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The Black Cat Psychopath

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The short story, The Black Cat, depicts how the protagonist develops from a calm and animal loving character to a murdering psychopath. The story introduces the main character as someone who is deeply attracted to all kinds of animals; “From my infancy I was noted for the [...] humanity of my disposition.” This quote describes how conspicuous the narrator’s love for animals was, and shows the docility of the narrator at the beginning of his life. However, later on, the narrator ends up killing his cat, as well as his wife, but he doesn’t feel guilt for it. “I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul!” This shows us that the narrator can sleep even with the guilt of murder, which is a characteristic of someone gone …show more content…

The narrator also states, after he kills his wife, that “this hideous murder [is] accomplished,” which tells us that he feels successful after killing his own wife; and this is another an attribute of a psychopath, as said in Portrait of a Psychopath. It states that “Killing [...] makes the killer feel good,” and it is a normal trait for a psychopath, which corresponds with the narrator. The killer in The Black Cat enjoyed his murder and felt accomplished after it, which is exactly how a psychopath would feel after a murder. All of his pets had a fidelity towards the narrator, however, he treated them contemptuously and with aversion. In the article, Definition of Psychopath and What Exactly It Means, the author informs us that a psychopath is “A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in [...] criminal [...] behavior.” The narrator is a criminal, as he has committed the crime of manslaughter, and criminal activity is evident in some

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