Preview

Edgar Allan Poe's Cat Point Of View

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
222 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Edgar Allan Poe's Cat Point Of View
Poe presents the narrator all throughout the story as a suspicious individual due to him constantly expressing his opinion over his own sanity and views towards himself. From the beginning of the story, the narrator would immediately give off a sense of uneasiness when he would have a sudden discussion over his sharpened hearing skills. As he stated, “I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken!” (Poe 37) He is trying to influence the reader into believing in him and his story, creating trust between the two. This madman also believes that he knows the full story due to his own description on how he records the world, yet he doesn’t even question his own reasons or approach on

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Both 8th grade classes have recently finished the book “Into the Mouth of the Cat”. So at this point, you may not know what the book is about, so that’s what we are going to talk about. Lance Peter Sijan; does this name sound familiar to you? Probably not, since he died nearly 50 years ago. Lance happens to be a ‘Medal of Honor’ recipient which is the highest award you could receive in the United States military. He was captured in the Vietnam war when he suddenly crash landed which left him stranded for 46 days until he was taken to a NVA camp. You see, there is a lot to know about Lance Sijan. After finishing the book, I realized that I actually knew a lot about him to the point where it felt like I knew him. Since you’ll probably read “Into the Mouth of the Cat”, I’m going to tell you a little bit…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The story begins with the declaration, “TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? . . . Hearken! And observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.” Notice how the author made sure to give very little detail on the story’s background, except that the narrator had an obsession with the old man’s deformed eye. (“One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold . . .”) which made it difficult to pin point an exact audience, to whom he could have been talking to, that is until we realize that we don’t know anything about the relationship between the old man and the narrator, although it can be presumed that the younger man is a nephew tasked with caring for his aging uncle, or, possibly, a servant whose mental state has diminished by virtue of his daily exposure to the old man’s eye. Poe chose not to provide those details as he also, doesn’t provide us with who he’s speaking with. But the only thing we receive is how the narrator has continuous references to his mental state (“Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me”). Which is why the audience is led to believe that the reason he is describing is crime in such great detail is because he’s trying to convince his psychiatrist of his…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential and well-known authors in American history. Poe’s short stories remain recognized throughout American literature for their gothic approach, tall tales, and his recognition style to solving mysteries. Throughout his lifetime, Edgar Allan Poe endured various tragic experiences such as losing his parents at the age of three years old and losing his foster-mother at the age of 20 years old. Even though his literary works and techniques were vastly unique, after his death, some critics argued that they were not quite unique at all; instead, they argued, Poe’s inspiration derived from his own life experiences. These stories, which seem to blur the lines between Poe’s real life and his storytelling are…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    He takes the negative approach of things, which I say is based from his childhood. As it says in this quote by Poe, "I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity," it seems that he always had seen the negative of things in life instead of positive. As Poe made for his character to obsess over the eye and the heartbeat, I feel that he used a lot of through his negative approach. There is a possibility that he could have used the obsession that he has on his negative and bad childhood and put it into a story, giving the man something to obsess and go insane over. Though Poe didn't go as insane as the man in the story and killed someone, he's definitely not as sane as he could be. He had a different perspective on life, and it wasn't a wrong kind of perspective but it was just not the normal one that you wouldn't normally hear about. Another quote from Poe, "I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it." This quote really makes me think what it was to see life in his shoes. Another reason why his stories were so different and so interesting because he took what he was feeling and put it in book…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” Edgar Allan Poe, creates an unreliable narrator shown through by his over-exaggerated statement and his loss of sanity from killing the innocent old man, because he suffers from a mental disorder called monomania. The narrator goes through a disease that sharpens his hearing senses and proclaims it as a benefit for himself. While declining the fact that he is a madman, the narrator calmly explains “I [hear] all things in the heaven and in the earth...I [hear] many things in hell” (Poe 92). His ability to determine that there is heaven and hell is questionable, on top of that, he can also hear things inside the earth. Thus, the readers can already feel the uncertainty of trusting…

    • 361 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Tell-Tale Heart

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The narrator begins the story by focusing on the reader and stating that he is “nervous” not “mad.” In fact, this statement can be seen in the first two sentences of the story when he believes he must persuade the reader that he is not insane. “Very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (Poe). The narrator admits to having a “disease” that has “sharpened his senses.” “Hearing” is his most increased sense, and states to be able to hear everything going on in “heaven,” “earth,” and most of what’s going on in “hell.”According to him, this…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poe begins his story with his narrator dismissing the idea of him being mad by directly saying, “Why will you say that I am mad?” However, shortly after, the narrator starts to contradict this when he proceeds with long, descriptive sentences. He describes in great the extent the narrator goes to to dispose of the problems with the old man’s eye. These sentences such as, ‘his room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily”, are lengthy and extremely detailed in order to provide a clear view of the situation. The audience of the piece is thrust into the disturbed state of the narrator through the deep and delving sentences. Poe is asserting that while the narrator claims he is rational, this form of syntax is used to foil the diction and show how irrational the narrator and the situation is.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allen Poe’s narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” reveals his own ego the readers. An arguably insane man begins to tell the story of how he murdered an elderly man, who seemed to be guilty of no more than having a “vulture eye”. He speaks highly of himself and the execution of his plan. “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded-…”. The idea of priding ones self in murder alone would seem like madness to any person reading this, but to the narrator, everything he is about to reveal seems completely sane. With a narrator so oblivious to his madness, blinded by his ego, his sense of guilt is crooked. When in the company of the officers who had come to investigate, his…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe's Insanity

    • 1348 Words
    • 6 Pages

    By having the eye torment the narrator until he viciously murders the old man, Poe is bringing a supernatural aspect into "The Tell-Tale Heart." The narrator's hatred for the old man's eye is unexplainable, and the narrator himself does not even know why he came up with the idea, "It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain," (GB, pg. 74). This eye almost possesses the narrator, becoming the driving force of his insanity. Another aspect of the supernatural at work in Poe's story is when the narrator hears the beating of the old man's heart in his own ears. It's obviously impossible to hear the beating in the intensity at which the narrator describes it, "the sound would be heard by a neighbor," (GB, pg. 76), but Poe adds this sentence to enhance the story's supernatural aspect. Right after the narrator killed the old man, he could still hear the heart beating, again this feat is impossible, "for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound," (GB, pg. 76). Even after the beating stopped, according to the narrator, it began again, once the police arrived. Poe makes it clear that the beating heart is not just the narrator listening to his own heart, or imagining the sound in his head, "until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears," (GB, pg. 77). An unexplainable noise that grows louder and louder can only be…

    • 1348 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The narrator opens the story by claiming he is nervous and oversensitive, not mad. He tries to prove his sanity, stating, “How, then, am I mad? Hearken! And observe how healthily – how calmly I can tell you the whole story” (Poe, 27). It becomes apparent that the narrator is mad when stating how he loves the old man, “Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man” (Poe, 27). The narrator uses an unreasonable rational, further indicating his mental state of madness. He provides the rational that the old man’s eye was the reason to take his life, stating “Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and by so degrees – very gradually – I made up my…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poe’s usage of a first-person narrator gives the readers an insight of the protagonist’s thoughts. The main character first tries to prove his sanity. Despite the fact that he did kill an old man, he still tries to convince the readers that he has not gone mad: “TRUE!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” (20) Thus, from the very beginning of the story, a sense of insanity can be detected in the main character because of his brief stops and…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poe starts the story with the man appearing crazy and ends with the man going crazy. Poe begins with the man’s actions and way of speaking not coming across as too crazy or insane. He allows the reader to create a evaluation of the man and have a well formed perception, without judgement. Although the author begins with the man trying to justify himself, the reader is not able to make a rational judgement without reading a bit more of the story. Throughout the story Poe allows the reader to get to know the man and allows the reader to decide whether or not he is a “madman”. The reader can assume the man is insane, although the author does not state the man is a madman. Because of this assumption, the narrator becomes unreliable. In most cases, first person narrator is not a reliable source. Because the narrator seems to be a madman, the reader has no choice but to doubt him. The narrator throughout the whole story is defending himself, without the reader knowing what he is defending himself…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Tell Tale Heart

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Firstly, the narrator views himself as an ordinary person, who is nowhere near insane. According to the text, it states, “…I had been and am, but why will you say that I am mad? The disease has sharpened my senses-not destroyed not dulled them,”(Poe 294). The narrator does not find himself crazy for murdering the old man and finds his actions to be normal. Along with that, the narrator thinks of himself for being very wise. For example, “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded with what caution-with what foresight-with what dissimulation I went to work!”(Poe 295). He found himself very clever for devising a plan with such precise steps and how he made sure to have no trace of blood left behind. As you can see, the narrator views himself as a normal person who is not crazy.…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The unnamed narrator is shown as a vague, two-dimensional character. Poe does not give the reader detailed characteristics of him, but it is clear that the narrator suffers from a mental-illness. The narrator makes no attempt to persuade the reader of his innocence, but rather the sanity of himself. He is portrayed in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ as cautious and methodical, always careful to not wake the old man from his sleep. “…so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed.” This displays the vigilance and alertness of the narrator and how he is paranoid of being caught.…

    • 742 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays