Preview

Perverseness In 'The Black Cat' By Edgar Allan Poe

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1253 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Perverseness In 'The Black Cat' By Edgar Allan Poe
“The Perverseness that got it’s own way”
“I do not expect or ask anyone to believe the wild, yet ordinary story I am about to write. I would be mad indeed to expect it. Even I cannot believe what happened. Yet I am not mad-and I know I am not dreaming. But tomorrow I die, and today I hope to unburden my soul.” In the story “The Black Cat”, Edgar Allan Poe conveys the message that all people can experience the state of perverseness. Poe begins the story with the narrator in a jail cell, where he has been thrown in jail for killing his wife. Prior to present time, the narrator use to be a kind man, until being consumed and controlled by his alcoholic drinking. Poe uses symbolism, hyperbole, and oxymoron to show that everyone carries perverseness …show more content…
Hyperbole is used to exaggerate for effect or to not meant to be taken literally. Poe uses Hyperbole to add effect or to exaggerate to explain what he means. In paragraph twenty Pluto slowly recovered from losing his eye by his owner. It’s empty socket look frightening but on the bright side Pluto seemed that it was no longer in pain. The quote of this paragraph is “He went about the house as usual, but, as might expected, he fled in terror when I came near.”(20) This means that Pluto goes and does what he does everyday around the house. When it sees its owner it runs away from its owner with terror. For it may be getting a vision of when it’s owner had cut out it’s eye from the socket without regret. Poe also uses hyperbole to things that do not mean to be taken literally. In paragraph eighty two the narrator decided to not say nothing for what had happened. Instead with no thinking he rushes to the other side of the wall. Every one that was with him had froze in fear to later taking down the wall. “It is foolish to speak of my own thoughts. Feeling faint, I staggered to the wall on the other side of the room. For an instant the group on the stairs stood frozen in fear.”(p82) What this means is that the narrator did not want to say anything for it may make the situation worse than it is. Without thinking of a plan to leave he rushes to a wall hoping that maybe he can get away. For the people on the stairs they rush to the wall to take it apart to reveal what it has been hiding this whole time. Poe uses hyperbole in his story to make the reader think twice of what the message of the story actually means. So far Poe had used two literary devices but there is one more and it is
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Black Cat Analysis Essay
    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Black Cat Analysis Essay

    In “The Black Cat” the narrator is shown as an insane and superstitious character. His insanity was evident when he felt, “absolute dread of the beast” (4), which was his cat, when he “slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree” (3), and when he later went on to “bury the axe in her [his wife’s] brain” (5), when she tried to stop him from murdering another cat. The narrator’s unstable mind compares to “The Masque of the Red Death” as Poe also portrays Prince Prospero as insane but in a different way. The prince was not a murderous, bloodthirsty creature, but a carefree person who did not seem to care for the Red Death, a devastating disease who brought death wherever it traveled. Prospero was “happy and dauntless and sagacious” (1) and felt that “the external world would take care of itself” (1) and also thought that, “it was folly to grieve, or think” (1). Prospero’s carefree thoughts show that the scope of his insanity was not only placing his life in danger, but the lives of all his subjects as well. The jeopardy Prince Prospero placed his guests in compares to “The Black Cat” as the narrator also placed the life of his wife in danger with his superstitions and his tendencies to gravitate towards extreme measures. As he felt that his wife was taking the side of the cat, the narrator, one day decided to try and murder the cat, but instead ended up…

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Alcoholism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Alcoholism In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

    The problems of alcoholism and insanity are recurring themes in Poe’s literary works. One can say that “The Black Cat,” one of Poe’s short stories, portrays much of the author’s own views on his substance abuse problems and mental illness. The unnamed narrator from “The Black Cat,” struggles with his addiction to alcohol and his hatred for two cats become prevailing. The narrator states, however, that he was never like this before he loved animals, “never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them.” (Poe, 3). The narrator takes on a cat and cares for it, however, as his drinking problem progressed, he states, “I grew day by day more moody… my disease grew upon me.” (Poe, 4). After a night out drinking, he decides to cut out one of the cat’s eyes and ultimately, kills the cat. Later, another cat strangely identical to the first cat with one eye comes around and as the narrator tries to kill the second cat he ends up killing his wife instead. He buries the body of his wife and the second cat behind a wall and police later hear the cat calling out from inside the wall. In relation to Poe’s life, Poe was known to love cats and had a female cat named Catterina (Mercier). The killing of the first cat relates to Poe’s own destruction of the things he loved and desired due to alcoholism. He lost his job in 1837 due to his drinking and feuding with other editors (Edgar Allan Poe, Encyclo.) The killing of an innocent wife can closely relate to Poe’s views of women in his own life, through the deaths of both his mother figures and then eventually his wife. Poe writes about women who carry a unique beauty to them. The women are compassionate to the men they…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Superstitions In Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cat
    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page

    Superstitions In Edgar Allan Poe's Black Cat

    Edgar Allan Poe , his stories characterized by mystery and macabre. That what encouraged me to choose one of his stories.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Foreshadowing in Edgar Allen Poe's “the Black Cat”
    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Foreshadowing in Edgar Allen Poe's “the Black Cat”

    “The Black Cat” is narrated by a man on the day before he is to be put to death for the crime of murdering his wife. He can be considered an unreliable narrator. This is because his deeds do not match his words. He states, “From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition” and “I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets” (514). He then gouges the eye out and later kills the family pet, a cat, in cold blood by hanging it from a tree. He states that he is not mad. Yet he commits the deeds of a madman. The narrator uses flashback in his description of the events leading up to his execution. Poe uses foreshadowing to hint or give clues of future events. Some of his use of foreshadowing is subtle. At other times it is more obvious.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Allusions In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Allusions In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

    In Poe’s “The Black Cat”, the main symbol of the story is the black cat,hence the title. Throughout the story,Poe has written different allusions of what the cats had represented over time. First,Poe had wrote that the narrator’s wife believes in superstitions,going back to the ancient popular notion of “all black cats as witches in disguise”.(Paragraph 4) Poe was referencing to the witch trials,when Pluto was hanged and burned when the narrator’s house burned down. Fire and hangings were elements from the witch trials.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme Of Fear In The Masque Of The Red Death By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 1537 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Theme Of Fear In The Masque Of The Red Death By Edgar Allan Poe

    In “The Black Cat,” Poe uses words such as “horror” (1), “murder” (6) and “gore” (6), all of which emphasized the narrator’s insanity and his fear of the cat which he felt he must remove. His abhorrence of the cat grew when it, “inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth” (5). This caused the narrator to feel like he was possessed by a demon, with his original soul now gone, replaced by a “fiendish malevolence” (5). Clearly, the narrator is someone who fears everything and has something wrong mentally. Additionally the narrator had a growing fear of his cat referring to it as a “monster” (5) and a “burden on my soul,” (5). These thoughts show that the narrator felt like the cat knew of his hideous deed and it caused him much guilt, even though the cat didn’t. This diction contrasts with, “The Masque of the Red Death,” as Poe initially uses words such as “happy” (1), “palaces” (1) and “magnificent” (1), to suggest the Prince Prospero doesn’t seem to care much for the dangers of the terrible disease--the Red Death--but instead wants to focus on having a good time and partying when throughout his kingdom, the Red Death is claiming many lives. This originally portrays that the palace of Prince Prospero is a much safer and joyful place than the deranged lair of the narrator in “The Black Cat,” and it seems like…

    • 1537 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Tell Tale Heart vs. the Black Cat Essay Example
    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Tell Tale Heart vs. the Black Cat Essay Example

    Edgar Allan Poe is considered to be one of the greatest American writers of all time. His writing is dark and sinister. He wrote of death, murder, psychosis, and obsession. One could only imagine what would bring a person to write such morbid stories. Perhaps, it may be attributed to Poe’s childhood, a past that was sad and far from average. Both of his parents died when he was only three years of age (Shelley). The death of his parents caused a separation from his siblings and he moved to live with his relatives (Shelley). In later years, Poe endured poverty and the loss of his wife-to-be to another man (Clark). Possibly, without those troubling experiences, Poe couldn’t have imagined such eerie and enthralling tales. Some of his most acclaimed and well-known works are “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” These are stories based on characters that go insane over obsession involving an eye. Both characters have a relentless urge to kill. And, both of the murderers stuff the dead bodies into the foundation of a house. The main characters are questioned by the police and in a fit of lunacy, they admit their guilt.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Cask Of Amontillado, And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cask Of Amontillado, And The Tell-Tale Heart By Edgar Allan Poe

    The cause of the conflict in the story “The Black Cat” is lack of respect of morals. The narrator’s behavior was affected by his weakness, which is alcohol. The addiction to alcohol start to make him think of horrific thoughts, thus he began to act upon them. Poe wrote, “This spirt of perverseness came to my final overthrow” (par. 10).…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The False Account of the Black Cat
    • 1808 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The False Account of the Black Cat

    The short story “The Black Cat,” by Edgar Allen Poe, plays off the fear and trepidation of readers by sharing the details of a horrific murder through the killer’s point of view. However, several details in the story, such as the decay of the body, the police’s presence, and the appearance of a second cat, allude to the idea that the tale may in fact not be true, and cause the reader to doubt the reliability of the narrator. By implying that the narrator is indeed lying, Poe puts into question the sanity of the speaker, while also suggesting the need of a scape goat, in a second cat, to retain innocence.…

    • 1808 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe - the Tell-Tale Heart
    • 1365 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe - the Tell-Tale Heart

    This Edgar Allan Poe’s short story indicates the narrator as the prime character in this story, who describes himself as a sane man, as he expresses in the first sentence, yet he shows a horrifying thing as a proof. Poe presents this story with its frightening atmosphere, full of contradiction and symbolism, so it causes us to be more accurate in interpreting every single part of the story. It tends to demand us, as the reader, to be more imaginative. Some of the plot is revealed by less conversation, rather revealed by some motion or setting; heart beat, darkness, shriek, chuckles, and many more. The main character here, an unnamed narrator, is the one who suffers kind of psychological nuisance or mental instability. The narrator is such a madman, proving his sanity by some mad ways, and innocently admitting that he has killed an old man-with his pale-blue eye as desire. Despite his agony against madness, his proclaimation really insists that he is a madman. This reminds us to a similar occurrence emerges in Poe’s The Black Cat, in which the unnamed narrator has mental instability and acts as murderous profile for he kills his cat, Pluto. But vary from The Tell-tale Heart, the narrator of The Black Cat is such an alcohol drunkard who pours his mental instability, the dangerous effect of it, by killing his cat and place him on the wall; whereas the narrator in this story is indeed suffering paranoia, without any element influences it, but doing the same deed, murdering something.…

    • 1365 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity
    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Tell-Tale Heart Insanity

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    To What Extent Is The Narrator Insane In The Black Cat
    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To What Extent Is The Narrator Insane In The Black Cat

    In the short story “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator commits several terrible crimes. He is writing from a prison cell before he will be hung. He is an alcoholic who loves animals but during a drunken rage he harms his cat and then when he is sober again he kills it. He gets another cat, and he tries to kill it but he kills his wife instead. The police find her body and he is arrested for murder. But, the narrator is insane and cannot control his actions due to alcohol, grief, and a possible mental illness, so he is not guilty.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mistakes In The Black Cat
    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Mistakes In The Black Cat

    People make mistakes in life just like the narrator in the story “The Black Cat.” He has done two of the worst mistakes in his life drinking and killing his cat. The sitting is in the narrator's house. The main conflict is that the narrator kills his chat because he has a problem with drinking. In “The Black Cat”, Edgar Allan Poe used drinking as a symbol of evil.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Alcohol Abuse In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe
    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Alcohol Abuse In The Black Cat By Edgar Allan Poe

    In the short story, “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator was sane during his wife's murder. The narrator had several pets for many years and was happy to be with his wife, until he started to abuse alcohol. His alcohol abuse led to the abuse of his pets and wife, eventually leading to his wife’s “murder,”which is what the narrator called it when he committed the crime. Alcoholism does not make a man insane, the narrator knew what he was doing and he knew that it was wrong, unlike a person who suffers with the M’Naghten Rule. (Defendant either did not understand what they did, or failed to distinguish right from wrong, because of a “diseased mind”)…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More