Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s Black Cat

The narrator’s first cat’s name Pluto is that of the Roman God of the underworld. Pluto contributes to a strong sense of Hell and may even symbolize the Devil himself. Onyx cats have long been connected to bad luck and misfortune. The narrator’s wife even joking mentions that black cats are said to be witches in guise. From this one can assume that a horrible thing will be bestowed upon the narrator, though one might believe it will be directly from Pluto, it happens indirectly. This can be tied with mankind being sinful and tainted by the Devil, for the narrator takes the Pluto as a dear companion and ends up falling from grace and being succumb with alcohol, violence and a lack of conscience.

The second cat seemed to be much a kin in appearance to that of Pluto, being the relative same size, weight and it was even missing an eye. The only visible difference was that the second cat possessed a white breast. Because of the striking resemblance -especially the missing eye because it reminded the narrator of the violence he committed upon Pluto- the narrator beings to dislike, and later loathes, the second cat. After the cat tries to ‘trip’ him down the stairs, the narrator losses his sanity and brings an axe to kill the cat. The second cat behaves cunningly, leading the narrator into a more serious crime in the murder of his wife, he later then betrays the narrator to the police.

The second had white fur on its chest region, which was the only difference between itself and Pluto. The narrator claims that the white area, seems to grow larger and take shape over time, and eventually resembles a silhouette of the gallows. Now one could say that the narrator is simply becoming mentally unstable due to the guilt of hanging Pluto, but if Pluto was actually a representation of the Devil, as I mentioned earlier,