cat Short Story

Repetitiveness of Death in The Black Cat Short Story

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The Black Cat

By edgar allan poe, the black cat themes, man’s descent into insanity.

In " The Black Cat ," the narrator was aware that his thoughts and actions were transforming into a downward spiral. He was aware of his increased irritability, his disregard of the feelings of others, and the unreasonable violent actions he carried out towards his wife. He was even aware that his favorite pet and playmate, Pluto , was falling victim to the ill-effects brought by alcoholism onto the narrator. However, for reasons that remain inscrutable to the reader, he continues his descent into moral degeneration. Is he affected with "perverseness"? Is it a result of the alcohol? Does he not know what he is doing?

The ill-effects of alcoholism

In this story, the narrator describes to the readers the effects of the “Fiend Intemperance." It was due to the increased intake of alcohol that the narrator experienced a radical alteration for the worse. He became more irritable, cared little for the feelings of others, and often used intemperate language with his wife—not to mention the violent acts he committed towards her. He abused the rabbits, the dogs, the monkey, and even his favorite pet, Pluto. We do not know why he was driven to drink, and being drunk did not explain all of his evil deeds—but alcohol certainly exacerbated his behavior and helped him stray further from a unified self.

Supernatural beliefs

The theme of supernatural elements pervades this story. The title itself suggests supernatural elements, for there are various superstitions regarding the bad luck that a black cat allegedly brings. In this story, the narrator kills his pet—Pluto, a black cat—by hanging him from a tree branch. After the murder of the black cat, bad luck followed the narrator. His house burned down, only one wall remained, and that wall had an impression of the black cat with a rope about the animal’s neck. A few days later, another black cat appeared in front of the narrator. This cat looked exactly like Pluto except it had a patch of white fur at the bosom, which later represented the "gallows." The events that followed the hanging of Pluto can be attributed to supernatural explanations, for it is a common belief that a black cat brings bad luck.

The narrator's guilt is what brought the black cat back to haunt him. The cat represents his guilt: as the narrator became more guilty, the cat became more realistic. For example, the only time the cat was heard was when the police were searching the narrator's house, at which point his guilt and fear finally pushed him into full madness. The narrative shows that guilt is a key factor in man's descent into madness—yet also a vital part of what keeps us human.

The Divided Self

The narrator experiences a fragmented, divided self. This is apparent not only in the dichotomy between the man telling the tale and the man committing the acts in the tale, but also in terms of nearly all of his actions once his "perverseness" set in. He vacillated between sanity and insanity, between fear and horror of the cat and the impulse to act. He had nightmares, drunken stupors, and paroxysms of rage and despair. He killed his cat and then desired another one; he felt poorly for his long-suffering wife but murdered her without a thought. The only bliss and peace he had were when he completely lost himself after killing his wife and walling up the cat in the tomb.

The Black Cat Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Black Cat is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

the black cat

He sees the black cat.

Write down all the main events that happened in the story' the black cat part 2' ?

I don't know about part 1 or part 2. I just read it as a whole story. You can check out the general summary below:

https://www.gradesaver.com/the-black-cat/study-guide/summary

It's Pluto, mate

Michael Moore

Study Guide for The Black Cat

The Black Cat study guide contains a biography of Edgar Allan Poe, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Black Cat
• The Black Cat Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Black Cat

The Black Cat essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe.

• Damn Cat: The Blasphemous Spirituality of Poe's The Black Cat
• The Unpredictable Map: Unreliable Narration in "The Black Cat"
• Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic Elements
• The Political, Social and Philosophical Analysis of 19th Century American Gothic Literature
• Eyes as a Reflection of the Self in Poe's Short Fiction

Wikipedia Entries for The Black Cat

• Introduction

The Black Cat Essay

The Black Cat is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. The plot follows a man named Mr. Pemberton, who has recently moved into a house, and the narrator’s friend, Mr. White. The protagonist soon gets married to his wife which brings in a pet cat for his wife. The cat wasn’t cared for because it would always slip out of its collar, causing the protagonist to tie a tight band around its neck. The cat soon becomes the protagonist’s favorite pet because it is noticeably more affectionate than his wife, who never demonstrated any feelings for him before he married her.

The story also mentions that Mr. White has a black cat named Pluto, but does not have much interest in it. As the protagonist begins to develop affection for his new pet, he starts to neglect his duties as husband by staying up late into night talking with his pet and neglecting his wife’s demands for attention. One night, while drunk, the protagonist decides to take out an old wound on the eye of the cat with a knife laced with brandy. The bleeding is intense and the protagonist decides to take the cat out for a walk at midnight since it is no longer his priority.

The story describes how Mr. Pemberton escapes by getting rid of all evidence, but the next day at noon, his wife’s screams are heard throughout the neighborhood. The police soon show up but Mr. Pemberton escapes with Pluto before they enter the house. The police then find Mrs Pemberton cut into seventeen pieces that were scattered across their property, along with her head which was still talking despite being separated from its body by more than three yards of space. The story ends with Mr. Pemberton hearing about what happened and telling himself “I am safe”, though he never truly safe until he faced the gallows.

The story ends with the ominous line “For the blood of that cat, I would nearly have faced my own. ” The description given by this line is chilling because it appears to be an afterthought thought without any serious implications towards what he has already done. The black cat was always Mr Pemberton’s favorite pet, but in the end, this character’s actions lead him down a path of unrest and destruction; his black cat was actually his undoing. The main theme for The Black Cat is hypocrisy due to how much Pemberton values his pet yet gleefully decides to mutilate it when under alcoholic influence.

He claims that he loves his wife more than anything else which leads her into misery and despair. The author uses The Black Cat to state that a person’s true character will be revealed when they are under immense pressure or have consumed alcohol. The story also illustrates how easily an individual can turn violent and cruel due to emotions such as anger or lust. The short story The Black Cat contains elements of mystery, suspense, and horror which make it a popular read for many literature enthusiasts.

The story has been well received because of the author’s usage of dark themes such as betrayal and violence. The Black Cat is praised for its ability to convey messages about hypocrisy and malevolence through the perspective of various characters in one single environment; this particular aspect makes The Black Cat stand out from other stories written by Edgar Allan Poe. There is no clear evidence as to when The Black Cat short story was written by Edgar Allan Poe, but most scholars believe it was written during his early writing career in the 1830s.

The Black Cat has been mentioned as one of Poe’s best stories ever because of its ability to convey messages about deception and madness through the perspective of several characters living within one household. The story The Black Cat is considered a horror story because of its dark themes such as violence and betrayal; however, there are no acts of supernatural or paranormal events that take place throughout the story. The most frightening aspect surrounding The Black Cat is how easily it can potentially happen within real life settings.

The main character Mr Pemberton serves as an example for readers regarding how cruel humans can truly be towards animals simply for a sense of enjoyment. The Black Cat has been widely appreciated for its ability to make readers feel as if they were present during the story’s environment; this is due to how Poe uses language and various attributes of narrators throughout The Black Cat. The Black Cat short story serves as an educational story that warns individuals against the dangers of drinking alcohol, especially when emotions such as rage or lust are involved.

The short story The Black Cat holds an average rating on Goodreads, 4. 3/5 stars with over 2600 ratings from book enthusiasts who have given their opinion about Edgar Allan Poe’s work on The Black Cat. The famous writer Stephen King states there is only one author in the history of literature whose writing truly gives him nightmares, which is Edgar Allan Poe. The Black Cat short story is often cited as the main reason for this because it succeeds in making individuals feel chills while reading about cruel events that happen between its characters.

The popularity of The Black Cat has led to various adaptations of the same name; there are several films and comics which share the original title written by Edgar Allan Poe. The creator of Batman, Bob Kane, was inspired by The Black Cat when creating his own comic series including The Batman; The Black Cat’s urban atmosphere serves as an example for how he envisioned Gotham City to be like. The inspiration behind The Black Cat short story came from a real life event where Edgar Allan Poe claimed he saw a black cat cross his path on multiple occasions before publishing one of his most famous works The Raven in 1845.

The short story The Black Cat takes place in a village setting and begins with the main character Mr Pemberton’s goal to destroy his alcoholic and violent side, which he established following an accident causing him to lose one of his eyes . The Black Cat follows several characters within multiple households; these characters include Grasp (Mr. Pemberton’s servant), Peter (Mr. Pemberton’s son), Mrs. Pemberton (Mr. Pemberton’s wife), and Nero (the family pet cat).

The story starts with Mr. Pemberton claiming that he wishes to dedicate more time towards caring for his son and wife when tragedy strikes in the form of a fire destroying their household along with The Black Cat. The second half of The Black Cat short story revolves around the relationship between Mr Pemberton and The Black Cat, where multiple acts of violence are committed by The Black Cat against Mr. Pemberton following an act of betrayal. The second half concludes with The Black Cat murdering Mr Pemberton’s son Peter after wanting to escape its own master due to fear of being murdered as well.

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The Black Cat

By: Monika   •  Essay  •  1,758 Words  •  November 10, 2009  •  1,799 Views

Essay title: The Black Cat

The Black Cat, like most of Poe’s works, is twisted and in a sense, quite horrific. This short story, displays the competence of the human mind and it very own deterioration, without being able to bring it to a standstill. The narrator is completely aware of his deterioration, and in some instances of the story recognizes the transformation. The narrator tries to overcome the changes, but is unable to reverse his complete and total plunge into madness.

This story first begins with the narrator’s confession in retrospect, at a time, he was considered to be overall a pretty normal guy. He was known for his tameness and his civilized thoughtfulness of not just people, but of animals as well. The parents of the narrator increased his love for animals, by allowing him to have many pets while he was growing up. The narrator was very fortunate to meet and marry a woman who also shared his fondness for animals. One of their favorite animals they had was a black cat which they named Pluto. His wife however believed in her mind all black cats were just witches in disguise. This is a popular notion and is overall very relevant to the entire story. The name Pluto is discovered to be the name of one of the gods of the underworld in charge of witches. Another popular notion in the story is the thought of a cat having nine lives; this becomes a superstition that becomes part of the story when the second black cat is thought to be a reincarnation of Pluto, with the only differences being the white patch on the cat’s chest.

Pluto, interestingly was the narrator’s favorite animal and for many years there was a very strong, loving and special relationship between Pluto and the narrator. Then, due to alcohol consumption, the narrator’s attitude changed slightly and he had a momentous change. “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others.” (pg. 2496 last paragraph) One night when the narrator came home extremely intoxicated, his true identification of change showed. When he arrived home, in his mind he believed that his beloved cat Pluto was avoiding him, so he took Pluto by the throat and he used a pen knife to cut out one of his eyes. This is one of many other acts of perversity this character attempts in this story.

The morning after the incident, the narrator was dismayed at what he had done. In time, Pluto did start to recover from the incident but he seemed to totally and completely steer clear of the narrator. As time went on, the cat still avoided the narrator and the narrator’s attitude once again overcame him. Only this time, it was a little different; the story stated “offer violence to its own nature---to do wrong for the wrong’s sake only.” Then one morning, the narrator slipped a noose around the cat’s neck and hung it on a limb of the tree, while doing so tears streamed down his face. One must believe that the narrator was ashamed of his perversity because he knew how much he loved the cat and how much the cat loved him, and he had no reason to hang the cat as he did. The night after he killed the cat, his house took flame and it burned to the ground. But, the narrator was naпve to the connection between the perverse killing of Pluto and then his house burning down.

Here is an example of the mad mind thinking nothing of and blocking out anything of superstitious acts such as the house burning down in a redeeming kind of way for killing the cat. But, the next day he returns to the house and sees a crowd of people and on the re-plastered wall that was still standing, the narrator sees a figure of a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck. Once again, here is an example of the mad mind trying to give an explanation for what had just been seen. The narrator seems to think that someone found Pluto’s body and threw it into the burning house to awake him. But, the narrator does not realize the fact that it was a gigantic cat which in turn must mean that it was only that big in his own mind.

For many months the narrator could not forget about Pluto. Then, one night when the narrator was drinking very heavily, he sees a cat that looks just like Pluto only this cat had a white patch on its chest. Since nobody really seemed to know anything about the cat, he took it home and it became a favorite to both himself and his wife. But, once again the narrator’s perversity causes him to change again and was disgusted by the fact at how much the cat liked them. What was so ironic about why the narrator started to dislike the cat was the fact that like Pluto, it had an eye missing. In the mind of the narrator, this new cat was obviously a reincarnated Pluto. The narrator notes to himself stating that the one thing that made him who he was had now almost disappeared. Here is an example of how a mad man can stand back and look at his life from a distance and see his