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. The narrator begins the short story by giving us the back story, where he seems content and emotionally stable. This is shown when the man says:
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The man contemplated many ways to do it, but eventually chose to wall it up in the cellar, as the monks of the Middle Ages did to their victims. He speaks of tearing the bricks apart and cleaning every hair and grain of sand he could find, until he, “felt satisfied that all was right.” When the fourth day of the murder had concluded, a group of police came to the man’s house to investigate what could have happened. He was not the least bit concerned, he states: “At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence.” He felt so confident in the deed he had done and showed no signs of remorse or guilt. The narrator insinuates that he was proud of the crime he had committed and showed no signs of nervousness or shame as the police walked right past where the body was hidden. His mind was clearly being driven to insanity, as he committed many dark deeds and showed no remorse for them.
People can go from normal to crazy for many reasons, whether that be the death of a loved one, severe depression, or a traumatic experience. However, it is not normal for a person to turn completely insane simply because of a cat. One perceives the narrator to be a normal person in the back story, however as the story progresses he can be deemed insane. The narrator becomes mentally ill due to all the terrible deeds he commits throughout the story. The dark deeds of gruesome murder, followed by no remorse, allows the reader to conclude that he has indeed turned insane and mentally
The man contemplated many ways to do it, but eventually chose to wall it up in the cellar, as the monks of the Middle Ages did to their victims. He speaks of tearing the bricks apart and cleaning every hair and grain of sand he could find, until he, “felt satisfied that all was right.” When the fourth day of the murder had concluded, a group of police came to the man’s house to investigate what could have happened. He was not the least bit concerned, he states: “At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence.” He felt so confident in the deed he had done and showed no signs of remorse or guilt. The narrator insinuates that he was proud of the crime he had committed and showed no signs of nervousness or shame as the police walked right past where the body was hidden. His mind was clearly being driven to insanity, as he committed many dark deeds and showed no remorse for them.
People can go from normal to crazy for many reasons, whether that be the death of a loved one, severe depression, or a traumatic experience. However, it is not normal for a person to turn completely insane simply because of a cat. One perceives the narrator to be a normal person in the back story, however as the story progresses he can be deemed insane. The narrator becomes mentally ill due to all the terrible deeds he commits throughout the story. The dark deeds of gruesome murder, followed by no remorse, allows the reader to conclude that he has indeed turned insane and mentally