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Insanity In The Black Cat

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In conclusion, the symbolism, point of view, and character development contribute greatly to the effect of shocking insanity in Poe’s story, “The Black Cat.” The narrator appears at first to love both his wife and his pets, but by the end of the story his affection has turned to neglect, spite, and particularly for Pluto and his inheritor. Conceivably, suggesting that madness might happen at any time to any person, the narrator admit the role of alcohol in his behavior. Moreover, the arrival of the second cat is exactly relates to his alcoholism. Since, he first finds the cat in a disreputable drinking establishment. The second cat eventually deliver as the coordinator of justice when it reveals the corpse's hiding place at the end of the tale
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[Eventually when] the cat followed me [the main character]…, [it] exasperated me [him] to madness. I [he attempted to] aim a blow [with an axe] at the animal… Goaded, by the interference [of his wife], into a rage more than demoniacal, I [he] withdrew my [his] arm from her [his wife’s] grasp and buried the axe in her [narrator’s wife’s] brain (Poe, page 4).” Because the narrator was annoyed and infuriated, he kills his wife, as well, for interfering with his plan to kill the second cat they adopted; thus this shows the main character’s corrupted and malicious mind. The former joyful, generous man sprouts into an evil and a criminal, who murders Pluto, his cat, and his wife.

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ORAL PRESENTATION - Script Introduction: The focus of my presentation will explore the alterations in tone and tension of the short story, ‘The Black Cat’ by observing the events, atmosphere, relationships and words used by the author. Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’ is a short story, narrated from the perspective of an alcoholic and delirious man. From the initial portion of the story, it is directly explained that this man will die the following day, however the reason of his death is remained secret until the conclusion of the story.

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In the story, the narrator attacks and wounds his cat while he is extremely drunk. He is overcome with the ‘fiery demon of alcohol’, much like Poe became before he died. In short, Poe’s life was rather terrible, and it’s apparent that these dark events in his life stimulated his unique and creepy style of writing, which is what he’s famous

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This first passage is from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat”. This passage occurs in the story right after the main character, in a drunken rage, gauges out the eye of his beloved black cat with a pen. This significance of this passage is that this the the turning point of the story; the moment in which the narrator gives in to his animalistic urges of rage and lets these feelings–which he calls the spirit of PERVERSENESS– completely overtake him. This passage is crucial in the story because it marks the beginning of the character’s decent into madness, turning cruel against, what he considered earlier, a beacon of love and loyalty, and it also foreshadows the ending in which he brutally murders his wife. 2.

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By using his victim, Fortunato’s love for wine, Montresor lures him to catacombs to kill him. In "The Black Cat" and "The Cask of Amontillado," Poe intricately weaves symbolism, irony, and foreshadowing to delve into the destructive effects of alcohol addiction, portraying the gradual deterioration and ruin of lives entangled in the grip of substance abuse, offering a poignant exploration of the detrimental impact of addiction on individuals within the narratives. With the use of symbolism, Poe, in “The Black Cat”, illustrates the destructive effects that occur within people who struggle with alcohol addiction. Poe wrote, “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” (138).

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The story continues with an event that is unfortunately far more terrible and unexpected than the previous events. The narrator allows his increasing anger towards the second black cat to lead him to killing his wife. His temper and hatred that began with the second black cat eventually ended up impacted him and his wife. The narrator states, “I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan” (Poe 5).

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The Black Cat is a short story that shares a tale of a man and his cat, Pluto. The man was once kind and loved animals, but due to a large intake of alcohol, he becomes aggressive towards not only his wife, but Pluto as well. The narrator explains his change of heart by saying, “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.”

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Later the philosophy of the cats is told, and it is reveled that there is some unknown deity in the sky who once a year grants an extra life to a chosen cat.

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In, “The Black Cat,” the main character comes home drunk and attacks his innocent cat. “I was overcome by the fiery demon of alcohol,” the drunken character thought. This was the last character Poe described like himself before he died. In 1846 Edgar published a book called,” The Cask of Amontillado.”

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847 Words | 4 Pages

We’ve all read stories before but not like Edgar Allen Poe’s, his stories will question everything you think and maybe even horrify you, but one things for certain you will never be unimpressed with is work “There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.” From this quote you can interpret many things. Edgar Allen Poe is a very dark and gloomy man who is tying to survive in this world but you can see that darkness seems to always consume his life. Something else that stuck out is Edgar Allen Poe an alcoholic himself that seems to find it’s way into this story. For instance in many of his story like Tell Tale Heart the content is very dark and defiantly borderline insane in this paper I will be showing you what Edgar Allen Poe as I see fit.

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In the gruesome short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe a nameless narrator tells his story of his drunken and moody life before he gets hung the next day. The intoxicated narrator kills his favorite cat, Pluto and his wife with an axe. Soon enough, the narrator gets caught and there he ends up, in jail. Although, most readers of “The Black Cat” have argued the narrators insanity, more evidence have shown that he is just a moody alcoholic with a lousy temper.

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James Gargano believes the black cat of Poe’s short story is a direct analogue to the narrator, with inclinations for both good and evil. However, Jungian psychology reveals the cat as a function of the narrator’s anima. Jung argues that instinct, like a cat, commands a wider range of perceptions because it relies on irrational impulses. As the cat grows intolerable, Jung argues that the narrator’s subconscious begins to express itself through abusive acts toward the wife and cat in order to gain control over his anima. The narrator tries to remove his anima through the hanging the cat; however, failure is shown in the cat’s reappearance.

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588 Words | 3 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe addresses the dark and gruesome side of human nature in his writing “The Black Cat”, which during that time and even now are perceived as radical ideas. This dark human nature is displayed in Poe’s writing as the narrator recalls the happenings of a most erratic event. The narrator, a pet lover with a sweet disposition, in this story succumbs to the most challenging aspects of human nature including that of addiction, anger, and perverseness. To the Christian believer, human’s sinful flesh leads people to do wrong because that is their natural tendency.

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984 Words | 4 Pages

Edgar Allan Poe’s stories all have some type of mysterious setting that makes the reader read in between the lines and decipher the meaning. His stories also incorporate a great deal of violence and sinister acts, which adds a grimness to each story he tells. “The Black Cat” is a true work of literature that incorporates a hidden meaning in the story with the use of sinister violence. In this particular story, the narrator’s use of the first-person point of view, symbolism through the characters, and the eerie setting creates a fascinating tale. Edgar Allan Poe’s story is told from the first-person point of view.

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909 Words | 4 Pages

Poe 's short story, "The Black Cat" depicts three primary psychological components of the human personality that includes perversity, irrationality and guilt or blame. From the earliest starting point of the story, it is plainly comprehended that the principle character is superstitious. He reviews his significant other 's words as “my wife, …, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise” (Poe 1). The character calls his significant other irrational, however as the story continues, it can be seen that he is much more irrational himself.

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