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Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cat
Critical analysis of the black cat by edgar allan poe
Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cat
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In the poem, “The Raven,” Edgar Allan Poe uses gothic themes and numerous literary devices to illustrate the depressed state of the narrator. The narrator is obsessed with the fact that his loved one, Lenore, is gone. The reader is then led to suspect that the narrator is unreliable and may have possibly killed Lenore – and that this could possibly be the reason for the narrator drowning himself in sorrow. Poe suggests through the form of the poem-i.e. long drawn out line length, falling trochaic syllables, repetitive assonance- that the narrator’s inability to escape melancholy is a direct result of the narrator’s unstable mental condition. The sense we get in fact is that perhaps he cannot overcome this melancholy because he cannot cope with the
What gives the reader that feeling of being on the edge of their seat? Why would he want the reader to anticipate what’s going to happen next? That is how the author expresses tension. The author does this by using literary devices. Edgar Allen Poe builds suspense in “The Black Cat” by using specific literary devices—foreshadowing, allusion, and slow pace.
Next, Poe develops suspense in the black cat through the hanging of Pluto. The narrator is unbalanced and insane, yet hangs Pluto with full intent by the limb of a tree. The narrator states, Quote 1 “hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes with the bitterest remorse at my heart” (Poe 2). The violence that the narrator displays with the hanging of Pluto enroots anxiety for the perusal to know.
I believe that the narrators from all three Edgar Allen Poe stories, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Tell Tale Heart”, were all horrible in their own unique ways. If I had to choose one narrator that stood out to me by being horrifying it would be from “The Black Cat” The narrator is horrifying because he explains that he really isn’t crazy, he stabbed Pluto in the eye, and because he was so content after killing his wife. The narrator is horrifying because he has to explain that he isn’t really crazy. When you have to explain that you’re not crazy to someone that normally means that you are probably crazy.
“I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!” (The Black Cat 116) In "The Black Cat” this example shows that the narrator is crazy because he cut a cat's eye out for no reason. Poe's use of unreliable first person narrators affects the reception of his stories by knowing what the narrator knows, readers do not know if the narrators are lying, and they could be blowing things out of proportion. In many of Poe’s short stories the reader only gets to know what the narrator knows because someone in the story is telling it instead of someone outside the story so the reader cannot see every side.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” a narrator shares the story of what led him to murder his wife. Throughout the composition, we learn of the narrator’s change in personality as time advances. From a happy child and loving husband, he becomes a bitter and hateful man who eventually begins to abuse his pets and wife. Even though at the beginning of his story he stated that “…mad am I not…,” one can surely tell that the man is not in a right state of mind (Poe 670). One could even say that the narrator is insane, or “In a state of mind which prevents normal perception, behaviour, or social interaction” (“Insane”).
Edgar Allan Poe, a talented writer, wrote many poems and short stories about “so-called events” that happened during his short and troubled life. Some events may be true but some events may be a figment of his imagination, which makes Poe an interesting writer to read about. Throughout his life he wrote about many different stories that showcase how similar his works can be to one another. Poe’s style relies heavily on setting/mood, symbolism, and theme.
The narrator got another cat after this and became even more insane in the way he felt about this black cat.
In this gothic short story, some believe both of the killings are from the narrator’s insanity, but more evidence has proved differently. One example to support this position of the narrator being sane is that he is normal, but when drinking too much, something triggers in his body making him become moody and violate. He says, “But my disease grew upon me – for what disease is like alcohol? – and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish – even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill-temper.” In
Compare/Contrast paragraph Edgar Allan Poe’s stories “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” have similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are in the way the story was told and the narrators’ mindset. As a beginning, the stories have lots of common things in the way they were told. They are both written in first-person point of view and they both start from the prison. For example the main character in “The Black Cat” said “My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events.
It is also an unusual situation, because in the story, after he hanged the cat and went to sleep, his house suddenly burns out of nowhere (“I was aroused…” | Paragraph 10), and the members of the household, including the man, successfully escaped, and pluto, the cat he hanged, has resurrected into another black cat (“It was a black
Of all gothic writers, Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most groundbreaking of them all. From The Cask of Amontillado, a story with integrated historical references of the time, to The Fall of the House of Usher, a deep and morbid story full of imagery. Anywhere from The Tell-Tale Heart, truly a story of both unique syntax and perspective, to The Raven, a poem full of symbols and eerie repetition. Through these and many more, Poe has been using his writing style to immerse people into his stories and poems alike since 1839. However, Poe is only able to accomplish this through his unique writer’s style, particularly his forceful imagery and meaningful syntax.
Edgar hated rainy days. He always hated them ever since he was little, as a baby, as a toddler, and as an teenager. But he hated them most at this moment.
The short story “The Black Cat” written by Edgar Allan Poe meets the criteria for a gothic conflict well in the sense that it follows a specific moral, as well as the protagonist finds a form of success as the plot resolves itself. Quoting the protagonist, “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others” (6). The moral of this work is don’t become addicted to alcohol and if you do, reach out and get the help you need. Alcohol, as well as any drug, has the potential to alter an individual's ability to reason and act appropriately, as it did for the main character of “The Black Cat”. As this story progressed, he got to the point in addiction where, “the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, constituted
A narrator: defined as a person who guides or tells the story of events through one’s own experience. As far as we are told, the narrator tells the story precisely and can make the words of the page come to life. Yet, is it possible for the narrator to tell the story incorrectly through their own perspective? This well-written horror shows us anything is possible in the art of literature. From reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, readers learn that the narrator is unreliable and therefore cannot be trusted to tell the story completely accurately.
