РефератыИностранный языкThThe Black Cat What Goes Around Comes

The Black Cat What Goes Around Comes

The Black Cat: What Goes Around Comes Around Essay, Research Paper


The Black Cat: What Goes Around Comes Around


In his story “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe dramatizes his experience


with madness, and challenges the readers suspension of disbelief by using


imagery in describing the plot and characters. Poe uses foreshadowing to


describe the scenes of sanity versus insanity. He writes ?for the most wild yet


homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor illicit belief.


Yet mad I am not- and surely do I not dream,? alerts the reader about a


forthcoming story that will test the boundaries of reality and fiction. The


author asserts his belief of the activities described in the story when he


states ?to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburden my soul?(80).


Poe describes his affectionate temperament of his character when he


writes ?my tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of


my companions?(80). He also characterizes his animal friends as “unselfish” and


their love as ?self-sacrificing? illustrating to the readers his devotion to


them for their companionship. The author uses foreshadowing in the statement ?we


had birds, goldfish, a fine dog, a rabbit, a small monkey, and a cat?(80). The


use of italics hints to the reader of upcoming events about the cat that peaks


interest and anticipation. Poe also describes a touch foreshadowing and


suspension of disbelief when he illustrates his wives response to the cat when


he writes “all black cats are witches in disguise, not that she was ever serious


upon this point-and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than it


happened, just now, to be remembered”(80).


Poe expresses his early attachment to the cat and dramatizes the


character changes he experiences when he writes “our friendship lasted, in this


manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character-


through instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance-had (I blush to confess it)


experienced a radical alteration for the worse”(81). He warns the reader of new


events in a cynical tone and implies the beginning of the madness he denies. Poe


first illustrates this madness when he uses imagery to describe the brutal scene


with the cat when he writes “I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen knife, opened


it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes


from the socket!”


The author describes his emotional and physical state of being during


the unthinkable act as “I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable


atrocity”(81). He describes the morning aftereffect of his actions when he


states “when reason returned with the morning-when I had slept off the fumes of


the night’s debauch-I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse,


for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and


equivocable feeling, and the soul remained untouched”(81). Now Poe implies to


the readers that he has truly crossed over into madness by brutally attacking


the animal and feeling little or no remorse.


Next Poe dramatizes his change in character even further when he writes


“and then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of


PERVERSENESS,”(81) which once again alerts the reader of new events so shocking


that reading forward becomes an essentiality. The author illustrates a scene so


outrageous that the reader has to go beyond the suspension of disbelief they


have agreed to participate in. He writes “One morning, in cold blood, I slipped


a noose about its nec

k and hung it to the limb of a tree;-hung it with tears


streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart;-hung it


because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no


reason of offense;-hung it because I knew that in so I was committing a sin-a


deadly sin that would jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it-if such a thing


were possible- even beyond the reach of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible


God”(81-82).


Now the reader has crossed over the line of reality versus fiction. The


author continues to illustrate the inconceivable story when he describes the


scene after the fire that destroyed every part of the house except the one wall


that was still standing. Poe writes “I approached and saw, as if graven in bas-


relief upon the white surface the figure of a gigantic cat and there was a rope


around the animals neck,”(82) leading the readers to join the madness and


believe that this was the same cat that Poe had savagely destroyed earlier that


same day.


The author describes his need to replace the animal in order to feel


peace and after doing so, he finds himself once again feeling a abhorrence


toward the animal. He writes “but gradually-very gradually- I came to look upon


it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as


from the breath of a pestance”(83). Poe uses imagery to describes his disgust


with the cat when he states “that like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one


of its eyes,”(83) he now wanted to destroy this animal as well. Poe illustrates


the change of character he has experience since the beginning of the story only


now he has gone beyond the madness that has consumed him many times. He writes


“evil thoughts becomes my sole intimates-the darkest and most evil of


thoughts”(84).


The author uses more imagery when he writes the final abominable act of


evil. Poe confesses to the reader about the murder of his wife when he states ?


goaded by the interference into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm


from her grasp and buried the ax in her brain?(84). He explains how he disposes


of the body in detail and describes the relief he feels when he writes “I


soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my


soul”(85). Poe informs the reader of his little remorse when he states” my


happiness was supreme, and the guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but


little”(85).


The author leads the reader to the final plateau of suspension when he


dramatizes the conclusion of the story. He explains the sounds he heard in


detail when the mystery unfolds regarding the missing cat he had not seen or


heard from since the murder. He writes “like the sobbing of a child, and then


quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous


and inhuman-a howl-a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as


might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the damned in


their agony and the demons that exult in the damnation”(85). Poes use of


descriptive details allows the reader to feel the horrifying experience of a man


who believed he was free from the evil of madness. Poe ends the story after


utilizing every inch of suspension of disbelief the reader can afford. He sums


up the plot of the story when he writes “the hideous beast whose craft had


seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the


hangman,” (85) implying that the cat had induced the same torture on him that he


had brought on the first cat.

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