Edgar Allen Poe and "The Black Cat"

Edgar Allan Poe and "The Black Cat" 

"The Black Cat"

"The Black Cat" illustration (5).

"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. It is the story of a man driven by his addiction to alcohol. The unnamed narrator has a strong affection toward animals until one day his affection turns to perverse abuse. He kills his beloved cat, Pluto, but is then followed by a straw cat who has a striking resemblance to Pluto except for a gallows mark on its chest. The cat drives him further and further into madness, and in his attempt to kill the cat, he instead murders his wife. He ends up concealing her in a wall, which is later revealed to the police by none other than the cat. When one dives into Edgar Allan Poe's life, it is clear that the alcoholism and death present in this story are not uncommon in Poe's own life. 

Edgar Allan Poe                                                                                                     

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts to actors Eliza and David Poe (1). When Poe was only a baby, his father abandoned the family, and when Poe was two, his mother died of tuberculosis. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, but was never officially adopted (3). At the age of seventeen, Poe attended the University of Virginia, but only for a short time due to him gambling away his tuition money, leaving him two thousand dollars in debt. Poe moved to Baltimore for a short period of time before joining the Army and rising to the rank of sergeant major. After the army, he went to West Point, but due to financial and dereliction he moved to Baltimore (3). In this new place, Poe shifted from writing poetry to short stories, and he secured a job as an editor of the Southern Literary Messenger. However, apparently due to his alcoholism, Poe was eventually let go from his job. He once again traveled elsewhere, but this time to New York City, where he eventually worked as an editor of the Broadway Journal (2). 

Picture of Edgar Allan Poe (6).

When Poe was younger and he returned home from the University of Virginia, he learned that his fiancé, Elmira Royster, was engaged to someone else (3). It was not until a long while later when Poe was working as an editor at the Southern Literary Messenger that he married his young cousin, Virginia Clemm, and it is said that Poe was an affectionate husband. However, in January of 1847, Virginia died of tuberculosis, which drove Poe into an even more profound struggle with alcoholism. In 1849 he traveled to Richmond, where he once again became engaged to Elmira Royster, who was then a widow (1). 

In late September of that same year, Poe left Richmond for Baltimore. He ended up being found incoherent in a gutter three days later. He was taken to the hospital, but died on October 7th, 1849. He was forty years old (2). 

Poe's Life Reflected in "The Black Cat"

It is clear that aspects of Poe's own life are reflected in, "The Black Cat." The main focus of the short story is alcoholism, and it is no secret that alcoholism had a tremendous effect on Poe's own life. Many speculate that it was in fact alcohol that led to Poe's own death, and alcohol leads to the death of the cat, Pluto, and the narrator's wife in the story. No one can say for certain what Poe intended when he wrote this short story, but perhaps by having the narrator use alcohol as an excuse for his bad behavior, Poe is doing the same. Regardless of the possibilities, Poe placed alcohol at the center of this story, just as alcohol was often at the center of his own life. 

It is also worth mentioning that the morbid story is one of murder and death. Poe's entire life was surrounded by death, for he lost his mother at a young age and then later on he lost his wife to tuberculosis. "The Black Cat" and so many other of Poe's stories involve death, and perhaps it is because of his own experience with it. 

Works Cited

(1) “Edgar Allan Poe.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,                   https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe. 

(2) "Edgar Allan Poe Is Born" - History. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/edgar-allan-poe-is-born

(3) “Poe Biography.” Edgar Allan Poe Museum, https://poemuseum.org/poe-biography/. 

(4) Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat." 1843.

(5) “The Black Cat (Short Story).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Feb. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Cat_(short_story). 

(6) The Raven Society, https://aig.alumni.virginia.edu/raven/poe-resources/poe-as-a-student/.