Human Nature In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

When it comes to romanticism, human nature is defined through personal perspectives than according to religion and society. In the enlightenment, reason and logic is emphasized in every action. In other words, one’s life is nothing but a serial of determined actions that lead to certain results. In that case, it is easier to group people as successful or not by looking at their results. While in romanticism, it is hard to judge someone by their actions and results. The main idea here is the complexity of human nature. This complexity happens because of having emotions as a main complex contributor in one’s life. In addition, this complexity is subjected to be viewed as dark or light romanticism. As a result, human nature is defined as a combination

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Black Cat”, the narrator is trapped in serial actions of abusing and murdering. He finds himself failing to explain the causes and effects of his actions. The narrator explains his childhood obsession by saying “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” (Poe, p. 718). On the other hand, he fails to find any reason behind the destruction of his childhood nature when he says “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

In the case of no destruction to the human nature, light romanticism believes in the goodness of humans as they inherit a part of God within themselves. In Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”, light nature is explained through the irrational actions of children and the absence of good and bad. For example, he compares childhood in terms of adulthood characteristics which are “That divided and rebel mind, that distrust of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and means opposed to our purpose, these have not” (Emerson, p. 550). He is stating that children follow their instinct and therefore they are close to their purpose. On the other hand, adult act according to logic and losing their track to their purpose. Moreover, he suggests that “Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it” (Emerson, P. 551). This statement neglects the power of society and religion which mainly compose the logic of what usually seen as right and wrong. Randy Friedman in “Religious Self-Reliance” describes Emerson as that “He celebrates nature, its depths and atmospheres, its varieties of possible encounters, and its horizons of possibility” (Friedman, 2012). As can be seen, the nature of instinct is clear in children’s reactions and in determining what is right and wrong