The Black Cat Literary Analysis
Anthony Hicks
S. Frye
ENG 102
4 October 2017
Genre, Character, and Symbolism Analysis on "The Black Cat"
Edgar Allen Poe was one of the most influential and important writers of the nineteenth century. He was the first writer to try to make a living only writing. One of Poe's most popular short stories, "The Black Cat", is considered horror fiction or gothic fiction which Poe is known for in his books and short stories because it was a popular genre during his days. In Poe's short story, "The Black Cat", Poe uses a horror fiction genre, a mentally deranged and evil narrator/character, and symbolism of death to make a thrilling story with tons of suspense, drama, and gruesome detail. Poe gives many gruesome and frightening details that make "The Black Cat" a horror fiction short story. Horror fiction is a genre of fiction designed to startle, frighten, or disgust the reader by inducing feelings of horror. Poe inducing feelings of horror through things that take place in the story such as the stabbing of Pluto, the first cat. When Poe wrote, "I took from my waistcoat pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of the eyes from the socket!" (Poe 436), he gives the reader a startled and disgusting feeling due to the gruesome depth of the sentence. Poe "darkens" the story even more with the hanging of Pluto and his wife's murder. Poe writes about his wife's murder and he gives evil details on the ideas of burying her in his
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"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe is one of Poe's greatest literary works that embodies his signature themes of death, violence, and darkness. Poe's main character begins his narration of his horrible wrongdoings regarding them as a "series of mere household events" (Poe 705). However, this is where Poe's satire and irony begins and the story progresses to show the deranged mindset of this character as he tries to justify his actions. As the main character proceeds to rationalize his crime, Poe is able to convey a sense of irony through his use of foreshadowing, metaphors and symbolism. Irony begins within the narrator's introduction to his confession by telling the reader that he will tell his story...show more content...
The greatest metaphor throughout this tale is the black cat. While the narrator's wife has been known to refer to the dark–haired feline as a "witch in disguise", the metaphor for Poe is that the cat is not only a superstitious monster but it is also a metaphor for being the narrator's own personal demon (Poe 706). The recurring events with the black cats in the story portray that they are metaphors for the narrator's own problems that haunt him. As the series of events continue throughout the story, the cat becomes a visual element in the scene for the narrator's recurring violence and finally brings him to the point of his insanity. Moreover, it has been argued that the cat is a metaphor for the narrator's wife. Critics claim that the following passage raises suspicion that the killing of the first cat was actually the murder of his own wife. Poe writes: Norton Anthology American Literature. 7th. 1. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2008. 705 –711. Print. Critics who support this notion feel that the "reversal is substitution in wife for cat and cat for wife" and that the narrator had clearly projected his feelings for his wife onto the cat (Amper 475). Literary critic, Susan Amper, commented on this metaphor–theory, "It is not merely that the wife was always the intended victim; she Get more content
The Black Cat Essay
"The Black Cat" Analysis When reading a short story many people take the details given to be the unconditional truth. This is probably why so many of these people are confused or repulsed by a story like "The Black Cat." Throughout the story, the narrator makes numerous contradictions. These contradictions, combined with his actions make me doubt the legitimacy and truth of what he says. In the first few paragraphs of the story, the narrator makes a point of rejecting the idea that he is mad. It almost seems as if he goes out of his way to reassure readers that he is indeed sane. It was at this point that I first got an inclination that the narrator was unreliable, either because he is insane, or just lying. The average person who...show more content...
Several times throughout the story the narrator brings up his love of animals. However what he says seems to be in stark contrast with his actions. For example, he says that he loves Pluto, and describes Pluto as a "beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree." Later, however, he directly contradicts these words by feeling a bitter loathing towards thecat culminating in him cutting Pluto's eye out, and eventually hanging him. So it seems obvious that what he says is not the truth. But is he lying, or just delusional? I think that he actually thinks he likes animals. He seems sane enough to realize that anyone sane person would find it glaringly obvious that his actions exist in stark contrast with his words. That being said, his treatment of animals throughout the story is not normal. I would be inclined to think that he is sociopathic, but he expresses shame and guilt after the fact, saying "I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity," which would suggest that he has a conscience. Unless of course, he is lying. Of course, another question is the role of alcohol in his actions. Addicts have been known to do things that they would not normally do when they are stimulated by the drug. Alcohol is not available on death row, and its absence at the time when he was writing may explain the sanity of the story itself. However, alcohol can definitely
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Essay about "Black Cat" Short Story Analysis
"The Black Cat," is a typical work of Edgar Allen Poe. Poe was a master of the horror genre, and it was a focus on many of his works such as: "Berenice" or "The Tell–Tale Heart.." The themes evident in the "The Black Cat" are very typical of Poe's writing. His themes focused on dark matters, melancholy in nature. The themes present in most of Poe's works tend to be dark in nature because it was a reflection of his own life. However, Poe did not only write scary or depressing stories as seen in his "Eleonora." (a love story), or "The Spectacles" (a comedy about love at first sight) or even "The Purloined Letter"" (a detective story.).
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The Black Cat Edgar Allan Poe Essay
"The Black Cat," by Edgar Allan Poe "The Black Cat," a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, is about a man who is in jail confessing to murdering his wife. He starts of by stating that he was happily married to a nice beautiful woman, and the couple had many animals. Among those animals was a black cat named Pluto and this cat is the narrator's favorite animal. The cat and the narrator established a great relationship and are almost inseparable. The narrator soon becomes an alcoholic and one day he returns from a town bar well intoxicated and tries to pet the cat. The cat tries to avoid him in fear of violence and when the man grabs the cat, it bites him in the hand. Out of fury, the narrator cuts out one of his...show more content...
That same night his house burns down. A few days later, the narrator and his wife are in their new apartment and the narrator sees a black cat while sipping on some rum. This cat is a bit different because it has a white patch on its breast. They decide to keep the cat but eventually, it started to remind him of the first cat. One day, while the narrator and his wife were walking down to the cellar, the cat followed them and it accidently tripped the narrator almost causing him to fall down. Out of rage, the man grabbed an axe and swung to hit the cat but his wife grabbed his arm to stop him. The man then turned and swung the axe towards his wife and struck her on the head and she fell dead to the ground. The cat left scared because of the commotion. The man decided to bury her body in the walls of the cellar since the cemented walls were always wet and easy to make a grave. A couple of days later, the police came to investigate the disappearance of his wife and when the man showed them around the cellar, he banged on the wall were he buried his wife and a noise was made. The police were suspicious and they tore down the wall to find his wife's body and the cat sitting right on the top of her head. The narrator's fury and guilt lead him to killing his cat, murder his wife, and eventually confess to his actions. His alcoholism also Get more content
The Black Cat Essay
"I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain." (116) Edgar Allan Poe was a man born in 1809 who writes stories that symbolize different eras in his life. The narrator wanted revenge, but he usually got caught and executed later on. In Poe's short story, The Black Cat, the theme of sadness is the way to revenge and anger is shown through setting, character, and conflict. In Poe's short story, The Cask of Amontillado, the theme of revenge is shown through character, conflict, and setting. The character is planning revenge on one of his lifelong bullies to get back at him; "No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within."(166) He called for him but got no answer. He was dead so, it proves that he got back at him for what he did to him all those years and he got his revenge; "Let us be gone."(166) He killed him for his anger within him and then left him there to die. Because he thought that the only way to pay him back was to vow revenge and kill him. Revenge gets you nowhere and it can ruin your future plans.
In Poe's short story, The Raven, the theme of grief is shown...show more content... The setting was usually in a dark place/room. The tone was usually mad or angry. "On the night of the day, which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing."(117) The house is on fire and he is drunk so he may or may not have done it. It proves that he had anger in his heart for doing what he did to the black cat. "On the day succeeding the fire, I visited my ruins. The walls with one exception, had fallen in."(117) He visits his house and feels no regret. It proves that that he doesn't regret killing and that he still has anger towards them. This story points out his anger towards everyone in his life that has done something mean to Get more content
The Black Cat Theme Essay
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the many poets known for using dark imagery to further the visual content of his text. In doing so, Poe uses his narrator in "The Black Cat" to communicate to his readers "a series of household events" in which he uses details that horrify and haunt the readers. Opening with mystery, the readers are able to quickly infer that Poe's narrator lacks common sense and rationality and that is what causes him become impulsive in his actions towards his loved ones. In this story, Poe writes through the eyes of an unnamed deceptive narrator who maltreats his wife and cat and relates how alcoholism and his oblivious views led him to their murder. By writing through the eyes of his narrator, Poe breaks the fictional barrier and creates a realism in the story which arouses his readers with the details about the murder of his wife and beloved cat. Poe's use of dark imagery contributes to the overall mood of the story by utilizing characterization, diction, and anxiety through his narrator.
Poe develops the dark personality of his narrator throughout the story and allows the story to be told from a first person point of view which makes the story seem realistic. The narrator includes detailed descriptions of the torturous and murderous acts that were committed in this story and by doing this, the narrator holds the reader's attention. Poe characterizes the black cat in the story by naming the cat "Pluto" which, according to Moreland and Rodriguez, is "...an obvious reference to the ruler of Hades" (Moreland, Rodriguez 209). The name of the cat is significant for this reason; Pluto the black cat, is named after a dark Greek ruler, which shows Poe wanted to characterize the black cat as an evil being. Poe illustrates the black cat as evil by describing it as entirely black and by saying that when the cat bit him "the fury of a demon instantly possessed" (Poe 5) him. Early in the story, when Poe first introduces the black cat he mentions an "ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise" (Poe 4), by adding this to the description of the cat it creates a dark image which foreshadows how the narrator feels later in the story towards the feline. By choosing to Get
The Black Cat Analysis
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The Black Cat In Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Black Cat", the main character is the unknown narrator. The narrator seems perfectly normal at the beginning of the story, he is married with a home full of animals. Towards the middle of the story he turns into an unexpected character and makes the home life for everyone he lives with extremely miserable. The narrator is a blamable character. He blames thecat for all of his actions such as the violent scene that occurred whenever he came home drunk one night. Meanwhile, the cat did not a single thing to the narrator. The narrator portrays an insane quality. Towards the beginning of the story, the narrator contradicts himself by trying to convince himself that he is not crazy.
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On The Black Cat
Symbolism In The Black Cat
In the short tale The Black Cat, Edgar Allen Poe expresses his hate and love for cats. With twisting words and mystical views, the tale takes place in the 1840's. Within this classic American Literature Gothic tale, symbolism is depicted throughout with many plot twists the story is told. While The Black Cat was written to achieve an effect of "shocking insanity" in this time period it did just that. In this first person narrative the narrator tells of the readers of his decline from sanity and madness, all because of an obsession with two or maybe one black cat. This short story easily achieved the effect and use of symbolism. In this tale the use of symbolizes are represented by the setting, the cat or cats, the house and his wife, all of which are a great representation of Edgar Allen Poe's imaginary and life. In the tale the setting was a sign of symbolism. Poe represented this in the plot development with a diverse word choice, and detailed character development. In most cases, the setting is usually indelible to a story, butThe Black Cat relies little on this element. Poe used detailed character development so the reader begins to empathize with the characters. With just enough character information given out at the time of the horrific event the reader will feel connected. This tale could have occurred anywhere and can be placed in any era. This makes the setting the weakest element of The Black Cat. Poe does not say a certain location of where it takes place leaving the reader to wonder. The most obvious of symbolic references in this story is the first and the second cat that arrives in the tale and the name chosen, Pluto. Pluto leads his owner down the path toward insanity and loss of reason (Lombardi, Esther). As Poe states in the following quote Pluto is his best friend, why would he have killed them? "Pluto this was the cat's name was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets" (Edgar Allen Poe). Could the man in the tale have been a drunken fool, or suffered for a psychotic illness. If you love an animal that much a normal human surly wouldn't
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When Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Black Cat" in 1843, the word "paranoia" was not in existence. The mental illness of paranoia was not given its name until the twentieth century. What the narrator is suffering from would be called paranoia today. The definition of paranoia is psychosis marked by delusions and irrational decisions. This definition could best be described in the nineteenth century as being superstitious and believing that supernatural powers are affecting our decisions. Superstition and being taken over by the supernatural is a recurring metaphor for paranoia in Poe's story.
At first, the narrator of the story is very caring and loves animals; being with animals is "one of [his] principal...show more content... He claims that he hung the cat because it loved him, and because it did not do anything to deserve the punishment. Because of this, the sin that he committed would jeopardize his soul forever. No sane man would do this to an animal that he claimed to love. Again the narrator is not in control of his body and is being controlled by the supernatural and shows signs of mental illness. Later that night, the narrator is awakened by fire in his house and immediately exited it. All but one wall of the house was destroyed. After the blaze was put out, a large crowd gathered around the remaining wall and were amazed at how a wall in the middle of the house could remain standing after a fire. The narrator approached the wall and thought that he knew what the audience is commenting about. He saw a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck. He is filled with wonder and terror when he saw that the cat is alive. In reality, though, the cat is not alive; the narrator is just having a delusion, which is a symptom of paranoia. He quickly calms his worries about how the cat survived by saying that an onlooker watching the fire must have seen that the cat was tied to the tree and released it. Making oneself believe what is not true is also a sign of paranoia. The cat could not have been alive because it was hung from the tree in the morning, while the fire started late at night.
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Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat Essay
"The Black Cat", in which the narrator related a series of "most wild" yet "most homely" events he went through, is one of Edgar Allan Poe's masterpieces. The narrator first told readers that he had loved animals so much that he was often laughed at by his companions. He and his wife had many pets, among which a giant black cat called Pluto was their favourite. But it has all changed since he became an alcoholic. He suddenly lost his temper and his love for animals. He began to abuse them, including Pluto. He digged out its eyes because the cat, out of terror, bit him, and then he hung it because he thought Pluto was avoiding him. That night his house caught a fire and they were reduced to an old house due to poverty. One day he found a cat
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Edgar Allan Poe The Black Cat
"Insert clever quote of your choice here". This quote from "The Black Cat" perfectly illustrates the psychological undertones present in Edgar Allan Poe's work. Poe is known for using various techniques to show the reader the darkness that lies in the minds of men. One such technique involves telling the entire story from the point of view of a single character, whose account becomes less and less believable as the story goes on. Another concept that is present in many of his works is "The Uncanny" – a feeling of unease caused by something that is both familiar and strange at the same time. This essay will analyze and demonstrate the use of the uncanny in Poe's "The Black Cat", and how it's used to bring us inside the troubled mind of the protagonist. First, I'll define the concept of The Uncanny, so we can understand better how it's used in the story. The term was popularized by Sigmund Freud, in his essay "The Uncanny", from 1919. The essay suggests two definitions for uncanniness: The first is the feeling a person gets when a certain regular event is repeated a few times. A story about Freud taking different routes while walking in a city, only to return to the same street again and again, is used to demonstrate the concept). This...show more content... The protagonist, who narrated the entire story from his point of view, describes it as a "most wild, yet most homely narrative"5. He tells us that he's about to describe events that he himself doesn't understand, and he doesn't expect the reader to believe the story (he even says that his "very senses reject their own evidence"). On the other hand, he insists that the reader might make sense of the events he describes, and see them as "nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects"6. This contradiction tells us right away that something might be wrong about the narrator's Get more content
Examples Of Uncanny In The Black Cat
In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" Afracanist presence as defined by Toni Morrison asserts itself through the narrator while transforming him from a tender kindhearted person into one who allows perverseness to take over. This type of presence allows the reader to witness the dark undertone and the hidden messages that lie within the text. In order to effectively show the narrators transformation and how his actions allow Afracanist presence to be presented, Poe uses two cats, one of which is completely black while the other resembles the first but instead has white fur covering the region of its breast. As the narrator refuses to take responsibility for his actions, Afracanist presence allows the two cats to extract from the narrator's...show more content...
(251) The fact that this black image of a cat with a rope about his neck was placed upon a "white" wall works as a reflection to the narrator of his cruel and unjust actions. The narrator's guilt gets the best of him as he regrets the loss of the animal. However, the haunting dark undertone of the novel continues to exert itself through the text when the second cat enters the tale. Also as a mirror for the narrator, the second cat portrays the narrator's hate for himself. The splotch of white on this all black cat symbolizes the narrator's hate for himself because of his cruel actions. Although we are told that this cat "resembles the first in all ways but one" the narrator despises this second cat. (251) The narrator was "disgusted and annoyed" by this cat and soon "these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into bitterness and hatred". (251) The resemblance of this cat to the first continues to remind the narrator of the cruelty that remains inside of him. As the cat continues to show the narrator his own reflection, he becomes filled with shame and finds it necessary to avoid the cat in order to prevent from hurting it. When the narrator then realizes that the new cat is also missing an eye like the first cat, haunting once again enters the text. This cat with a splotch of white is the "black cat" haunting the Get more content
Essay on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”
The Tale of Two Cats The title of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" leads the reader to believe the short story is about one black cat. However, almost in the middle of the story a second cat emerges. Are the second cat one of the nine lives of the first cat? The narrator seems to be struggling with this question and considering the genre is horror, I as the reader also struggles with this question. Since the narrator hints the second cat may be the same as the first, the reader must look at the similarities and differences of the two cats; such as, they both loved the narrator, both are missing an eye, and the cats have a difference in the color of their fur. In theshort story, both cats follow the narrator around the house. The...show more content...
When the narrator looked at the cat or thought of what he had done, he would only become more infuriated and one day he finished the job by hanging the cat in a tree. The second cat was missing an eye when the narrator found him. He found the second cat in one of the establishments he frequented to drink his alcohol. The morning after the narrator brought the second cat home he discovered, "like Pluto, it had also been deprived of one of its eyes" (Poe). No one knows how the cat lost the eye, but it led the narrator to distain it more because it reminded him of Pluto and what he had done to the first cat. However, the loss of the eye caused the narrator's wife to love the cat more. After looking at these similarities, we can see why the narrator was questioning if this was Pluto or a different cat, but we also must look at an important difference. Such as, the difference in the color of their fur. The first cat was a solid color with no other markings. Pluto, the first cat, was a solid black cat without a single white hair. The narrator states, "the cat was remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black" (Poe). The wife made frequent comments saying black cats were known to be witches. This notion of this cat being a witch because it is solid black alludes that the second cat may indeed be the same. However, the second cat was not one solid color. When the Get more content
The Black Cat Analysis
Essay On The Black Cat
Name: Sumaiya Bashar Date: 10–12–2017
Language and Composition Group:Turqouise ID: 160020 The Black Cat
The story about a man and an antiquity "The Black Cat" something is very old and valuable. The main character Salahadin was trying to find this antiquity to put this in right place. It is like a battle of death to get this antiquity but finally Salahadin get it and put it in the museum. On this book the author "John Milne" was tried to say that, too much greed toward anything lead you to died one day. In this essay, I will evaluate the story clearly...show more content...
Need is okay but too much need is not okay. It will make us self–centered and bad person. On the other hand, Salahadin went his student house and he try to fine the whole problem. (Page 25)
Moreover, Salahadin was moving to another place by boat called "Athens". On the boat he was tried to search a particular man later, he was found and takes a cabin near his cabin. Salahadin was clever enough and also smart because he is the only one person who is solving the case without anyone's help. He was very good person. Salahadin's main purpose is following the man and gets the antiquity back. Then Salahadin was entered his cabin and searching the black cat. Firstly, he was not found that later on, he finds the black cat just on that time the man was come and Salahadin was caught. (Page 38–39). The man was tried to killed Salahadin however, it was miracle that, the man was fell into water and Salahadin was save also the antiquity. There is one proverb that I want to say, "If you do bad, bad will be done to you (Croatian Proverb). What we have, we have to be satisfied with it. After all this happen, he went back to his home and returns it in the right place. Salahadin gives to the museum and also find out whether it valuable or not. (Page 51)
In conclusion, "The Black Cat" was in it right place and every one comes to see this however, they discover it was not so much valuable rather gold or diamond. It was only a piece of wood
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The Black Cat, by Edgar Allen Poe, is a story about a man whose love for animals is overcome by an extreme hatred toward the creatures. What goes around comes around is a saying that would most effectively convey the message of this story because Poe implies that people will inevitably suffer the consequences of their actions. Through the careful construction of plot, the ongoing use of irony, and the rapid development of character, Poe captures the reader's undivided attention and evokes a wide variety of emotions through thisshort story
This story is a confession of an atrocious sin told by an old man on his deathbed. The plot begins to unfold as the main...show more content... In doing so, he gives himself away. The multiple ironies of this story make the main character wonder if he is being haunted or if it is all coincidence. The introduction suggests that Poe has had a privileged upbringing and a happy life. He marries a woman with whom he has a lot in common and has a picture perfect life. They both love animals and have lots of them. Then all of a sudden he becomes an alcoholic and begins mistreating his animals and his wife. He cuts his cat's eye out with a knife and kills the cat soon after. The following day his house burns down. The only wall left standing is in the image of a gigantic cat. They now have to live in poverty. One night, while in a drunken stupor, he
3 finds a stray cat and brings it home. The next morning he realizes that the cat resembles Pluto, the dead cat, in every way except for the large white patch on the new cat's chest. It even has the same eye missing. The white spot that has once distinguished the new cat from Pluto changes shape and begins to resemble a noose. He then kills his wife when she stops him from killing the cat. When the police came, the cat's moan reveals his wife's body that is concealed behind a brick wall. He then realizes that he has accidentally walled the cat up with his wife, which is the reason he is unable to find the animal to kill it. Get
The Black Cat Essay
The Black Cat
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	In Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator's capacity for violence, madness, and guilt. "The Black Cat," written by Edgar Allan Poeserves as a reminder for all of us. The Capacity for violence and horror lies within each of us, no matter how docile and humane our disposition might appear. In this story, the narrator portrays a man who is fond of animals, had a tender heart, and is happily married. Within several years of his marriage, his general temperament and character make a radical alteration for the worse. He grows moodier, more irritable, and more inconsiderate of the feelings of others. This...show more content... The color of the spot, white,is an archetypal symbol that has a universal meaning of purity and light. This white spot on the heart of black cat two is symbolic of the purity of black cat one's heart. The white spot changed to the form of gallows, which is symbolic of the guilt of the narrator. If you remember the narrator hung black cat one with a noose or gallows. So basically the white spot serves a punishment inflicted by black cat two.
	The first black cat, the second black cat, and the white spot are the three most important symbols in this story. Each one of these symbols represents the evil and perverseness of the narrator. Black cat one let's the reader get a clear understanding of the narrator's evil heart and unwillingness to except love. The second black cat gives the reader an insight of the narrator's guilt for what he has done to black cat one. And the white spot helps the reader to realize what type of punishment black cat two is inflicting on the narrator. The basic function of black cat one, black cat two, and the white spot is to illustrate the narrator's increasing capacity for evil and his descent into
The Black Cat
Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat"
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Edgar Allen Poe's short story The Black Cat immerses the reader into the mind of a murdering alcoholic. Poe himself suffered from alcoholism and often showed erratic behavior with violent outburst. Poe is famous for his American Gothic horror tales such as the Tell–Tale Heart and the Fall of the House of Usher. "The Black Cat is Poe's second psychological study of domestic violence and guilt. He added a new element to aid in evoking the dark side of the narrator, and that is the supernatural world." (Womack). Poe uses many of the American Gothic characteristics such as emotional intensity, superstition, extremes in violence, the focus on a certain object and foreshadowing lead the reader through a series of events that are horrifying...show more content...
They named the cat Pluto, which is the name of the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. He mentions that his wife "...made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise" (Poe 513). He says that he is only writing this because he just remembered her saying it to him. On the night of the day that he hung Pluto, he awoke to his house burning down. An image of a gigantic cat with a rope around its neck appeared in the plaster of one of the walls. While patronizing one of his drinking haunts, he sees a very large black cat and thinks it could replace Pluto and take away his pain. He asked if he could purchase the cat, but no one had ever seen the cat before, so he brings it home. The next morning he discovers the cat has a very similar physical trait as Pluto, a missing eye. There was something different about this cat, it had a white mark on the breast of its fur. As time went on the white marking on the cat became a more pronounced outline of the gallows. It was the howl, "...a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell" (Poe 518) that revealed to the police his wife's body that he had buried in the wall. This presents a question, was Pluto a witch in disguise that returned from the dead to burn the house down and drive his master into complete
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The Black Cat Analysis Essay
