Edgar Allan Poe Behavior

Edgar Allan Poe is the definition of horror, murder, mystery, and deadly love. Born on January 19, 1809 both of Poe’s parents died three years after his birth. The young Poe was then adopted by the Allan family. Although he was accepted, Poe didn’t have a good relationship with Mr. Allan because Poe wanted to be a writer while Mr. Allan wanted his adopted son to have a respectable job like the military.

Mr. Allan came up on top and Poe was enlisted into the army. However, Poe was kicked out of the army because of behavior issues. Mr. Allan doesn’t like this and leaves Poe penniless on the streets. On his own, he struggled to support himself as a writer because in the 1800s writers were not paid well. To add on to the deaths of his parents, Poe’s cousin, Virginia Clemm, who he married when she was just thirteen died at the age of twenty three. After his wife’s death Poe’s life went downhill because of alcoholism. Through the month of September of 1849,

Referring back to the text of the Black Cat, the narrator has a wife who he loves but isn’t able to truly love because of alcohol. This relates to Poe’s own life because Poe’s wife, Virginia Clemm, whom he loved dearly however their love ended because of death caused by disease. In fact, Poe was married to her for only ten years! Insanity is the act of being mentally ill and insanity is brought up in many of Edgar Allan Poe’s story. For example, in The Black Cat the narrator acts and appears to be mentally insane at some parts of the story. As stated by the narrator, “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” (566 Poe). This relates to Poe because when his wife died he had signs of mental insanity. For example, not staying in contact with anyone for a month and being found unconscious wearing someone else’s