Alcoholism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential and well-known authors in American history. Poe’s short stories remain recognized throughout American literature for their gothic approach, tall tales, and his recognition style to solving mysteries. Throughout his lifetime, Edgar Allan Poe endured various tragic experiences such as losing his parents at the age of three years old and losing his foster-mother at the age of 20 years old. Even though his literary works and techniques were vastly unique, after his death, some critics argued that they were not quite unique at all; instead, they argued, Poe’s inspiration derived from his own life experiences. These stories, which seem to blur the lines between Poe’s real life and his storytelling are

The problems of alcoholism and insanity are recurring themes in Poe’s literary works. One can say that “The Black Cat,” one of Poe’s short stories, portrays much of the author’s own views on his substance abuse problems and mental illness. The unnamed narrator from “The Black Cat,” struggles with his addiction to alcohol and his hatred for two cats become prevailing. The narrator states, however, that he was never like this before he loved animals, “never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.” (Poe, 3). The narrator takes on a cat and cares for it, however, as his drinking problem progressed, he states, “I grew day by day more moody… my disease grew upon me.” (Poe, 4). After a night out drinking, he decides to cut out one of the cat’s eyes and ultimately, kills the cat. Later, another cat strangely identical to the first cat with one eye comes around and as the narrator tries to kill the second cat he ends up killing his wife instead. He buries the body of his wife and the second cat behind a wall and police later hear the cat calling out from inside the wall. In relation to Poe’s life, Poe was known to love cats and had a female cat named Catterina

In “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” two women are found murdered unexpectedly. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher’s sister Madeline died a bloody death due to cataleptic seizures. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the country is devastated by a plague known as the “Red Death.” According to Stovall, these women are considered to be the “Dark Ladies” of Poe’s writings because they are described as beautiful but in one way or another they ultimately are faced with death (Martens, 11). They are known to be victims of crimes and illness such as of those women in Poe’s real life. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the plague is known to start with uncontrollable bleeding and sudden fatigue which some way relate to the symptoms of tuberculosis. The mother figurer murdered in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” can closely relate to the mother figures in his life who had died during his early