The Black Cat Theme Essay

“Gothic stories are dominated by fear and terror and explores the themes of death and decay.” (An Analysis of Evidence. 1)

“The Black Cat” By Edgar Allen Poe was about a man's descent into madness involving the murder of his pet cat and his wife. The man had an array of pets, the cat of the collection being his favorite. Though over the years through his battle with alcoholism he began to taste distaste, neglecting his pets and eventually causing harm to his beloved pet cat. Once this had happened things started to become more awry, he began to succumb deeper into his drunken angry fits, causing more harm around him. A theme used in this book I’d say would be “Madness.” a descent into insanity. His wife was superstitions, believing that all black cats were “Witches in Disguise.” Poe’s short story, “The
The story follows a man named Egaeus who is preparing to marry his cousin Berenice. He has a tendency to fall into periods of intense focus during which he seems to separate himself from the outside world. Berenice begins to deteriorate from an unnamed disease until the only part of her remaining healthy is her teeth, which become the object of Egaeus' obsession. Berenice is buried, and Egaeus continues to contemplate her teeth. One day Egaeus wakes up from a period of focus with an uneasy feeling, and the sound of screams in his ears. A servant startles him by telling him Berenice's grave has been disturbed, and she is still alive; but beside Egaeus is a shovel, a poem about "visiting the grave of my beloved" and a box containing 32 blood-stained teeth. (Berenice, Summary, Wikipedia) The Difference from This and “Berenice” is that the man is well aware of what he is doing, by contrast the main protagonist in Berenice has to confess, upon multiple times of his wrong doings. It has more gruesomeness and horror, and it lacks the revolting detail of the crimes