The Narrator's Insanity In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

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”). Based on the definition given by the Oxford English Dictionary, I would surely classify the narrator as an insane man. Additionally, I, personally, would declare him guilty of

The most evident sign of his insanity is his inability to behave naturally. For instance, the narrator was known for his “docility and humanity” as a child (Poe 670). Additionally, he once described himself as a lover of all animals, yet, after developing an alcohol addiction, the narrator began to abuse his dear pets. In his testimony, the narrator stated that “the cat avoided my presence… [so] I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife… and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket!” (Poe 671). The change in his conduct from loving to cruel reveals his lack of a stable state of mind. Furthermore, while there is rarely any mention of the narrator’s social interactions, the transformation in the way he communicated with his wife is quite clear. When the narrator first mentions his marriage, he said that he “… was happy to find in [his] wife a disposition not uncongenial with [his] own,” meaning that he found joy in their compatible personalities (Poe 670). He also shared with his audience the fact that his wife never missed the opportunity of obtaining new pets for them to own.