Personification In The Black Cat
The Importance of Personification in “The Black Cat”
It is not uncommon to experience stress and mood swings, particularly if one is stressed and exhausted. However, pets do not typically drive their owners to complete madness.
In the horror fiction story “The Black Cat”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character develops a hatred for not one, but two black cats. In this story, Poe writes in such a way that the reader can experience the main character’s slow descent into madness, guilt, and remorse (Milne). Personification plays a key role, particularly within the relationship between the main character and his cat(s). The narrator begins by stating that from an early age he was “noted for the docility and humanity of his disposition” (Poe …show more content…
The emotions of the author are obvious but his actions suggest insanity. He is clearly remorseful and upset that his friend must die and he is particularly upset that it is he who must kill him. After he had murdered his cat, the author wakes up to the “cry of fire” (2) Fire symbolizes madness, danger, and confusion; which are ongoing themes in “The Black Cat”. Personification again is used when an image of the cat appears in the ruin of the burned down house. The house burning down the night after the tragedy, the black cat to symbolize bad luck, and the stamp of the dead cat all suggest that the cat has taken revenge on his previous owner and brought ill will to his murderer. Remorse is evident as the narrator states he “went so far as to regret the loss of the animal” and “and to look about..for another pet of the same species..to supply its place” (3) The black cat as a motif suggests that only more tragedy and bad luck could come from getting another black cat as a pet. This is proven true when the man murders his wife and the cat “tells” the police where her body
It is not uncommon to experience stress and mood swings, particularly if one is stressed and exhausted. However, pets do not typically drive their owners to complete madness.
In the horror fiction story “The Black Cat”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the main character develops a hatred for not one, but two black cats. In this story, Poe writes in such a way that the reader can experience the main character’s slow descent into madness, guilt, and remorse (Milne). Personification plays a key role, particularly within the relationship between the main character and his cat(s). The narrator begins by stating that from an early age he was “noted for the docility and humanity of his disposition” (Poe …show more content…
The emotions of the author are obvious but his actions suggest insanity. He is clearly remorseful and upset that his friend must die and he is particularly upset that it is he who must kill him. After he had murdered his cat, the author wakes up to the “cry of fire” (2) Fire symbolizes madness, danger, and confusion; which are ongoing themes in “The Black Cat”. Personification again is used when an image of the cat appears in the ruin of the burned down house. The house burning down the night after the tragedy, the black cat to symbolize bad luck, and the stamp of the dead cat all suggest that the cat has taken revenge on his previous owner and brought ill will to his murderer. Remorse is evident as the narrator states he “went so far as to regret the loss of the animal” and “and to look about..for another pet of the same species..to supply its place” (3) The black cat as a motif suggests that only more tragedy and bad luck could come from getting another black cat as a pet. This is proven true when the man murders his wife and the cat “tells” the police where her body