The Black Cat (Short Story): Exploring the Elements of an Obsession Theme

"The Black Cat" is a story written by Edgar Allan Poe about a 

man`s descent into madness. The question of whether this story is a revenge or obsession tale can be analyzed through the three characteristics of Poe`s obsession tales: an unaware narrator, the death of a beautiful woman, and a contrast of powerful and powerless characters. Poe`s story, "The Black Cat" is an obsession tale because it deals primarily with the narrator`s obsession over killing his cat, and includes the three primary aspects of Edgar Allan Poe`s obsession tales.

"The Black Cat" is about a man who falls victim to the mental consequences of alcohol. It states at the beginning of the story that the narrator and his wife love animals, and they own quite a few pets. His favorite pet of them all is an entirely black cat named Pluto. The narrator loves this cat with all of his heart, however when he starts heavily drinking, the narrator becomes an entirely different man. His mind disintegrates into that of an angry, violent lunatic. One night, he came home drunk and believed Pluto has avoided him. In response, he lashes out on the animal. When he angrily grabs the cat, it bites him. In a drunken rage, he cuts out the eye of his beloved black cat and starts to develop an immense hatred towards the animal. Soon

thereafter, he hangs the animal to kill it. The narrator then states that 

a new cat comes and looks exactly like his first one; it was all black and had an eye missing. He adopts this new cat, but like Pluto, he starts to despise it when drunk. The cat starts to develop a white mark in its all- black fur that resembles an image of the gallows. Eventually, the narrator hates this cat to the point of him deciding to kill this new cat with an axe. However, when he attempts to kill the animal, he misses and hits his wife instead, killing her. Paranoid, he panics and hides his wife inside a basement wall, later to be discovered by police.