Motifs And Symbolism In Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat

A psychoanalysis is “a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological process. Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer during the mid 19th century. His unique stories could have hinted about his own life. Poe showed characteristics of himself through the symbols/motifs and the themes he picked.

By the time Edgar Allan Poe was 3 years old, both of his parents had left him. His mother died soon after his father deserted the family. (Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive, 2006 ) When he was an adult he lost his wife to tuberculosis when she was in her early twenties. (UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History, 2009) These events may have influenced his stories even though he most likely didn't remember very much or any of the first two events. Death is

For example, in The Cask of Amontillado one of the symbols is the name of one of the characters. “Fortunato” looks similar to the word “fortunate”, but Fortunato was definitely not fortunate in the story. It is even more ironic because Fortunato was dressed up like a jester. Fortunato become the fool and gets tricked into being left to die. Poe also uses motifs and symbols in The Black Cat. The black cats in the story represent bad luck, which foreshadows the rest of the story. One thing a black cat was known for was bad luck back in the 19th century and still are today. (Kimberly Lim, 2016) Finally, in The Pit and The Pendulum, the pit and the pendulum represented death. The narrator was supposed to fall into the pit, but avoided it and lived. He was also supposed to get killed by the pendulum, but he did not. This is the only story out of the three stories where the narrator doesn't have a bad fate. The story does not have a bad ending because the narrator did not fall into the pit and escaped the pendulum. This story takes place during the Spanish Inquisition. The themes Poe picked also show characteristics of