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... group with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up and made to resemble the rest of the cellar. " The narrator knew that he .".. could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect anything suspicious. "By means of a crowbar [the narrator] easily dislodged the bricks, and...
carefully deposited the body against the inner wall... " He then .".. relaid the whole structure as it originally stood. " Afterwards, he .".. prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this [he] very carefully went over the new brick-work... The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. " The narrator cleaned up the mess with "the minutest care. " His next step was to look for the cat. The man had "firmly resolved to put it to death. " However, the cat must have been frightened by the man's previous actions, and it was now nowhere to be found. "It did not make its appearance during the night; and thus for one night, at least since its introduction into the house, [the narrator] soundly and tranquilly slept; [yes], slept even with the burden of murder upon [his] soul. " Three days passed, and still there was no sight of the cat. A few inquiries had been made about the narrator's wife, but he had easily answered those. "Even a search had been instituted -- but of course nothing was to be discovered.
Upon the fourth day... the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises... They left no nook or corner unexplored... [F]or the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar... The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. [The narrator] burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of [his] guiltlessness. "Gentlemen, " [the narrator said], as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this -- this is a very well-constructed house...
I may say an excellently well-constructed house. These walls -- are you going, gentlemen? -- these walls are solidly put together... " At this point, the narrator .".. rapped heavily with a cane which [he] held in [his] hand, upon that very portion of the brickwork behind which stood the corpse of [his wife]... No sooner had the reverberation of [his] blows sunk into silence, than [he] was answered by a voice from within the tomb! -- by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream... a howl -- a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph... "Swooning, [the narrator] staggered to the opposite [side of the cellar]. " The police began tearing down the wall.
There before all, stood .".. the corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore... Upon its head... sat the [cat], the hideous beast whose craft had seduced [the man] into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned [him] to the hangman. [He] had walled the monster up within the tomb. " Setting As the story begins, the narrator is in jail awaiting his execution, which will occur on the following day, for the brutal murder of his wife. At that point, the rest of the story is told in flashback, as the narrator pens .".. the most wild, yet homely narrative... [whose] events have terrified -- have tortured -- have destroyed [him]. " Characters Although several characters are mentioned in this story, the true focus lies upon the nameless narrator, who is known for his ."..
docility and humanity of... disposition. His tenderness of heart... [made him] the jest of [his] companions. " He was especially fond of animals, and he was pleased to find a similar fondness for pets in his wife. They had many pets including ."..
birds, gold fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat. " The cat was a large, beautiful animal who was entirely black. Pluto, as he was called, was the narrator's favorite pet. He alone fed him, and Pluto followed the narrator wherever he went. Occasionally, his wife would refer to an old superstitious belief that ."..
all black cats [were] witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point... " Point of View Poe writes this story from the perspective of the narrator, a man whose .".. temperament and character [are transformed] through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance [alcohol]. " Telling the story from the first person point of view (a perspective that Poe used quite frequently), intensifies the effect of moral shock and horror. Once again, the reader is invited (as was the case in both "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado") to delve into the inner workings of the dark side of the mind. Style and Interpretation "'The Black Cat' is one of the most powerful of Poe's stories, and the horror stops short of the wavering line of disgust" (Quinn 395). Poe constructed this story in such a way that the events of the tale remain somewhat ambiguous.
As the narrator begins to recount the occurrences that .".. have terrified -- have tortured -- have destroyed [him], " he reminds the reader that maybe .".. some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than [his] own, " will perceive .".. nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. " As the narrator begins to tell his story (flashback), the reader discovers that the man's personality had undergone a drastic transformation which he attributes to his abuse of alcohol and the perverse side of his nature, which the alcohol seemed to evoke. The reader also discovers (with the introduction of Pluto into the story) that the narrator is superstitious, as he recounts that his wife made .".. frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, [that] all black cats [are] witches in disguise. " Even though the narrator denies this (much as the narrator in "The Tell-Tale Heart" denies that he or she is insane), the reader becomes increasingly aware of his superstitious belief as the story progresses.
Superstition (as well as the popular notion to which the man's wife refers) has it that Satan and witches assume the form of black cats. For those who believe, they are symbols of bad luck, death, sorcery, witchcraft, and the spirits of the dead. Appropriately, the narrator calls his cat, Pluto, who in Greek and Roman mythology was the god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld (symbolism). As in other Poe stories ("The Tell-Tale Heart, "The Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Gold Bug"), biting and mutilation appear. The narrator of "The Black Cat" first becomes annoyed when Pluto "inflicted a slight wound upon [the] hand with his teeth. " After he is bitten by the cat, the narrator cuts out its eye. Poe relates "eyes" and "teeth" in their single capacity to take in or to incorporate objects.
This dread of being consumed often leads the narrator to destroy who or what he fears (Silverman 207). Poe's pronounced use of foreshadowing leads the reader from one event to the next ("one night, "one morning, "on the night of the day, " etc. ). Within the first few paragraphs of the story, the narrator foreshadows that he will violently harm his wife ("At length, I even offered her personal violence. "). However, are the events of the story, as the narrator suggests, based upon ."..
an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effect, " or are they indeed caused by the supernatural? By using, three main events in this story (the apparition of the first cat upon the burned wall, the appearance of the gallows like pattern upon the chest of the second cat, and the discovery of the second cat behind the cellar wall), a convincing case can be presented for both sides. While making a case for the logical as well as the supernatural, one must remember the state of mind of the narrator. All events are described for the reader by an alcoholic who has a distorted view of reality.
The narrator goes to great lengths to scientifically explain the apparition of the cat in the wall; however, the chain of events that he re-creates in his mind are so highly coincidental that an explanation relying on the supernatural may be easier to accept. Once again, the reader wonders if the narrator's perceptions can be believed as he describes the gallows like pattern upon the chest of the second cat. Maybe what he sees is just a hallucination of a tormented mind. The markings of an adult cat surely would not change that much, unless maybe the pattern was not part of the animal's fur, but only a substance on its surface which, with time, could wear off and disappear (a substance such as plaster? ). Afterall, the second cat is also missing an eye. Poe is very careful to avoid stating if it is the same eye of which Pluto was deprived.
Are there really two cats in this story, or did Pluto (possibly "a witch in disguise") survive, and return for retribution. Of all the incidents, the discovery of the cat (first or second) behind the cellar wall is the easiest to believe. The cat was frightened by the man, and logically, sought shelter. What is somewhat strange is the fact that the police searched the cellar several times, and not one time did the cat make a sound. It was not until the narrator rapped heavily with a cane upon the wall, that the cat responded. Was it a series of natural causes and effects, or was it what the narrator described? "Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman.
I had walled the monster up within the tomb. " Theme "The Black Cat" is Poe's second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt (the first being "The Tell-Tale Heart"); however, this story does not deal with premeditated murder. The reader is told that the narrator appears to be a happily married man, who has always been exceedingly kind and gentle. He attributes his downfall to the "Fiend Intemperance" and "the spirit of perverseness. " Perverseness, he believes, is .".. one of the primitive impulses of the human heart. "Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a stupid action for no other reason than because he knows he should not?" Perverseness provides the rationale for otherwise unjustifiable acts, such as killing the first cat or rapping with his cane upon the plastered-up wall behind which stood his wife's corpse .".. already greatly decayed and clotted with gore. " We might argue that what the narrator calls "perverseness" is actually conscience. Guilt about his alcoholism seems to the narrator the "perverseness" which causes him to maim and kill the first cat.
Guilt about those actions indirectly leads to the murder of his wife who had shown him the gallows on the second cat's breast. The disclosure of the crime, as in "The Tell-Tale Heart, " is caused by a warped sense of triumph and the conscience of the murderer. What makes this story different from "The Tell-Tale Heart" is that Poe has added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural. Now the story has an added twist as the narrator hopes that the reader, like himself, will be convinced that these events were not ."..
an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects. " [See Style and Interpretation] Martha Womack Related Information Poe Perplex on the Black Cat Do Black Cats cause bad luck? Comment on Poe's "The Black Cat"I am Safe" - David Grant Works Cited Levine, Stuart and Susan, editors. The Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe: An Annotated Edition. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990. Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography.
New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1941. Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. The United States in Literature: "All My Sons" Edition. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1973. Bibliography:
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Research essay sample on Edgar Allan Poe Superstitious Belief
