The Black Cat: By: Edgar Allan Poe

THE BLACK CAT
By:
Edgar Allan Poe
Setting
• The story opens in the cell of a prisoner the day before
he is to be executed by hanging.
• After introducing himself to readers as a man who
underwent a horrifying experience, the prisoner writes
down the details of this experience, which led to his
imprisonment and planned execution.
• The events in his tale are set at his home and in a
tavern. Although these events take place over several
years, the recounting of these events in writing takes
place on a single day in the narrator's prison cell.
Prisoner
Characters
 The Narrator, a prisoner scheduled for execution. His loathing of
a cat he once loved leads to his commission of a capital crime.
The Narrator's Wife, a woman of agreeable disposition who likes

animals and obtains many pets for her husband.
First Black Cat, a cat named Pluto that loves the narrator but
irritates him when it follows him everywhere.
Second Black Cat, a cat that resembles the first black cat and may
be a reincarnation of the latter–or so the narrator may think.
Policemen, officers who investigate the happenings at the home of

the narrator.

Characters
Type of Work
 Short story in the horror genre that focuses on the
psyche of the narrator.
 Poe was one of the developers of the short story as a
literary genre.
 He defined a short story as a narrative prose work that:
1. is short enough to be read in one sitting.
2. takes place in one locale on a single day, (or even in
a few hours).
3. centers on a single line of action.
4. maintains a single mood. Every word or phrase
should contribute to the theme and the mood.
Narration (Point of View)
• First-Person Unreliable. The narrator is obviously
deranged, readers learn during his telling of his
tale, even though he declares at the outset “mad
am I not”
• He tells readers that excessive drinking helped to
bring on his erratic, violent behavior. (It may be
that the drinking worsened an existing mental
condition.)
• The narrator tells his story as he sees it from his
demented point of view.
• As in many of his other short stories, Poe does
not name the narrator.
• A possible explanation for this is that the
unnamed narrator becomes every human
being, thereby enhancing the universality of
the short story.
• In other words, the narrator represents
anyone who has ever acted perversely or
impulsively–and then had to pay for his deed.
Time of Publication and Writing
“The Black Cat” was

first published on
August 19, 1843, in
The Saturday Evening
Post , then known as
The United States
Saturday Post . It was
written in 1842.
Themes
1. A human being has a
perverse, wicked side
another self-that can goad
him into doing evil things
taht have not apparent
motive.
2. Heavy drinking can
bring out the wors in a
human being.
• Alcohol abuse alone did

not cause the narrator
strinke out.
• But, as he readily
aknowledges, it certanly
put him in a foul mood.
3. A weak, unbalaneed
human psyche may be
highly vulnerable to the
power of suggestion.
• the narrator’s wife had

suggested, apparently in
jets, thet pluto was a
witch in disguise.
4. Evil deeds invite
vengeance. Pluto gets
even, the narrator
indicates, by causing the
fire that burns down, the
narrator’s house.
5. Fear of discovery
can bring about
discovery.
• At the end of the

story, the narrator’s
strange behavior
makes the police
suspicious of him.
Allusion and Symbolism
•The narrator names the first black cat

Pluto. In ancien roman mythology,
Pluto was the King of the Underworld
ruling over the abode of the dead.
•In Greek mythology, on wich Romans

based their mythology, Pluto was
called Hades.
•Pluto the cat. Thus, seems to

symbolize death to the narrator.
•That he gave the cat this name

suggest that he thought it a sinister
creature from the moment he first saw
it.
Foreshadowing
• The narrator´s scheduled
execution of the gallows is
foreshadowed first by the
narrator´s hanging of pluto,
•Next by the outline of dead

cat on the wall (after the fire)
•And finally by the outline of

the gallows on the white hair
of the second black cat.
Poe's Frequent Use of
Anaphora
•Anaphora is a figure of speech in wich a word or prase is
repeated at the beginning of a clause or another group of
word. Anaphora imparts emphasis and balance. Here are
bolfacd examples:
• I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable

atrocity I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of
remorse… It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to
vex itself- to offer violence to its own nature- to do wrong´s
sake only- that urged me to continue and finally to
consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending
brute.
Reflection of Poe's Life
• Poe himself owned a

cat at the time that
wrote this short story.
• He was also a heavy

drinker during this
period.

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THE BLACK CAT

The Narrator's Wife, a woman of agreeable disposition who likes

Policemen, officers who investigate the happenings at the home of

“The Black Cat” was

• Alcohol abuse alone did

• the narrator’s wife had

• At the end of the

•The narrator names the first black cat

•In Greek mythology, on wich Romans

•Pluto the cat. Thus, seems to

•That he gave the cat this name

•Next by the outline of dead

•And finally by the outline of

• I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable

• Poe himself owned a

• He was also a heavy

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