The life of Edgar Allan Poe might be considered an unhappy record of that “disaster” which “followed fast and followed faster” this man of brilliant capacities till it drove him into opposition with most of the world, deprived him of the love he so inordinately craved, paralyzed his creative abilities, seduced him to seek a vague nepenthe in the use of drugs and stimulants, and, its relentless purpose achieved, cast him aside, a helpless wreck, to die from the darkened tragedy of a Baltimore. However, the audience might not be aware that Poe’s obsession with dark and gory stories was somehow connected to his personal experiences. He finally kills his wife using an axe, but he insinuates it is an accident. From his narration, it appears the narrator enjoys the violence that he engages in to those around him. The narrator becomes a dipsomaniac, and he changes from a caring husband and a lover of animals to unleashing unprecedented terror. “The Black Cat” plotline revolves around terror, violence, and, ultimately, death. Literary Analysis The Theme of Terror, Death, and Violence When individuals pursue selfish ends as opposed to the common good, tragedy is bound to happen, as it did to Poe in the story. This style of writing is important to American literature to warn people about the dangers of individualism, which has pervaded all aspects of society. People tend to gravitate towards evil due to their fallibility and sinful nature, and Poe sought to share this information with the public at the time. Dark romanticism was an emerging style in nineteenth-century America, and it focused on highlighting the evil nature of human beings. This story was meant for the general population of that time. He entombs the corpse in the basement of his house, and when the police unexpectedly show up at his house, he inadvertently leads them to the corpse. He attempts to kill the new cat, but his wife intervenes, and he axes and kills her instantly. He later kills Pluto by hanging, but another black cat appears in his home. The following day he remembers the previous night’s events remorsefully, and even though he regrets his actions, his soul is set on an irreversible ominous course.

One night, he arrives home inebriated, and in his drunken stupor, he gouges out one of the cat’s eyes.

He abuses his wife and mistreats Plato even at the slightest provocation.

Life for the two lovebirds seems perfectly normal until the narrator becomes an alcoholic and forever changes his demeanor. He marries a beautiful woman who equally loves pets, and they have a black cat called Pluto. He reflects on the gone days when he was an honorable man – more respected than his fellow men. “The Black Cat” starts with a monologue whereby the narrator reminisces about his childhood when he loved cats and dogs.

The black cat by edgar allan poe