Preview

Transformation In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
341 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Transformation In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
The best fictions are based on the character who changes in a significant way. In the short story "The Black Cat" many themes can be seen including transformation. The readers are introduced to an unnamed male character, who loves animals. The narrator's transformation is because of drinking.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” the narrator experiences mental health issues and drinking problems. His obsession is his cat named Pluto, his favorite animal out of the many he owns. He described him as "Pluto... was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house"(Poe page4). This quote reveals how much he loved and cared his black cat. He is talking about Pluto in recognition of his best friend
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Black Cat Analysis Essay
    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Black Cat Analysis Essay

    "No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its avatar and its seal- the redness and the horror of blood" (1). Edgar Allan Poe was a master of the macabre; his very stories injecting fear into the hearts of his readers. Poe's life was filled with tragedy, as several of the important women in his life, including his wife and daughter died at a young age. He utilized poems and books to express that tragedy. The short stories, "The Black Cat," and, "The Masque of the Red Death," both written by Poe, enhance the theme of fear. "The Black Cat," was about a narrator who had gone crazy and was so overcome by guilt that he went to extreme measures including…

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Tell Tale Heart vs. the Black Cat Essay Example
    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tell Tale Heart vs. the Black Cat Essay Example

    In “The Black Cat,” a man develops a volatile temper and an extreme dislike for all living things. He and his wife had many pets, but one black cat stood out from the rest. Its name was Pluto. It was the man’s favorite playmate for many years; but eventually, he began to feel deeply annoyed by all of his animals. So much so, that he neglected and abused them. But, his cat Pluto was different. It never received the mistreatment that the others did. According to the man, when his rage and intolerance grew too strong, Pluto could sense it and knew to keep its distance. One night, when the man returned home from a night of heavy drinking, “the fury of a demon” (Poe 706) possessed him. He grabbed the cat by its throat and “deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket” (Poe 706). Still unsatisfied, the man hung the cat from a tree, to be…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cask Of Amontillado, And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cask Of Amontillado, And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    The cause of the conflict in the story “The Black Cat” is lack of respect of morals. The narrator’s behavior was affected by his weakness, which is alcohol. The addiction to alcohol start to make him think of horrific thoughts, thus he began to act upon them. Poe wrote, “This spirt of perverseness came to my final overthrow” (par. 10).…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Alcoholism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Alcoholism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

    The problems of alcoholism and insanity are recurring themes in Poe’s literary works. One can say that “The Black Cat,” one of Poe’s short stories, portrays much of the author’s own views on his substance abuse problems and mental illness. The unnamed narrator from “The Black Cat,” struggles with his addiction to alcohol and his hatred for two cats become prevailing. The narrator states, however, that he was never like this before he loved animals, “never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.” (Poe, 3). The narrator takes on a cat and cares for it, however, as his drinking problem progressed, he states, “I grew day by day more moody… my disease grew upon me.” (Poe, 4). After a night out drinking, he decides to cut out one of the cat’s eyes and ultimately, kills the cat. Later, another cat strangely identical to the first cat with one eye comes around and as the narrator tries to kill the second cat he ends up killing his wife instead. He buries the body of his wife and the second cat behind a wall and police later hear the cat calling out from inside the wall. In relation to Poe’s life, Poe was known to love cats and had a female cat named Catterina (Mercier). The killing of the first cat relates to Poe’s own destruction of the things he loved and desired due to alcoholism. He lost his job in 1837 due to his drinking and feuding with other editors (Edgar Allan Poe, Encyclo.) The killing of an innocent wife can closely relate to Poe’s views of women in his own life, through the deaths of both his mother figures and then eventually his wife. Poe writes about women who carry a unique beauty to them. The women are compassionate to the men they…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing The Black Cat And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Comparing The Black Cat And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    In “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator acts violently towards his cat for no particular reason. Although the narrator doesn’t state why, he always seems to be drawn to the cat’s eye in a negative way. The first incident in which the narrator abuses the cat is when it doesn’t react to his rage and looks into his eyes without fear. The narrator is extremely disturbed by the cat’s presence and deliberately tries to cut out its eye. “I fancied that the cat avoided my presence…I took from my waist-coat…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Superstitions In Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cat
    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page

    Superstitions In Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cat

    Edgar Allan Poe , his stories characterized by mystery and macabre. That what encouraged me to choose one of his stories.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How Does The Black Cat Change
    • 124 Words
    • 1 Page

    How Does The Black Cat Change

    “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe is about an unnamed man who has a black cat named Pluto. is his favorite pet but then he undergoes a change of emotion toward the cat and his wife. The change was most likely due to alcohol. He begins to abuse his wife and his animals even his beloved Pluto. AFter a while he ends up killing ,his favorite pet, Pluto. Then one night his house burns down, and the next day he comes back to his house and finds that only one wall is left, that's the wall he buried the cat in. As he walks closer to the wall he finds his black cat but the cat is bigger and in a ghostly figure.…

    • 124 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Mental Disorder in E. A. Poe’s Prose
    • 2535 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Mental Disorder in E. A. Poe’s Prose

    [2] Edgar Allan Poe, “The Black Cat,” An Exploration of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe, 15 May. 2009 .…

    • 2535 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparison Of Tell-Tale Heart And The Black Cat
    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Comparison Of Tell-Tale Heart And The Black Cat

    This Death is what the narrator of the Black Cat is immediately facing – writing to us that “To-morrow [he] dies”. His story, believed to be a depiction of “mere household events”, is one that truly saddens the soul. From “infancy” this man was tame, being “especially fond of animals” and “noted for the docility and humanity” of his heart. It was unthinkable that such a man could become so intemperate and violent. Nevertheless, this “disease” – the “Alcohol” – gave the narrator the “fury of a demon”, allowing him to maltreat his beloved pets and even offer “personal violence” to his dear wife. A combination of superstitious beliefs and the “Fiend Intemperance” is what then enticed the narrator to persecute and murder his “favourite [feline] pet and playmate”, Pluto. “For months” after the event, all was calm, until one drunken night, the narrator meets Pluto again. This triggers such great fear within the narrator that he attempts all in his power to be rid of the cat – to the extent that he…

    • 1293 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mistakes In The Black Cat
    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mistakes In The Black Cat

    The reason is because the cat is black which means bad luck. The cat’s name is Pluto and in Greek mythology Pluto is the God of the underworld. .The drinking claim is stronger than the claim of the cat. In the story Poe talks more about the narrator’s drinking, and gives more to do with the drinking than the cat. He talks about the how when he drinks he is more of a different person than when he is silber.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Becoming Mentally Insane In The Black Cat By Edgar Allen Poe
    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Becoming Mentally Insane In The Black Cat By Edgar Allen Poe

    Is it possible for someone to be normal one day, and then slowly shift to becoming mentally insane with little explanation? In his short story “The Black Cat”, Edgar Allen Poe believes this to indeed be possible. The story begins with the narrators back story, where he is sane and happy. As the story progresses, the narrator shifts to a very unstable state of mind, in which he performs gruesome and evil deeds making the reader wonder…what drove him to be like this? Through his crazy actions and behavior, the reader can rightly conclude that the he has become mentally insane and emotionally unstable.…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pluto Analysis
    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pluto Analysis

    The narrator's first cat's name Pluto is that of the Roman God of the underworld. Pluto contributes to a strong sense of Hell and may even symbolize the Devil himself. Onyx cats have long been connected to bad luck and misfortune. The narrator's wife even joking mentions that black cats are said to be witches in guise. From this one can assume that a horrible thing will be bestowed upon the narrator, though one might believe it will be directly from Pluto, it happens indirectly. This can be tied with mankind being sinful and tainted by the Devil, for the narrator takes the Pluto as a dear companion and ends up falling from grace and being succumb with alcohol, violence and a lack of conscience.…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Foreshadowing in Edgar Allen Poe's “the Black Cat”
    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Foreshadowing in Edgar Allen Poe's “the Black Cat”

    “The Black Cat” is narrated by a man on the day before he is to be put to death for the crime of murdering his wife. He can be considered an unreliable narrator. This is because his deeds do not match his words. He states, “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition” and “I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets” (514). He then gouges the eye out and later kills the family pet, a cat, in cold blood by hanging it from a tree. He states that he is not mad. Yet he commits the deeds of a madman. The narrator uses flashback in his description of the events leading up to his execution. Poe uses foreshadowing to hint or give clues of future events. Some of his use of foreshadowing is subtle. At other times it is more obvious.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Edgar A. Poe: Doppelgängers
    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Edgar A. Poe: Doppelgängers

    To begin, let’s dissect the first short fiction piece, “The Black Cat.” The beginning of this particular story introduces the narrator’s so called “love” for his animals. His favorite, a black cat named Pluto. However, many nights the narrator would return home in a drunken stupor and one intoxicated evening, the narrator had the notion that Pluto was trying to hide from him and he became angry:…

    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

    Edgar Allan Poe, reputed as the father of American short stories, is a poet, writer and literary critic of nineteenth century. His works, most of which explore the dark side of consciousness and subconsciousness of human beings, was well-known for horror and mystery. "The Black Cat" is one of Poe's masterpieces. It depicts love, hatred and fear between men through the narration of the changing relationship between a mentally abnormal man and a black cat. Loneliness, death, torture and abnormal psychology are core elements in "The Black Cat" This thesis aims to conduct a research on how Allan Poe managed to achieve psychological horror in "The Black Cat."…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics