Pluto, God of the Dead In Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat, an unnamed narrator utilizes the flashback method from the first person perspective in order to give his version of events that led him to murder his beloved cat and inevitably his wife. The narrator explains his story without any expectation of belief by his readers. He describes theses events as being horrifying and almost superstitious in nature. Throughout the story there are instances where the two black cats have a questionable purpose and it raises a few suspicions. Firstly, are these black cats nothing more than simple house cats? Secondly, if the cats are in fact more than simple house cats, then what do they represent of the narrator? Are they simply a reflection of the narrator's …show more content…
The narrator's wife made common remarks about black cats being witches, and it should also be noted that in Roman mythology, Pluto is the god of the dead and ruler of the underworld (Poe 719). Pluto was the last in line to experience the narrator's irritability, which eventually resulted in him losing an eye and his life (Poe 719). The night of Pluto's murder the narrator's house was burnt down with only a single wall left with the impression of Pluto (Poe 719). Could this be a coincidence? When you account for the comments made by the narrator's wife and the meaning of the name Pluto, one could assume that Pluto was responsible for the fire or even for bringing on the narrator's alcoholism in the first place. In a way, Pluto's story ends here; however, the memory of his murder continues to haunt the narrator throughout the …show more content…
The cat was friendly to the narrator and vice versa. The narrator asked to purchase him yet the landlord had no knowledge of this cat's existence. The reason for this could be that the cat waited to appear only until the narrator came along, possibly as a reincarnation of Pluto. Reincarnation of Pluto becomes a very possible theory, not only for the fact that Pluto is the god of the dead; but on the next morning the new black cat has lost one of its eyes, just like Pluto did. This in turn causes the narrator to hate the cat and lose his composure once again. This reasoning reflects the thesis that Pluto and this new black cat are a separate force interacting with and provoking the