Psychoanalyzing the Black Cat
Tyler Bennett
Dr. Kyburz
ENGL-2600
November 26, 2012
Uncanny Cat Edger Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat’s plot consists of a rather horrifying narrative provided by the narrator, whom remains unnamed. The story begins as a simple re telling of events from the narrator’s life. This “self reflection” was brought on by the narrator’s imminent execution on the following day—the cause of his execution remains shrouded behind statements indicating the common place. The narrator comments on his childhood stating that “…I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions” (Poe 18). It was this that caused the narrator to prefer the company of animals to that of his fellow human beings—a trait of witch his parents “indulged” him in with a “great variety of pets” (Poe 18). The rest of the story re accounts his adult life, along with his descent into alcoholism and the changes it made in his life—the murder of his beloved cat, and later his wife. Taking a closer look at The Black Cat trough a Psychoanalytic lens one will find a strong support for Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Uncanny, and it’s involvement with repression. These examples show how the narrator and the cat itself have been imbued with these characteristics of the uncanny by Poe’s pen. First off one should understand the concept of the uncanny.
Although the theory was originally identified by Ernst Jentsch, Dr. Sigmund Freud’s addition to the theory is crucial to our understanding of the uncanny today. Freud took Jentsch’s vague theory of the uncanny and further developed it. Freud theorizes that the uncanny is an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange or uncomfortably familiar (Freud?). Due to the fact that the uncanny is familiar, yet strange, it often will provoke a feeling of uneasiness that stems from the
Dr. Kyburz
ENGL-2600
November 26, 2012
Uncanny Cat Edger Allen Poe’s short story The Black Cat’s plot consists of a rather horrifying narrative provided by the narrator, whom remains unnamed. The story begins as a simple re telling of events from the narrator’s life. This “self reflection” was brought on by the narrator’s imminent execution on the following day—the cause of his execution remains shrouded behind statements indicating the common place. The narrator comments on his childhood stating that “…I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions” (Poe 18). It was this that caused the narrator to prefer the company of animals to that of his fellow human beings—a trait of witch his parents “indulged” him in with a “great variety of pets” (Poe 18). The rest of the story re accounts his adult life, along with his descent into alcoholism and the changes it made in his life—the murder of his beloved cat, and later his wife. Taking a closer look at The Black Cat trough a Psychoanalytic lens one will find a strong support for Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Uncanny, and it’s involvement with repression. These examples show how the narrator and the cat itself have been imbued with these characteristics of the uncanny by Poe’s pen. First off one should understand the concept of the uncanny.
Although the theory was originally identified by Ernst Jentsch, Dr. Sigmund Freud’s addition to the theory is crucial to our understanding of the uncanny today. Freud took Jentsch’s vague theory of the uncanny and further developed it. Freud theorizes that the uncanny is an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange or uncomfortably familiar (Freud?). Due to the fact that the uncanny is familiar, yet strange, it often will provoke a feeling of uneasiness that stems from the
Cited: Poe, . "The Black Cat." Saturday Evening Post. 19 1843: 18,20-21,102. Print. Freud, Sigmund “The “Uncanny” (1919)” 1-21. PDF