The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe

 About Poe and his personal life. 

 
Edgar Allen Poe was a writer, poet, critic, and editor born on January 19, 1809, in Boston Massachusetts. At just the age of 3, he lost his parents who were actors and was adopted by a really wealthy couple. Just by the age of 13 Poe was already an excellent poet. In 1826 for 11 months he attended the University of Virginia but that didn't work out due to his gambling addiction. When he left the university he joined the army for a 5-year term where his Tamerlane and some of his other poems were published. Although it was never actually confirmed many people assumed Poe had a mental illness due to his abuse of drugs and alcohol. Some also assumed he suffered from depression.  

About The Black Cat

Poe was known and most famous for the mystery and horror in his short stories. Some parts of Poe's life are sort of a mystery just like the stories he tells. The Black Cat was published in August 1843 and Poe, desperate to make money and fearful of losing his ill wife, still found a way to write The Black Cat. This was also found by many to be Poe’s most disturbing story too, focusing on murder and cruelty towards animals and his wife. 

Poe was known and most famous for the mystery and horror in his short stories. Some parts of Poe's life are sort of a mystery just like the stories he tells. The Black Cat was published in August 1843 and Poe, desperate to make money and fearful of losing his ill wife, he still found a way to write The Black Cat. This was also found by many to be Poe’s most disturbing story too, focusing on murder and cruelty towards animals and his wife. The story is a mystery because when you read it you see the character is unnamed leaving us to wonder who exactly this murderer really is. We can all agree this mysterious character is a man but his name was never revealed.


Poe uses Pluto in the story to symbolize death and guilt. He mistreats the cat in the story and justifies it as him just simply being a human making a mistake. In the beginning, he is very fond of the cat, and being around him doesn't bother him. As the story goes on you can see he cannot hide his irritation for the cats anymore, and each time he interacts with the cat the cruelty worsens. After killing the first cat he feels guilty and goes to buy another and the feeling to abuse it isn't in his head for a while. Until one night the cat walks past him by the cellar and he snaps. The reason for his abuse toward the cat is that he blames it for his insanity. He feels the cat is tormenting him, making him commit horrific crimes, and he tries to portray the cat as the villain when all actuality it is him.
I feel the more the narrator drinks in the story the more it starts to consume and take over his thoughts. The alcohol makes him think that the car is the blame for his horrific crimes towards


The Black Cat Analysis 

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I feel most of the horror in the story comes from issues in Edgar's personal life. Some of those issues we know of are abusing drugs and alcohol, and losing his biological parents. And even though Poe grew up with his adoptive family he wasn't very close with his father. Poe has the narrator in The Black Cat abuse alcohol the same way Edgar struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. When Poe drank he would gamble and he even lost jobs over his drinking problem. So we can all agree that alcohol affects Poe in a negative way. While the narrator is blaming the cat for his insane behavior it is actually the alcohol that seems to cause him to lash out. The cats are not the only ones affected by the man's actions the wife is as well. He kills his first pet, tries to harm his second, and kills his wife when she tries to stop him. It goes to show that even the relationships he is supposed to cherish and care for are ruined due to his mental illness. Although it was never confirmed it was rumored that Poe had a mental illness and drinking only makes it worse. 
 
The way the narrator's family is broken so is Edgars. He lost his parents at a young age and was adopted into a family where he really only had a real relationship with his adopted mother. His wife also died from a sickness. This could be where the depression and the heavy use of alcohol come in as well. We know that death is one of the main focuses of the story and I feel the more the narrator drinks in the story the more it starts to consume and take over his thoughts. The alcohol makes him think that the cat is to blame for his horrific crimes. We don't really know what triggered both the narrator and Edgar Poe to take advantage of the alcohol substance but it is something to think about. 

Citations 


“Edgar Allan Poe Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography , https://www.notablebiographies.com/Pe-Pu/Poe-Edgar-Allan.html.

“Edgar Allan Poe .” BIOGRAPHY , 8 Oct. 2021, https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/edgar-allan-poe.

“ LITERATURE A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat.” Interesting Literature , https://interestingliterature.com/2017/05/a-summary-and-analysis-of-edgar-allan-poes-the-black-cat/.


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