Black Cat by Edgar Allen Term Paper

.." (Poe, E.A.)

This perversity in human nature causes the narrator to hang the cat - an act of unbridled cruelty and brutality which has no rational explanation except that the potential for such action lies hidden within human nature.

The rest of the story follows the pattern of retribution for the sins of the man. After the killing of Pluto the house burns down, leaving only one wall in which the cat has somehow strangely become embedded. There is no easy explanation for this event and it emphasizes the supernatural aspect of the story.

The main character returns to his drinking habits and one evening while drinking he sees a cat similar to Pluto. There are remnants of guilt and human conscience in the man and he takes the cat home with him. However, he starts to hate and fear the cat and there is a suggestion that guilt plays a large part in these feelings. The more the cat shows affection towards him, the more his hatred grows.

This is exacerbated by the fact that a white area of fur on the cat begins to grow and starts to resemble an image of a gallows; which further evokes terror in the man

The protagonist's old cruel nature reasserts itself and in an attempt to kill the cat with an ax he inadvertently kills his wife. He walls her body up in the cellar. However when the police arrive to investigate, his crime almost escapes detection. At the last moment a strange and inhuman sound is heard from the part of the cellars wall where the corpse of the man's wife has been interred. This unearthly noise is made by the black cat, which had somehow been walled up with the wife. This obviously alerts the police and the central character is arrested. The story also suggests that the main character tells his tale from within a prison and that he waits execution at the gallows for his crimes.Throughout the story there is a comparison between two aspects of human nature. These two aspects however are seen to exist within the same human being.

On the one hand we see that the main character is originally a good and kind man but that his nature changes radically for the worse. While alcohol is suggested as the catalyst for this change, the story also makes it clear that the transformation of the man for good to bad is a result of something more than just drinking.

I feel that this story goes beyond the normal trappings of the horror story and makes a significant and contentious statement about human nature. The author is suggesting through the story that true horror in humans life can be found within ourselves and not necessarily "out there'. This fact that human beings are capable of perversity and evil deeds without reason is a truly scary and horrifying idea. This makes the story much deeper and more terrifying than if the monster or source of evil had been external to the central character.

The story also attempt to show that there is a certain morality in reality and that those who do evil deeds are doomed to pay for them. The supernatural aspect of the story in the image of the cat in the wall of the burnt house and in the strange cat that the main character encounters later, adds to the sense of the supernatural revenge for human of act of cruelty and unkindness. However the central theme of the story is one which directs out attention inward to the heart of human nature and suggests that this is where true horror can be found.

Bibliography

Poe, E.A. The Black Cat. October 24, 2006. http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/poe/works/blackcat.html.....